METALLOphone: Personally (2014)

Metal comes into being through all four basic elements – fire, water, air and earth. Therefore it cannot but inspire thoughts of something archaic. Something primordial. Something essential which comes into being here and now. A person, who wields metal, i. e. blacksmith, is assigned nearly demiurgic qualities in the Baltic mythology – he possesses capacity to forge human being anew or to restore one’s youth. The mastering of the blacksmith’s craft and knowledge resembles initiation, a “second birth”. All what is related to metal is far from simple. Neither in the simplest physical and technical, nor in mythical, historical, and aesthetical aspects. Metal dictates to creator and he either resists or surrenders. Metal brings challenges. Metal tells stories. Those who work with metal and create of it chose metal with (hopefully) certain purpose. Metal makes background for their lives. And therefore we need “METALLOphone” (lit. Metal background) – the second biennial of contemporary metal arts in Lithuania. So that metal would become a background not only for the authors but also for the location. This biennial invites authors to share their stories told by metal. This “METALLOphone” is personal.

Metal often speaks for itself – it glitters in silvery white, fascinates with rich rust color, and urges to touch it or repulses. Yet this time 50 artists from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the USA, Colombia, Poland, Sweden, Greece, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Argentina, and Japan tell their metal stories. The works of art are very diverse in style, in selection of materials and their concord, in techniques, and in presentation. Some are spatial, and some resemble gadgets or miniature furniture, others look like rather usual jewelry or conceptual objects. All of them present broad panorama of contemporary metal art. In this panorama the view supplements the word and vice versa, for sometimes the word provides an opportunity to take more profound and different look at the work of art. In a sense, these are nearly intimate metal stories of the artists about what happens when working with metal. The stories also reveal their standpoint about metal. After all, the stories explain why they chose metal and what this material means to them. For this material means a lot for the second “METALLOphone”. To be more precise, it means everything. 

Participants

Alfredas Daulius, 2014, Lithuania

Alfredas Daulius, 2014, Lithuania

Ana Cristina Berrio, 2014, Colombia

Ana Cristina Berrio, 2014, Colombia

Andrzej Boss, 2014, Poland

Andrzej Boss, 2014, Poland

Anita Van Doorn, 2014, Sweden

Anita Van Doorn, 2014, Sweden

Anna Vlahos, 2014, Greece

Anna Vlahos, 2014, Greece

Aric Verrastro, 2014, USA

Aric Verrastro, 2014, USA

Aurelija Šimkutė-Endriekė, 2014, Lithuania

Aurelija Šimkutė-Endriekė, 2014, Lithuania

Babette Von Dohnanyi, 2014, Germany

Babette Von Dohnanyi, 2014, Germany

Bifei Cao, 2014, Australia

Bifei Cao, 2014, Australia

Billie Jean Theide, 2014, USA

Billie Jean Theide, 2014, USA

Birutė Stulgaitė, 2014, Lithuania

Birutė Stulgaitė, 2014, Lithuania

Bridgette Shepherd, 2014, Australia

Bridgette Shepherd, 2014, Australia

David Olifant, 2014, Spain

David Olifant, 2014, Spain

Dovilė Bernadišiūtė, 2014, Lithuania

Dovilė Bernadišiūtė, 2014, Lithuania

Eglė Čėjauskaitė-Gintalė, 2014, Lithuania

Eglė Čėjauskaitė-Gintalė, 2014, Lithuania

Estela Saez Vilanova, 2014, Netherlands

Estela Saez Vilanova, 2014, Netherlands

Galit Barak, 2014, Israel

Galit Barak, 2014, Israel

Ginta Zabarovska, 2014, Latvia

Ginta Zabarovska, 2014, Latvia

Gisbert Stach, 2014, Germany

Gisbert Stach, 2014, Germany

Heidemarie Herb, 2014, Italy

Heidemarie Herb, 2014, Italy

Jennifer Wells, 2014, USA

Jennifer Wells, 2014, USA

Jina Seo, 2014, USA

Jina Seo, 2014, USA

Joo Hyung Park, 2014, South Korea

Joo Hyung Park, 2014, South Korea

Kamran Babrak, 2014, Pakistan

Kamran Babrak, 2014, Pakistan

Karina Lazauskaitė, 2014, Lithuania

Karina Lazauskaitė, 2014, Lithuania

Lynn Hofmann, 2014, Belgium

Lynn Hofmann, 2014, Belgium

Nicole Jacquard, 2014, USA

Nicole Jacquard, 2014, USA

Nils Hint, 2014, Estonia

Nils Hint, 2014, Estonia

Noy Alon, 2014, Israel

Noy Alon, 2014, Israel

Rita Rodner, 2014, UK

Rita Rodner, 2014, UK

Robyn Galway, 2014, Ireland

Robyn Galway, 2014, Ireland

Romualdas Inčirauskas, 2014, Lithuania

Romualdas Inčirauskas, 2014, Lithuania

Rūta Jurkūnaitė-Bruožienė, 2014, Lithuania

Rūta Jurkūnaitė-Bruožienė, 2014, Lithuania

Samantha Mitchell, 2014, USA

Samantha Mitchell, 2014, USA

Sandra Malaškevičiūtė, 2014, Lithuania

Sandra Malaškevičiūtė, 2014, Lithuania

Šarūnė Vaitkutė, 2014, Lithuania

Šarūnė Vaitkutė, 2014, Lithuania

Serena Holm, 2014, Sweden

Serena Holm, 2014, Sweden

Sondra Sherman, 2014, USA

Sondra Sherman, 2014, USA

Sophie Symes, 2014, UK

Sophie Symes, 2014, UK

Steffi Götze, 2014, Germany

Steffi Götze, 2014, Germany

Tabitha Frost, 2014, UK

Tabitha Frost, 2014, UK

Urmas Lüüs, 2014, Estonia

Urmas Lüüs, 2014, Estonia

Valeria Dowding, 2014, Argentina

Valeria Dowding, 2014, Argentina

Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro, 2014, USA

Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro, 2014, USA

Vita Pukštaitė-Bružė, 2014, Lithuania

Vita Pukštaitė-Bružė, 2014, Lithuania

Yafit Ben Meshulam, 2014, Israel

Yafit Ben Meshulam, 2014, Israel

Yu Hiraishi, 2014, Japan

Yu Hiraishi, 2014, Japan

Yunjung Lee, 2014, UK

Yunjung Lee, 2014, UK