Lithuanian Textile Installation“The Dialog”at the Lithuanian Embassy in Tokyo
Updated 2010-10-11
Starting October 11th, the Embassy of Lithuania in Tokyo showcases traditional folk art and professional textile artwork installation “Dialog”. As the title says, the idea of the installation is to present a dialog between traditional and contemporary arts, a dialog beyond the time between the two artists, and, hopefully, the viewers.
An authentic bedcover (linen, wool, 132 cm ×186 cm, with 8 shafts, the pattern is called ,,windows“) hand loom woven at the turn of 19th and 20th cc, by the weaver Julijona Jurgilaitė (Lithuania, Tauragė district), the grand-grandmother of the author of the idea of the installation.
,,Dimai“ (“Overshot”), 2009 (103 cm × 199 cm, cotton, wool, metal wire, hand loom overshot weaving with 4 shafts) – is the artwork of famous contemporary Lithuanian textile artist Žydrė Ridulytė.The great part of creation of Ridulytė deeply roots in the traditional Lithuanian textile and echoes with it’s authentic patterns, colors and techniques. Yet the artist uses contemporary materials, such as metal wires.
The warp of this loom woven fabric is cotton, the weft is a metal wire which is flexible, but strong, as if steel stamina of enduring traditions.
Artworks of Žydrė Ridulytė are images of ancient textile items that lost their functionality. They simply convey the idea of the items and patterns as if becoming their dreamy image and reflection not only in space, but some way in time too.
Both showpieces are representing quite an exceptional genre of Lithuanian traditional textile – the bedcovers. They are pieces of loom woven fabric, used for one purpose only – to cover bed during the day time. Various patterns of bedcovers in different regions of Lithuania can be considered as a kind of “pattern dialects”, since they differ from region to region.
The exhibition will run untill October 30th, and later will be moved to “Amu” creative space in Ebisu, that will house Lithuanian Culture Festival November 2 to 7th.
About the authors
Žydrė Ridulytė, born 1958, Vilnius, Lithuania. Graduated from Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, textile artist, the Associated Professor of Textile Department of Lithuanian Academy of Fine Arts and the Chairwoman of Textile section of Lithuanian Artists Association, participant of international exhibitions, organizer of Vilnius Textile Biennial and Vilnius International Mini-textile Biennial.
Aida Martinaitytė, born 1966, Vilnius, Lithuania. Graduated from Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts. Independent artist, author of the idea of this installation. (Grand-granddaughter of weaver Julijona Jurgilaitė.)
