For her takeover of the IN-DESIGN room, graphic designer Goda Budvytytė unravels the process of bookmaking through both visual and haptic perception. By starting from its primary material—paper—and by synaesthetically unfolding its constitutive elements in a spatial and performative dimension, touch, colour and binding emerge as intertwined agencies mutually affecting one another. And in the wake of such an organic investigation of space and matter, a myriad of questions never cease to arise: How does a book feel in the hands? How does it flip and fold? How do materials we get in touch with influence or transfigure our way of perceiving?

Each noun in the exhibition’s title corresponds to a specific component of bookmaking: touch stands for paper; colour for ink; fold for binding. These aspects are explored alongside one another and in a continuum by practitioners from different fields and backgrounds. Choreographer and performer Ula Sickle will lead a series of guided sessions in the exhibition space. Photographer Rasa Juškevičiūtė will provide visual insights and document the show throughout its various stages. Her pictures will gradually join the words of writer and curator Bernardo José de Souza.

An open-ended book-like structure—conceived in conversation with architecture practice ĒTER—takes the centre stage, acting as a maelstrom of sorts, an axis around and through which all contributions unfold into the exhibition space and create a field for different avenues of attention. 

touch, colour and fold
ITERATIONS

First iteration (touch), from 24 February 2022

Second iteration (colour), from 22 March 2022

GODA BUDVYTYTĖ (Lithuania) is an independent graphic designer. Her work explores how different types of content can be translated into books, graphic identities, exhibition designs and other legible narratives. Her recent collaborations/commissions include: Lithuanian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale; Architecture of Territory (D-ARCH, ETH Zurich); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; Kunstinstituut Melly (formerly known as Witte de With) and Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam; Garage Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow; MIT Press and Tate Publishing. With Viktorija Rybakova in 2018 she founded studio laumes—an interdisciplinary research, production and design studio.

BERNARDO JOSÉ DE SOUZA makes exhibitions, writes and investigates contemporary art. Former Artistic Director of Fundação Iberê Camargo, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, he now works as an independent curator based in Madrid. De Souza was part of the curatorial team of 19th Biennial of Contemporary Art SESC_Videobrasil, held in São Paulo in 2015, and also a member of Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy’s curatorial team in the 9th Mercosul Biennial | Porto Alegre Brazil in 2013; from 2005 until 2013 he worked as the Director of the Department of Cinema, Video and Photography at the Secretary of Culture of Porto Alegre, Brazil. 

ĒTER is an architectural collective practice founded to create unique environments in-between nature, technology and contemporary culture. Based in Zürich, Rīga and Vienna, ĒTER has been founded by Kārlis Bērziņš, Dagnija Smilga and Niklāvs Paegle—architects, researchers and educators operating between the Alps and the Baltic coastline. Their recent work includes exhibition architecture for Weird Sensation Feels Good, at ArkDes, Stockholm, 2020. The second edition of this project will open in 2022 at the Design Museum in London. As co-curators and exhibition architects of the Baltic Pavilion, they represented Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice in 2016. 

RASA JUŠKEVIČIŪTĖ (Vilnius, 1984) is a creative director, photographer and fashion filmmaker based in Paris. Her work combines fashion, fine art and activism. She founded an independent artist and filmmaker collective in Vilnius—Super8 Picnic in a Hand—and participated in many group exhibitions and screenings in various galleries and contemporary art centers throughout Europe. Currently a contributing artist for SHOWstudio, founded by Nick Knight, Juškevičiūtė collaborated with brands, personalities and periodicals including Chanel, Egyboy, I-D Vice, Lorde, LV, M, le magazine du Monde, Paco Rabanne, Perks And Mini, among others.

ULA SICKLE (Toronto, 1978) is a choreographer and performer based in Brussels. Sickle’s practice focuses on a choreographic and somatic approach to movement, investigating perception and reception, specifically in and through the live performance situation. She is currently a PhD researcher at KU Leuven University and Luca School of Arts in Brussels. Her work has been presented in many international venues including: Kaaitheater, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Bozar and Wiels in Brussels; Wiener Festwochen, Vienna; Tanz im August and CTM festival Berlin; les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis and Le 104, Paris; as well as the Serralves museum, Porto.