Vitalij Strigunkov: Waiting
NewBridge Books at BALTIC 39
Festival Launch: Fri 2 March, 6-7pm, The Mining Institute
Festival Preview: Fri 2 March, 7-10pm, NewBridge Books and other venues
Festival Bar: Fri 2 March, 10pm-1am: The Mining Institute
AV Festival presents the UK premiere of Lithuanian artist Vitalij Strigunkov’s video installation Waiting, as a site-specific intervention in NewBridge Books at BALTIC 39.
In the spring of 2014, eager for U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Lithuania, the country’s public broadcaster announced his arrival at Vilnius Airport. But a delay by the Vice President in exiting the plane caused problems for the broadcaster’s live coverage plans. The minutes pass, and as the script that was prepared for the coverage runs out, increasingly complex commentary focuses on the visit’s political dimension. Unexpectedly, the wait itself comes to be more significant than the actual visit. In the film a Lithuanian voice-over is added to the broadcast that was originally shown in Lithuanian.
Installed site-specifically in this public entrance space the newsroom ‘live feed’ has a haunting cyclical political relevance today, exactly four-years since Joe Biden’s visit to Lithuania on 18 March 2014. Also marking four-years into Russian’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and the forthcoming Russian presidential election on 18 March 2018.
Curated by AV Festival: Meanwhile, what about Socialism? as part of the Festival Exhibition across five venues in Newcastle and Gateshead. Partner: Lithuanian Culture Institute.
NewBridge Books at BALTIC 39
Opening hours: Mon – Sun 10–6pm
22min looped video installation. Starts on the hour and half hour
Image: Vitalij Strigunkov, Waiting, 2015, film still. Courtesy the artist
