SetP Stanikas

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

When we heard about the Season of Lithuania, we started thinking about what project we could create in relation to it. We have a special relationship with these two countries, as we live there for part of the year each. In the end, we decided to hold the exhibition in situ, in the heart of the Lithuanian Embassy.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

Generally speaking, we often work on this connection between Lithuania and France, and we decided to include here the story of Oscar Milosz (1877 – 1939), the first Lithuanian ambassador in France. Born in this territory when it was still under the domination of the Russian Empire, he left to study abroad before the country’s independence in 1918. He traveled extensively, but lived most of his life in France, never returning to his homeland, which he ultimately knew very little about. As a poet and a writer, he was truly part of the Lithuanian intelligentsia in Paris. He is therefore the common thread running through the exhibition: we draw parallels between his life and our own by using certain elements of his literary work and incorporating them into our art. 

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

Oscar Milosz’ universe was inspired by fairy tales, tradition and folklore, and we were able to add French tales into the mix. For example, there’s the story of a young girl who falls in love with a snake and leaves her family for him. But to save her, her brothers decide to kill the animal, and she begins to hate everyone… In these stories, we like the complexity between love and hate, and the fact that sometimes, in wanting to do good, we only make things worse… Roles can be reversed.

These stories never take on a single meaning, and the author himself did not analyse his works solely through a literary prism. Here, the young woman abandons her home and this is of great concern to her, even as she finds happiness elsewhere. We kept that in mind when we came up with the exhibition, especially Milosz’ relationship with Lithuania, never wanting to see it again…

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

No, and he didn’t even go back when he was nominated Minister for Foreign Affairs in Lithuania, a position that he refused. He had his own conception of the country and wanted to preserve this somewhat mythical and fanciful vision, more or less close to the fairy tales he had imagined and which, of course, did not reflect reality.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

There are indeed similarities. Your home country is like a mother. She can be mean, she isn’t always pretty, but we love her all the same. When you’re far from your homeland, as Oscar Milosz was, you have a distanced, somewhat idealised vision of it. We like this connection between something that is so distant yet so near.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

I, Paulius, have a degree in economics, which may seem a bit paradoxical… It allowed me not to serve in the military, at a time when we were at war with Afghanistan. However, my grandfather was one of the most famous sculptors of the Soviet era and I grew up surrounded by his works, so I’ve always been connected to art. I, Svajoné, attended the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where my education focused on academic and post-impressionist painting. But we’re artists who don’t like to fit into a given framework and always work with very different mediums.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

We work with each media according to what we feel like doing in the moment. Initially, we see ourselves as sculptors, which is the basis of our work. You can see that in the photograph of a horse saddle (La langue de princesse) that we discovered at the École Militaire. We worked on it by hand before taking the shot. We are inspired by the places we visit, our travels or the residences we are invited to. In winter, for example, we go to Buenos Aires a lot, where the light is perfect.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

Yes, because we like to use what’s around us, without putting any particular symbolism into it, as the egg in this series called “Les Origines” might suggest. Sometimes we can be a little sarcastic, trying to provoke the viewer… We give the audience something to see that is to be freely interpreted and can be as sad as it is cheerful. We like to be between good and evil, black and white, wealth and poverty, nobility and commoners… We like contrasts and polarity.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

This installation does indeed speak of the sacred and the profane, but also of the urban and the rural worlds, or of the bourgeoisie (represented by the piano) and the working classes. But we also played with the kitsch decoration of this location, as the embassy was originally the first Parisian residence of composer Ernest Chausson, whose interior was decorated by Odilon Redon and Maurice Denis. So we’ve incorporated the place into our installation. We don’t like to be too direct in what we say, but we’re always in a game of balance and equilibrium.

Svajoné and Paulius Stanikas:

We don’t talk about history, but we do feed off current events, even if again, this is not directly visible. The environment is an instrument that inspires our work, and while we’re not going to reproduce an image that we saw in the press, what surrounds us influences us. For example, in 2021, we did a large series of drawings called “Priez pour nous”. At the time, nobody imagined that there’d be a war between Russia and Ukraine, but artists can sense this kind of thing, and works about war came to us. Before it even started, we were drawing bombs, American and Russian rockets, and skyscrapers… These drawings are about politics and history, but in a non-literal way. Generally speaking, humanity and existence are our main focus. We ask ourselves: Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going?