filled up, torn open
Deividas Vytautas Aukščiūnas (b. 1996, Chicago, USA) is a Lithuanian visual artist living and working between Berlin and Vilnius. Aukščiūnas received his MA in contemporary art practice from the Royal College of Art (UK) in 2022 and a BA in film from the University of Westminster (UK) in 2017. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Todestrieb at Generation & Display, London (2024), Escapismus at Kunstpunkt, Berlin (2024), Surface Tension at Des Bains, London (2024), Shells of the Self at Crash Club, Warsaw (2024), Flashbang at Vilnius Higher Education Institution (2023), Collective Healing Youth Club (ACT I) at Meno Parkas Gallery, Kaunas (2023), Audra at Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery, Kaunas (2023), Soft When Warm at Guts Gallery, London (2023), Spaces at Composers House, Vilnius (2021), Everything Forever at Sissy Club, Marseille (2021). Aukščiūnas was selected as one of the CIRCA PRIZE class of 2023 finalists with the video piece Collective Healing Youth Club (2023). In 2021 he received the JCDecaux award from the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) for his film tight grip, it makes me feel safe (2021).
Deividas Vytautas Aukščiūnas,‘filled up, torn open’, 2022/2024. Film still. Courtesy and © the artist. Supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. Selected for AFI’24 by Sapieha palace, branch of Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania.
Deividas Vytautas Aukščiūnas,‘filled up, torn open’, 2022/2024. Film still. Courtesy and © the artist. Supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. Selected for AFI’24 by Sapieha palace, branch of Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania.
filled up, torn open (2022/2024)
Deividas Vytautas Aukščiūnas
Selected by Sapieha Palace, branch of the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, Lithuania
filled up, torn open stands at the intersection of the familiar and the taboo. The familiar is highlighted through repeated references to pop culture, contemporaneity in both its physical and online forms, and religious iconography. The taboo appears in the way these disparate yet corresponding elements converge - through the sensual, intimate, and sometimes violent bodily proximity of the characters that occupy the mise en scène. Nameless and discontinuous, they glide through the narrative with an obscureness that mirrors the fragmentary nature of the film itself. What unites them is the force of desire, the search for limit experiences that would surpass, even if for a brief moment, the constraints of their physical bodies. In the resulting fever dream-like narrative, the status quo of the rational world breaks apart and, in its stead, new radical imaginaries emerge.
Deividas Vytautas Aukščiūnas’ work has long captivated us with its intricate narrative structures, a characteristic clearly demonstrated in filled up, torn open (2022/2024). The film pulsates with a rich tapestry of imagery, ranging from 3D renders to AI animation and found footage, while also drawing on themes of religious mythology, contemporary culture, internet trends, and pop music. Its algorithmic structure resonates in today’s visually saturated context, yet rather than promoting passive engagement, this blend of diverse sources elicits an active sensory reaction. The carnal and sensual motifs, expressed through performances that anchor the story, further amplify this response, and is precisely how the film aligns with this year’s theme of solidarity. That is, by highlighting the necessity of active engagement in collective worldbuilding, specifically proposing sensory unification as a compelling method to achieve this goal.
Povilas Gumbis, curator, Sapieha Palace:
As a newly established branch of Vilnius’ Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Sapieha Palace is thrilled to join the AFI programme. We selected Deividas’ film due to its embrace of discomfort and the exploration of possibilities beyond it. With Sapieha Palace being at the intersection of cultural heritage and contemporary art, we must recognize the comfortable and the uncomfortable aspects both history and contemporaneity bring, and dare to venture into discomfort to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the whole.