Photo reportage from "The Metaphysics of the Runner" by Ugnius Gelguda and Neringa Černiauskaitė (Pakui Hardware)

July 15, 2014
Author Echo Gone Wrong

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From June 26th through August 17th Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius features an exhibition ‘The Metaphysics of the Runner’ by Lithuanian artist duo Ugnius Gelguda and Neringa Černiauskaitė (Pakui Hardware*). In the exhibition the artists continue to explore the relation between future and imagination. In ‘The Metaphysics of the Runner’, the image of a runner embodies a certain vision of the future, determined by the language and means of the ultra-present, such as speed, post-organic bodies, synthetic voices, and augmented reality. The runner treads in time flaring with the gleams of our imagination: internet images, brands, artworks and fragments of video images. Is it possible, the artists ask, that the end of this journey there is a moment at which a human being will no longer make it within this artificially generated reality?

Curator: Inesa Pavlovskaitė

In collaboration with Dovilė Gudačiauskaitė, Jeannine Han, Lukas Miceika, Daniel Terna

Courtesy of Alex Ross. With the project ‘The Metaphysics of the Runner’, Ugnius Gelguda and Neringa Černiauskaitė go under the name of Pakui Hardware.

Pakui Hardware appeared to fill in an empty space of a removed brand logo. Courtesy of curator Alex Ross (NY), the title Pakui Hardware refers to Pakui, special attendant of Haumea (Goddess of fertility whose children were born of various parts of her fragmented body) at Kailua, who could circle Oahu six times in a day. Thus Pakui Hardware is high-speed and brand politics as mythic semio-commodity as well as the desire to transcend the material limitations. Semio-Capital meets materiality.

Pakui Hardware will be launched at their solo show at Jenifer Nails (Frankfurt, Germany) this upcoming fall.

Ugnius Gelguda and Neringa Černiauskaitė began to collaborate in 2009. ‘The Metaphysics of the Runner’, 2014, has been presented at 321 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, NADA New York (represented by Vartai Gallery, 2014). Other projects include ‘Popcorn, Pepsi, Petabytes: Intro’, Cage, New York, 2014, ‘Now More Than Ever’, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, 2012, ‘Anything is always nearby or next to something else’, Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, 2013. The artists have participated in group shows at CCS Bard / Hessel Museum of Art, New York, 2014, and ar/ge Kunst Gallery Museum, Bolzano, Italy, 2013.

The exhibition will unfold further in Riga, at kim? Contemporary Art Centre, from 16 January until 1 March, 2015.

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The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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In collaboration with Daniel Terna, The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Digital print, Dibond, digitally removed brand logo,180 x 110 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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After Nature, 2014. Video, iPhone video footage, 3D graphics, 3:54 min. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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After Nature, 2014. Video, iPhone video footage, 3D graphics, 3:54 min. Video still

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The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Resin, carbon sheet, 23 x 56 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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After Nature, 2014. Video, iPhone video footage, 3D graphics, 3:54 min. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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After Nature, 2014. Video, iPhone video footage, 3D graphics, 3:54 min. Video still

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After Nature, 2014. Video, iPhone video footage, 3D graphics, 3:54 min. Video still

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The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Resin, carbon sheet, 23 x 56 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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Untitled (Porcelain. Central Park), 2013. Porcelain, 8 x 26 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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Untitled (Porcelain. Central Park), 2013. Porcelain, 10 x 13 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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After Effects, 2014. Video, 3D graphics, sound: K-200 Kurzweil synthesizer, 0:36 min. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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After Effects, 2014. Video, 3D graphics, sound: K-200 Kurzweil synthesizer, 0:36 min. Video still

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In collaboration with Daniel Terna. The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Digital print, Dibond, digitally removed brand logo,180 x 110 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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Black Out, 2012. Video, iPhone video footage, 1:20 min. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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Black Out, 2012. Video, iPhone video footage, 1:20 min. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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In collaboration with Jeannine Han, The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Synthetic fabric, acrylic paint, 50 x 160 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

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In collaboration with Jeannine Han, The Metaphysics of the Runner, 2014. Synthetic fabric, acrylic paint, 50 x 160 cm. Exposition view at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda

The elements of the exposition were made in collaboration with Dovilė Gudačiauskaitė.

Photographs by Artnews.lt