Veidrodis

Veidrodis is a work of art that belongs to a larger project that Velasco Vitali develops by working on the idea of the ghost town: the town that is lingering in time and is in between the memories of the past, the actual present days and the possible future.

The work of art was launched at the Venice Biennale and it has been designed and built for the Padiglione Italia. Veidrodis's inspiration is drawn from Kitezh, the legendary town which submerged itself in the lake in the XIII century to escape the Tartar attempt to conquer the town. Kitezh was built on the shores of lake Svetloyar. Since then, it was hidden and pilgrims travelled to the lake to try and spot the town amidst the water ripples or hoped to hear the church's bells chime. This legend was then told by the Russian composer, Rimsky Korsakov, who composed the work “The Legend of the invisible city of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronija” (1907), and by the Bavarian filmmaker, Werner Herzog, in his documentary “Bells from the deep” (1993).

“If you want to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke, you need to listen to the way Lithuanian peasants speaks”, Antoine Meillet, a famous French linguist, says.

Veidrodis is a Lithuanian word that can be translated as “mirror”, and yet, it is a word made of two other words: one of them means “it that makes you see” and the other means “your self“. Veidrodis is what makes you see your self. What makes you see your self is the very search for Kitezh, or the search for its reflection or the chimes of its bells: the utopia of perfection.

Press Release © 54th International Art Exhibition ‐ Venice Biennale