A crowded beach, the burning sun, bright bathing suits and sweaty brows and legs. Tired limbs sprawling lazily across a sea of towels. The rumble of a volcano, or of an airplane, or a speedboat. The squeal of children, laughter, the sound of an ice cream van in the distance. Sunbathers sing languid songs of worry, of boredom, of almost nothing. Songs of early morning flights and half-eaten sandwiches in the sand, the crinkling of plastic bags whirling in the air then floating silently, jellyfish-like below the waterline.
Stories that glide between the mundane, the sinister and the surreal. Witness from above as an afternoon at the beach reveals a mesmerising exploration of the relationship between us and our planet.
Lithuania’s national entry for the 2019 Venice Biennale with an all-female creative team – visual artist and composer Lina Lapelyte (she/her)̇, writer and poet Vaiva Grainytė (she/her) and film/theatre director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė (she/her), Sun & Sea received the festival’s top award, the Golden Lion for Best National Participation.
Curated by Lucia Pietroiusti (she/her), founder of the General Ecology project at Serpentine, the work has toured the world. Notable presentations include BAM (New York), New European Theatre Festival (Moscow), MOCA (Los Angeles), Teatro Argentina (Rome), Zurcher Theaterspektakel as well as presentations in Athens, Bentonville, Copenhagen, Hanover, Luckenwald, Malmo and Philadelphia.
Artists
Vaiva Grainytė
— Writer, playwright, essayist and poet
— Sun & Sea
Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė
— Filmmaker, theatre director and visual artist
— Sun & Sea
Lina Lapelyte
— Artist, composer, musician and performer
— Sun & Sea
Curator
Lucia Pietroiusti
— Curator
— Sun & Sea
Sun & Sea remains one of the greatest achievements in performance of the last 10 years: wry, seductive and cunning in ways that reveal themselves days or years later. This is a performance that makes the extinction of the species feel as agreeable as a perfect pop song, and as unforgettable, too.— The New York Times
A haunting manifestation of our messed up relationship with our planet.— Time Out London
CREDITS
The UK premiere of Sun & Sea is presented by LIFT, the Albany and Serpentine as part of LIFT 2022, Back to Earth and We Are Lewisham.
We Are Lewisham is presented by Lewisham Council in partnership with the Albany. London Borough of Culture is a Mayor of London initiative.
Supported by the Embassy of Lithuania and in association with the Lithuanian Culture Institute.
Photography by Elon Shoenholz, Andrej Vasilenko, Richard Termine and Emmalisa Pauly.
The Albany
An arts centre in the heart of Deptford that exists to inspire, develop and support creativity for the benefit of the community.
