The ladies are Violeta, Nijole, Danute and Judita.
They have been playing Kanklės (horizontal harp) at the National Song and Dance Ensemble Lietuva (Eng. – Lithuania) for more than 30 years, mostly in accompanying roles. Lietuva is a state-funded structure that consists of singers, dancers and the orchestra of traditional instruments. Learned stage manners are essential and key visual aspects of the work, while the four women play a monotonous block of sound for an extended period of time. Synchronised hand action and flashing lights is a suggestion towards a dance performance or labour intense factory work.
Lina Lapelytė (b. 1984) is an artist and composer whose performance based practice is rooted in music and explores pop culture, gender stereotypes, and nostalgia. She is best known for Sun & Sea (with Vaiva Grainytė and Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė), which won the Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Working between Vilnius and London, she collaborates with trained and untrained performers to create collective acts of singing that question systems of silencing and invite vulnerability.
Among other places her work has been presented at Festival d’Automne/Bourse de Commerce (Paris), Wiener Festwochen, BAM, MOCA, the Venice Biennale, Taipei and Shanghai Biennials, Performa (New York), Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), and Medina Triennial (New York), Tate Modern (London), Milano Triennale, and an upcoming solo show at the CAC (Vilnius).
