Marija Olšauskaitė

Abri Mars is pleased to present our inaugural solo exhibition, Budinti, a series of glassworks by Lithuanian artist Marija Olšauskaitė.

"The threshold is not a border or a point, but a zone where time and space swell"

—Laimonas Briedis, paraphrasing Walter Benjamin in "Vilnius, City of Strangers."

Olšauskaitė's sculptures explore how we navigate distance and closeness, the seen and unseen, and the fragile balance between vulnerability and structure. Her works appear as twins, mirroring each other like islands once connected. The idea of a sibling, a counterpart, runs through her work like a hidden code. Through subtle shifts, she redefines the familiar, challenging expectations. Like family, her pieces are watching over one another.

Budinti (Lithuanian for "to keep watch" or "to look after") is both the exhibition title and an ongoing series honoring the invisible labor embedded in our everyday surroundings. Olšauskaitė gathers glass remnants from the Red Sunrise Factory, once the preeminent stained glass producer in Lithuania, which closed over 30 years ago. She sources these rare fragments from former employees, sometimes flattening them and altering their colors by melting the glass in a kiln or sanding them.

Accompanying Budinti is Little Ears, which reflects on the unseen but overheard aspects of daily life. Olšauskaitė remembers, as a child, listening to her parents and their friends tell stories in the kitchen while she hid behind the kitchen door. One story recounts rumors about the Hotel Neringa restaurant, a regular gathering place for dignitaries and artists, which was allegedly wired with listening devices. It was said that microphones were hidden in every booth and flower vase.

Marija Olšauskaitė (b. 1989, Lithuania) lives and works in Vilnius. Her solo exhibitions include The Softest Hard, Musée Carré d'Art, Nîmes (2024); Never Act in Haste, PM8/Francisco Salas, Vigo (2024); Sekretas, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2023); Song Sing Soil (with Eglė Budvytytė), Vleeshal, Middelburg (2023); I Want to Stuff My Heart with Moss, Editorial, Vilnius (2022); Witness on Our Behalf, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (2019); Marija & Petras Olšauskai: Miss Bird, Art in General, New York City (2014), among others. Olšauskaitė participated in group exhibitions internationally, including "Les frontières sont des animaux nocturnes, Le Palais de Tokyo and Kadist, Paris (2024); The Milk of Dreams, the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2022); and suddenly it all blossoms, RIBOCA2, Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (2020); I Walk the Night, PM8/Francisco Salas, Vigo (2019); Joy and Mirror. Port City, Fourtoseven Gallery, Riga (2016) among others. In Europe, the artist is represented by PM8/Francisco Salas.