PARIS.- Les Frontières sont des animaux nocturnes / Sienos yra naktiniai gyvūnai (Borders are Nocturnal Animals) is a project co-organized by KADIST Paris, the Palais de Tokyo and the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius.

The exhibition presents intergenerational Lithuanian artists together with a collective of cultural workers from “post-socialist” countries, some now based in Western Europe and the US. It stems from the present geopolitical turmoil caused by the Russian war in Ukraine.

Two years after the full scale invasion started, what normality is possible in the vicinity of the conflict, while we witness history tending to repeat itself? The exhibition points at stories of that region that until recently were overshadowed by power discourses both from the East and the West. Once told, can they reshape established narratives of the past and the present?

The exhibition focuses on the threat of invasion, the haunting ghost of the past occupation, and persistent systems of beliefs and languages that carry resilience. Simultaneously presented at the Palais de Tokyo and KADIST through different artworks, the common group of artists uses imagination, poetry, and ancestral wisdom as political tools, as well as more factual approaches to read through complex colonial histories, realities, and envision the future.

The title is a reference to Luba Jurgenson’s essay, When we woke up. The Night of 24 February 2022: Invasion of Ukraine (Verdier, 2023): “Borders are nocturnal animals, they move while we sleep. We should always be vigilant.”

Curators: Neringa Bumblienė (CAC Vilnius curator) & Émilie Villez (KADIST advisor).

Artists: Andrius Arutiunian, Beyond the post-soviet, Danylo Halkin, Agnė Jokšė, Deimantas Narkevičius, Marija Olšauskaitė, Algirdas Šeškus, Emilija Škarnulytė, Anastasia Sosunova, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, Anna Zvyagintseva.

On view until January 4, 2025 at KADIST Paris, and until January 5, 2025 at Palais de Tokyo. A third chapter of the exhibition will follow in June 2025 at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius.