Down the Rabbit Hole

MO museum
Pylimo str. 17
Vilnius, Lithuania
April 11 – November 3, 2024

While most of us have a deep-seated desire to connect with nature, we also want to understand the complicated political and social forces that shape our lives. As the pandemic and other global processes have revealed, the romantic idea to return to nature often aligns with narratives of the right wing ideas, such as resurrecting the philosophy of ‘natural order.’ It is a realm of re-emergence of various prophecies produced by charlatans, self-healing coaches, wellness specialists and even new online-media gurus. These self-soothing techniques are not only suspicious but sometimes form the core of corporate culture, and are therefore  strongly intertwined with the toxic side of capitalism.

The exhibition Down the Rabbit Hole serves as a window into the emergence of conspirituality, a phenomenon that has gained momentum in recent years. Coined by sociologists Charlotte Ward and David Voas over a decade ago, the term ‘conspirituality’ refers to a movement fueled by political disillusionment and a growing interest in alternative beliefs. It revolves around two main ideas: the belief in a hidden group controlling society, and a supposed shift in human consciousness, often called a ‘paradigm shift.’ Both conspiracy theories and esoteric beliefs focus on uncovering hidden truths and pursuing secret knowledge.

During recent years, neo-paganism has been on the rise, blending into mainstream culture while also intertwining with conspiratorial beliefs. Within the exhibition, the artworks that form an interplay between conspirituality, selfhood, and the phenomenon of paganism are showcased both in a critical and celebratory way. The exhibition Down the Rabbit Hole aims to demonstrate the intergenerational connection between artistic practices and how traumatic experiences within the socio-political landscape have been expressed in the light of conspirituality.

Participating artists: Līga Spunde (1990), Anastasia Sosunova (1993), Viktorija Daniliauskaitė (1951), Darja Popolitova (1989), Aistė Ramūnaitė (1957), Vita Zaman (1976), Katrīna Neiburga (1978), Laura Põld (1984), Nijolė Valadkevičiūtė (1944–2020), Gertrūda Gilytė (1992).

Curators:
Justė Kostikovaitė, Maija Rudovska, Merilin Talumaa

Architect:
Sigita Šimkūnaitė

Coordinator:
Agnė Kuprytė

Graphic designer:
Gailė Pranckūnaitė

Exhibition installation:
Dominykas Šavelis

 

Exhibition partners and supporters: MO museum, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation