On October 27, at 6-9 pm, as part of the OPEN STUDIOS, SODAS 2123 invites you to visit a community wardrobe created by its resident Karolina Janulevičiūtė. During the event, SODAS 2123 residents and visitors will be able to meet and try on clothes created from August to October as well as to share their personal experiences on dressing themselves, wearing and sharing clothes as a means to carry conversations.
SODAS 2123 GARDEROBAS is a clothing line created as the cultural centre’s inside tool to foster a sense of community. Dressing oneself is understood as a game here, therefore the clothes in this wardrobe complement the residents and involve them as well as other visitors in experiencing casual, absurd or special everyday activities with a garment, tailored specifically for that occasion. Be it a gallery opening – to which you, again, find nothing to wear yet want to look presentable – or a pressure-inducing professional studio visit, or a relaxing shower in the midst of installing a new exhibition – the wardrobe on the residents’ floor will have something for you for all such scenarios. The wardrobe consists of 12 garments and accessories.
SODAS 2123 GARDEROBAS is a shared initiative, therefore a borrowed piece of clothing needs to be looked after by each of its wearers. The initiative aims at bringing light to the value of materiality and invites people to take care of their clothes as it is the most sustainable way of wearing and maintaining their longevity. Additional instructions and guidelines can be found on the garments’ labels and in the wardrobe zone.
SODAS 2123 GARDEROBAS has been created from the materials collected by resident Janulevičiūtė in Tallin where she’s spent the last few years. The fabrics were collected from a fabric warehouse shop – there was a fire there in 2014 and a part of its stock was ruined. Affected by fire extinguishers and water sprinklers or faded by direct light, the fabrics, tools, or simple scraps (still usable) were sold for a symbolic price. Impelled by the experience and exclusion the fabrics gave gone through, the artist had an idea to make use of their materiality and authentic defects, and to bring them back into the cycle of fashion by making clothing designs from them.
Karolina Janulevičiūtė is a fashion designer and artist. In her practice she researches and exposes the human relation with garments, creating narratives that reflect collective and individual memories trapped in dressing. Her background in Fashion Design studies at Vilnius Academy of Art, as well as Estonian Academy of Art, and her Master’s of Arts degree at Aalto University allows using acquired skills and tools to conduct research on Baltic region identity and wardrobe method, as a system for creating garments.
The event will take place on the third floor of the SODAS 2123’s old building, right above the project space Swallow (Vitebsko str. 21, Vilnius).
SODAS 2123 art residency program is partly funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.