Goda Palekaitė: Legal Implications of a Dream
RawArt Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
December 20, 2018 - January 26, 2019
The exhibition originated from the artist’s long-term research into the history and mythology of the Khazars, a mysterious medieval culture that once existed between the Caspian and the Black seas. This ongoing research included a trip to the Caucasus area and a recent visit to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, during which the artist met with researchers, historians, and legal experts.
Inspired by Milorad Pavić's novel Dictionary of The Khazars (1984), which portrays the Khazars as a nation of “dreamhunters,” Palekaitė’s research explored the distinct local meanings of the subject and its historical and contemporary manifestations. In this framework, the two cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv functioned, physically and metaphorically, as two focal points. The final project included several collaborations with local video and sound artists.
"Legal Implications of a Dream" followed the apocalyptic extinction of the Khazars, who lived by the rules of pagan wisdom and spiritual practice, and were perhaps the most tolerant empire of all times. In more recent discourses, on a path full of inventions, forgeries, rumors, and legends, their legacy was transformed into an exceedingly misused and speculative subject by diverse politically and religiously invested scholars. In any case, the Khazar’s possible religious conversion followed their ruler’s dream, for which he had sought interpretation.
Goda Palekaitė’s performative exhibition followed the path of the potential political power or agency of dreams. Palekaitė was interested in the role of collective imagination, in processes of legitimazation of state and religious powers, and in the mechanisms used to construct and destroy history. She used speculation and forgery as her main methods, creating a shared space for dream life and factual information.
The exhibition was supported by the Lithuanian Culture Institute, the Lithuanian Council for Culture, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, and Outset Bialik Residency.
