Aequare, 2023/today

AEQUARE* is an ongoing project that was started in 2023 in collaboration with dancers Iro Xyda and Ieva Bražėnaitė. Its objective is to investigate the wearable perspective of an artwork via the angle of alternate creative experiences and forms of expession. 

The starting point of this collaboration was the artwork 'The Big Other', consisting of a man's suit jacket covered with handmade crochet female breasts. The work was inspired by the ambiguous Artemis Polymastos of Ephesus. An alabaster statue covered with 20 to 30 rounded bumps, it resembles breasts or, according to some experts, bull testicles.

When the dancers happened upon the outfit, they were intrigued to see how textile artwork and physical limitations might shape and affect movement. At the same time, it prompted them to rethink the restrictions placed on men and women in a culture that moulds their gender identity and choreographs their everyday lives.

The performance depicts a dystopic and playful universe, which shifts from being to becoming to overcoming. To compare, level, make even, straighten, and equalize. It's an attempt to address one of our time's most serious issues: what does equality truly look like? Could there ever be a world where men and women are treated equally?

According to a sobering UN research, achieving gender equality without investment might take nearly 300 years.

* (lat.) derives from aequalis, meaning action of making equal, equalizing