“Les Frontières sont des animaux nocturnes / Sienos yra naktiniai gyvūnai” presents a dozen intergenerational artists: mostly Lithuanian, but also based in the wider region and France. Using forms, imagination and poetry as political tools, this exhibition offers a frail thread to read through complex colonial histories, realities, and visions of the future. The project stems from the present geopolitical turmoil caused by the Russian war in Ukraine and follows the multitude of ruptures and ripples it sends through space and time. Two years after the invasion started, what normality is possible in the vicinity of the conflict, while we witness history repeating itself? The exhibition points at untold histories of the region that until very recently were overshadowed by power discourses. Once told, can they reshape established narratives of the past and the present? The exhibition brings together artists that reflect on systems of beliefs and languages that carry resilience.

The title is a reference to Luba Jurgenson’s essay, Quand nous nous sommes réveillés. Nuit du 24 février 2022 : invasion de l’Ukraine [When we woke up. Night of February 24 2022: invasion of Ukraine] (Verdier, 2023): “Les frontières sont des animaux nocturnes, elles bougent pendant que nous dormons. Il faudrait toujours veiller” [Borders are nocturnal animals, they move while we sleep. We should always be vigilant].

“Les Frontières sont des animaux nocturnes / Sienos yra naktiniai gyvūnai” is a project co-organised by the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, KADIST Paris, and the Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius on the occasion of the Season of Lithuania in France. The exhibition will be simultaneously presented at the Palais de Tokyo and KADIST in Paris in the fall of 2024 and will be curated by Neringa Bumblienė and Emilie Villez. A presentation at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius will follow in 2025.