A biographer of the strangeness, Goda Palekaitė is interested in historical characters imbued with mystery; in transgressive figures who, breaking with the dominant thought of their time, find themselves proscribed or marginalized by History. Through her research-based practice, she digs into these particular lives, their lacunar stories and what they allow us to deduce or speculate about the psychology of the protagonists. She draws these portraits through a practice of writing, mixing factual references and fictional interpretations in order to question the processes of historical construction and collective memory. What is inscribed, what is forgotten and what is perceived today. Fully assuming the hybridity of her narratives, she challenges us about these individuals as they are often deeply committed and have complex, liminal, personalities. She plays on the credibility of the testimony, the power of subjective projection and identification that inspires the audience.
In the frame of the exhibition Architecture of Heaven at Centre tour à Plomb, Goda Palekaitė presents a collective performance, Digestive System of Humanity: The Mouth, which takes the form of a banquet* during which the guests are invited to read short passages from a text written by the artist (EN & FR). It gives the floor to historical personalities with backgrounds and temperaments as unusual as they are surprising; Sappho, Essad Bey, Michel Leiris, Avraham Firkovich and Emmanuel Swedenborg, among others. This performance is realized in collaboration with Jonas Palekas, chef and artist who has conceived five dishes made with little known or even forgotten ingredients, which hold legendary or proven virtues. These recipes echo the stories told by the text.
* The course of this performance takes into account the distances between the participants and the terms of service in accordance with health measures.
