Antoine Donzeaud presented solo exhibition A thousand friends at Vilnius’ Rupert, which ran from January 27 until February 23, 2016.
The show presents new works made during Donzeaud’s Rupert residency and develops a narrative intertwining physical locations and fictional characters, both human and animal, virtual and IRL. A video shot on site is told through subtitles to an instrumental hip-hop soundtrack featuring local spots: a restaurant, a frozen river, snow-capped landscapes, houses under construction and abandoned buildings. The story is dehumanized and punctuated by the presence of animals — dogs, ducks, swans.
Borrowed pieces of foam from the stripped-down couches of Rupert’s building are wrapped in transparent sprayed polythene and gathered in one spot, like large slices of wall. Some polypropylene bags are scattered across the room, like upright oversized pillowcases with faces scrawled across them. Blueish pieces of tarp hang loosely on frames. A couple of pendants hang on suctions cups, reminiscent of adolescent lucky charms. A flatscreen TV hangs above a dining table, with a short looped video of an artist kicking one of his own works then falling to the ground in a tragicomic manner, and three paintings on paper are wrapped in plastic blown up disfigured earphones.**
