RESONANCE BEYOND ESCAPE: QWORKAHOLICS ANONYMOUS III

15 June – 6 October 2024

Opening: 15 June 2024, 6pm–6am 

Nida Art Colony of the Vilnius Academy of Arts
E. A. Jonušo g. 3
Nida LT-93127
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am–6pm

Participating artists
Anna Ehrenstein, Blue Paul Fleming, Gabriele Gervickaite, Margot Vic, Malik Irtiza, Mihaela Drăgan, Mila Kostianá, Rafiki, Noor Abed, Pêdra Costa, Queer Falafel, Shripad Sinnakaar, Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau + Natalia Escobar and The Albanian Conference (Anna Ehrenstein, Fadescha, Rebecca Pokua Korang, DNA)

Curator
Party Office (Vidisha-Fadescha)

Qworkaholics Anonymous is a persistent call towards self-respect, towards a finding of what it’s like to live our life as a whole. It’s a gathering of people who experience burnout from the incessant need to engage in the very acts of survival, living in an inequitable human society that tends to render people unworthy if we don’t serve its material interest.

Is recovering the objects of our ancestors from museums enough accountability for having buried them alive? Does land acknowledgement mean we all have freedom of movement? Does freedom mean having the same position and access as those who subjugate us? When we ask ourselves to be decolonised, we also ask for our own actions and minds to unlearn ways in which we disrespect others as well as our full selves. To refuse actions that align us with categories of the neoliberal order, and reject the shame that manipulates our desires and suppresses our instincts. To abolish is to release, to let go of what doesn’t serve you, and to dismantle the system that non-consensually governs.

Our elders pass down power, resilience and pain. We take time and listen to what they want us to know. We need to acknowledge that our humanity is not of our body alone but of more people and the five elements that make us. As there are people who find integrity that submits to the killing of other human beings, we should have a much stronger chant and collectivity in asking for the freedom of all forms of life, and dignity of all who have died. We must unapologetically reject the infantilising of this non-negotiable demand. 

Qworkaholics Anonymous reimagines the format of de-addiction programs “Alcoholics Anonyomus” to create space for ‘doing nothing’, asserting that Trans and other radical figures do important work in their very acts of survival. This is a project initiated by artist-curator Fadescha, part I (2020) and part II (2022) took the form of video works. Part III comprises an artist residency and an exhibition curated by Party Office at Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania. In Nida, we build upon a land witness to many graves, a poetry resonant beyond escape.

Party Office is an anti-caste, antiracist, transfeminist, art and social, space and time founded in 2020 in New Delhi.

Production Assistance: Anton Shramkov, Blue Paula Flemming, Diāna Mikāne, Dovile Lapinskaitė, Sandy, Lukas Tarvainis, Vasilisa Filatova
Communication: Yana Ustymenko
Graphic design: Mila Kostianá
Translation to Lithuanian and proofreading: Austėja Banytė, Deimantė Česokaitė
English proofreading: Gemma Lloyd

Special thanks: Anaïs Duplan, Egija Inzule, Joey Cannizzaro, Shaunak Mahbubani, participants of ‘Queer Labour: how, when’ workshop, Team of Qworkaholics Anonymous II, Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Nida Culture and Tourism Information Centre “Agila”, Curonian Spit National Park    

Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts: Anton Shramkov, Asta Jackutė, Dalia Filatova, Dalia Jokūbauskaitė, Egija Inzule, Gabija Naikauskaitė, Lilija Dulkė, Oksana Kirpanova, Rasa Bliakevič, Tetjana Volosiuk, Valentinas Kuznecovas, Vasilisa Filatova, Yana Ustymenko


RESONANCE BEYOND ESCAPE: QWORKAHOLICS ANONYMOUS III residency and exhibition are funded by Lithuanian Council for Culture and Neringa Municipality.