The section - Mediated Playground - is based on the earliest creative stage of the artist in media arts and covers a period seemingly from 1996 to 2002. It is a research into play and game paradigms and an artistic investigation into playfulness and media approaches, into interaction and interdisciplinary, with research on topics of infantility and banality icons, childiness and kitch issues. Consisting of several bigger and smaller art works and projects selected below.
Toys and Games - interactive media art installation with 8 monitors, 2 cameras, toys, ready-made appliances, 2001. The project is placed on a chess pattern floor and impart about possible rules within metaphorical game. The intergral parts presented on site and irresponsibly lay-outed like chessmen out of their squares on cheesboard interface distictions between game rules and disorderly play.
It is the most artistic work within media art practice in Vilnius art academy - announced rector A. Šaltenis (also professor in painting department) at the defence ceremony. I do not see any order and creativity here, its just messy dispersion and nervous distraction - shortly contradicted professor of painting department Povilas Ričardas Vaitiekūnas and was followed by massive laughter of surrounded audience. The project was showed as a final work for MA degree in Vilnius art academy and reaped diversive reviews separating 2 contradicting fronts in arts: contemporary and traditional, new mediated oppositing old academic viewpoint. The art practice project and the essay were evaluated with highest marks of 10 and 10.
The referent E. Stankevičius, a deputy director of CAC, made a performance according to an institutional critique in academic surrounding, repeatedly reading the same short theoretical text several times (the idea was to loop the reference as long as possible) till he was shut down by evaluation commitee members. The reference was written on highly theoretical level with academic articulation values with many internation words and critical overviews about abstract issues, it was hard to reach topics and ends of ideas and sentences.
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Rotation - the art project with live performances and video installations have been presented in several art residencies: Copenhagen, Denmark; Bern, Switzerland; etc. Complex technique was developed to produce endlessness and extremely mediated scenery over the rotation act. The project started in 1999.
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Just Play It - a short film and looped video installation with sequence of a playing hand from behind the camera with serious technological widgets in an unpredictable way: making music from keyboard, drawing with a desktop icons, scratching DVD plate, etc. It becomes rhythmical music video for those who do not understand technological interface and invites tech-geeks to try it at home. DV, 2001. Solo exhibition at Wellen project, Shwellenmatteli, Bern, Switzerland.
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RGB poetics - digital simpatico, visual narrative effects, 2000. Later visuals have been used for videojockey'ing work, found under VJ Render nickname and portfolio. One of the presented places at East Impact, Yubileiny Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
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Keep Smiling! - endless video collection of smilies in the entire variations and situations. Aiming for a seek of kitch critique and pulse on ordinary base, resulted on monotonously zooming in and out, like soporific wave deliver a lullaby. Film and video installation formats.
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In Army Of Lovers - a film and media art installation, 1998. Playful usage of video technique and mercurial camera work, vibrant and lambent visual effects, constantly changing different toys on diverse bed sheet backgrounds. Film was released on multimedia DVD for Abflug label, also exhibited and screened.
Second Abflug release presents Verhaverbeke Krzyzosiak on the audio side and Vygandas Simbelis on the video side. Verhaverbeke works in the field of ambient-based guitar experiments. Subtle noisescapes of clicks and crackles stand as a great background for the five tracks of guitar tones and gentle strumming. As with the first Abflug release the visual side is the most abstract part. Controlled by Lithuanian artist Vygandas Simbelis the video titled "In Army Of Lovers" presents different toy dolls jumping on camera close-up. The soundtrack sounds like field recordings of a continuously running reel containing sounds of percussions as well as human noises. As the movie develops echoed sounds appear and the sound spectre turns from minimal to a more varied expression.
by Vital Weekly, number 393.
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Digital Smile takes over with not just a letter (a character) but provides a significant difference (change of mood) with even a font. The art project is querying about digitalisation of expressions and emotions, technologisation of human aspects of communication within ordinary media reflections in nowadays life. Monotonous clicks of the computer mouse are referring to trance state than associations of bit by bit transitions smoothly transact on characters, fonts and moods.
Media art installation Non-Stop Digital Smile
Double looped videos, monitor and video camera monitor, doll, doll's sound; Copenhagen, 2000.
Media school exhibition, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Interactive media art installation Not Here Not Now involves visitor/participant into a play in-between of tv screen square and an empty picture frame. Two squares are connected to each other, tv set and picture frame, and involve into interactive play. Visitor/player controls a remote car live and virtually. Ready-made structure is accompanied by immersive video projection. Single channel video, camera, camera light spot, tv set, wooden frame, remote toy-car and remote control. Vilnius, 1999.
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Birutė ne bitutė, kiškutis ne Kęstutis (poetic translation: Barbie is not a bee, a rabbit is not Rabin). Children are talking in solid words while adults in diminutives. Slide installation, 1999.
”One of my favourite texts of that period and pretty provocative work on the issue I had worked on is written by sociologist Neil Postman was The Disappearance of Childhood” - says artist. His thesis argue that children are being robbed off their innocence, their naiveté and even their ability to be a child. He contended that in our world, we ask children to embrace mature issues, themes and experiences, long before they are ready. Children are sheltered from adult secrets, particularly sexual ones. Certain facets of life - its mysteries, contradictions, tragedies, violence - are not considered suitable for children to know. The language of adults and children - including what they address in life - has become the same. It is virtually uncontested among sociologists that the behavior, language, attitudes and desires - even the physical appearance - of adults and children are becoming indistinguishable. The project “Birutė ne bitutė, kiškutis ne Kęstutis” investigates the disappearance of boundaries between childhood and adulthood in a visual and linguistic ways. Exhibited at Espresso Virtualis, Arka gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Vygandas Simbelis slide installation ¨Birutė ne bitutė, kiškutis ne Kęstutis¨ mediates gallery visitors with opposite meanings between image and text, then people are called in diminutive words and animal-toys in human names.
in art newspaper 7 Art Days.
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The film called ¨+¨ was a second release within video art medium by the artist. Its a visual journey from Plus sign title to credits with Minus. Movie starts with a collection of pills in a bright mood, and after many changes within a quality of pills, from vitamins to drugs, atmosphere vanishes into psychedelic trance of magnificent colourscape. VHS, 1997. Screened at French-Baltic-Nordic video and new media festival “Offline@online”, E-media center, Tallinn, Estonia. Exhibited at Projekt Moments, Zimski Salon 1999, University of Ljubljana, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Are you for me - the very first video art movie of Vygandas was produced in 1996. Daily things (from adult world) and mediative stuff have surrounded a pretty innocent girl, where at the end she personaly complains that she is not a girl. "Are you for me" - "I am not a girl for you". 3'28", VHS. Awarded with the Prize of Public Fond in Franco-Balt video art festival, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania. Exhibited in Siauliai Art Gallery, Siauliai, Lithuania, and Mykolas Zilinskas Art Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania. Exhibited at Lithuanian Art 1989-1999, Ten years, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania.