This project explores the evolving relationship between landscapes, natural forces, and human intervention on both a local and global scale. Commissioned by the inter!m Festival in Ehingen, the work takes inspiration from the town’s name, Ehingen (Danube) – one of many places historically defined by their rivers, yet altered by shifting infrastructure.
At the heart of the installation is a floating spruce sculpture, crafted from trees once rooted in the city forest.
This work highlights how landscapes are in constant flux. The Danube, once a stable reference point, has been redirected and reshaped over time. Similarly, the floating spruces break away from their original context, carried by currents beyond human control. What appears as a simple raft becomes a metaphor for broader ecological and geopolitical transformations – deforestation, water management, migration, and the interwoven forces shaping our environment.
Synopsis:
A remote, wild stretch of the Danube unfolds in new perspectives as a drone traces the river’s course. The flight offers an intimate experience of the water, capturing both its physical presence and an expanded way of seeing. Drifting along a section of the Danube belonging to the city, the sculpture transforms the river into both stage and collaborator, tracing the delicate balance between control and fluidity. By merging local, site-specific materials with global themes of movement and displacement, the project invites reflection on the ways in which nature, culture, and history are deeply intertwined. The river, a force both powerful and vulnerable, reveals its dependence on human influence, while the drifting spruces embody a landscape in transition – challenging our perception of what is fixed and what is fluid.
At its core, the work explores the fluid power dynamics within a larger system. It invites reflection on movement and displacement – how landscapes shift, how nature adapts, and how human influence reshapes what once seemed immutable.
Selected exhibitions:
2019 Switch To Art, 2019-2020 Video Art Edition, curated by Dunja Bialas, Brückenhaus, Sparkasse Neu-Ulm – Illertissen, Germany (catalogue)
2021 Videodox biennial, Galerie der Künstler, Munich, DE
2021 Supernature, Galerie der Künstler, Munich, DE
2021 NO LAND /NO EARTH / NO SOIL /NO GROUND, Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art / Lithuanian National Museum of Art (curator Dr. Jurgita Ludavičienė)
2021 The Sanctity of Nature? 10th Sacrum Art Triennial, City Art Gallery, Częstochowa, Poland
2021 Artissima, Meno Parkas Gallery, Turin, Italy
2022 BORDERS’ BORDERS, Domšaitis Gallery, Klaipėda / Lithuanian National Museum of Art (curator Dr. Jurgita Ludavičienė)
2023 Video Art Programme. Neringa Naujokaitė | Patricija Gilytė | Židrija Janušaitė | Žilvinas Landzbergas, Meno Parkas Gallery, Kaunas, Lithuania
2023 Von der Holztrift bis zum Floß, Bockhorni-Kabinett, Museum Wolfratshausen, DE
2024 BECOMING, P.Gilytė, S.Žemaitytė, A.Ambrazevičiūtė, Chapelle de l‘Oratoire, Clermont- Ferrand, FR
https://videoformes.com/en/news-homepage/exhibitions-becoming-oratory-chapel/
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/patricija-gilyte-danube-woodland-raft