Join us for an in-conversation event with Lithuanian artist, curator and researcher Agnė Bagdžiūnaitė, Estonian artist Heinrich Sepp, and Latvian artist Konstantin Zhukov. The conversation will be moderated by Maggie Matić, Director at Auto Italia.
Bagdžiūnaitė, Sepp and Zhukov will explore LGBTQIA+ activism and structural conditions for socially engaged work in the Baltic states. Participants will present their diverse community engagement practices, examining the extent to which activism is possible within the institutional frameworks of cultural organisations.
This event is part of our events programme Queer Histories from the Baltic Region, organised in partnership with Edinburgh Art Festival, UK; Editorial, Lithuania; Kim?, Latvia; and Centre for Contemporary Art, Estonia. The programme is generously supported by the Baltic Culture Fund, the Lithuanian Culture Institute and Culture Attaché in the UK, and The Estonian Embassy in London.
Auto Italia’s commissions are made possible by our Exhibition Circle and Member supporters.
This event is free to attend, but registration is necessary. Please follow the link above to book your ticket.
Agnė Bagdžiūnaitė is a Lithuanian artist, curator, and researcher specialising in people’s history, feminist and queer ethnography, and theory. Her work often delves into labour history, with a focus on women’s work stories from the Soviet era and the social and during economic changes in the 1990s. Recently, she co-curated the event series Obscene West. Naglis at Kaunas Artists’ House, examining shifts in sexualities in 1990s Lithuania. Agnė is also involved with the social centre EMMA and coordinates the Art Workers’ Labour Union, Lithuania’s first such union.
Heinrich Sepp is a Tallinn-based artist from Estonia, with a BA degree in film directing. Since 2017, they have been writing and performing under the alias Helgi Saldo, focusing on intersectional topics related to the LGBTQAI+ community. Since 2021, they have belonged to the pan-Baltic queer network Black Rose. Black Carnation. They currently host a monthly radio show, Homokringel.
Konstantin Zhukov (Konstantīns Žukovs) is an artist living and working between Riga, Latvia and London, UK. His creative practice is informed by his research into recorded and oral histories exploring different forms of attachment and sexualities. Most recently, Zhukov has turned to the scarcely explored and poorly-documented queer histories of his home country, Latvia, which form the basis of the ongoing project Black Carnation. Zhukov’s recent solo exhibitions include NEVEN Gallery, London (2024) and ISSP Gallery in Riga (2022). His selected group exhibitions included MO Museum, Vilnius (2024), and Latvian National Museum of Art (2024), Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (2024) in Riga. Zhukov’s work has been published online and in print, including i-D, CAP74024, and now-closed ‘Открытые’ (o-zine.ru), a progressive LGBTQ+ publication based in Moscow.
