Magazine

30 january 2024, Flor Linckens

Ruta Butkute: sculptural movement

Ruta Butkute, Collide #6, 2023, Bradwolff & Partners

At Art Rotterdam, Bradwolff & Partners presents the work of Lithuanian artist Ruta Butkute. Her versatile practice transcends the traditional boundaries of the mediums in which she works: sculpture, video, choreography and installation art. In fact, the artist operates within a fifth medium: sculptural performance.

Butkute explores the ways in which a static sculpture can be brought into motion, consistently posing two recurring questions: "How can bodies animate objects [and] how can objects set bodies in motion?" She is inspired, for instance, by ritual tea ceremonies and the movement theory of Rudolf Laban (1879-1958), who was among the founders of expressionist dance.

Ruta Butkute, Collide #5 (detail), 2023, Bradwolff & Partners

Butkute's interest lies in the transformation from one medium to another. She investigates the (hidden) possibilities of a medium or object and the ways in which she can reshape or redefine their primary functions. In spatial performances with self-made objects and readymades, she interweaves movement and stillness in such a way that it invites the audience into deep contemplation, gradually giving rise to new meanings. Butkute works with materials such as ceramics, plaster, porcelain and clay, and also incorporates elements like tatami mats. Her preference for ceramics was in part influenced by her parents, who work professionally with this material. During a residency in Japan, she delved deeply into the use of porcelain and one of its basic components: locally sourced Kaolin clay.

At Art Rotterdam, Butkute displays four pigmented porcelain objects that play with the illusion of movement — a concept that contrasts with the inherent immobility of the material. She explores the intersection between the movable and the immovable in choreographed performances and spatial installations, in which emotion and ratio, chance, improvisation and deliberate actions seem to merge organically.

Butkute experiments with porcelain as a medium for painting and thoroughly investigates the function and form of objects, as well as their material properties like mass, texture, and gravity. Her long-standing interest in the material was further fueled by a recent residency at the EKWC (European Ceramic Work Centre), a technically challenging project in which she activated the performative aspects of the material, effectively setting porcelain in motion. This approach culminates in her recent installation "Bound" (2023), for which Butkute performs a sculptural choreography. The installation, a fusion of porcelain and movement, invites the viewer into a deep, personal interaction with the material.

Ruta Butkute, Bound #7 circle, 2023, Bradwolff & Partners

Butkute was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1984 and studied traditional ceramic techniques at the Vilnius Academy of Visual Arts, followed by a degree at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam. She also completed various residency programs in Japan, Brussels, the United States, Austria, Denmark, Spain, and France. Her work has been exhibited and performed at Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, De Nederlandsche Bank, Arti & Amicitiae, Valkhof Museum, Museum Leuven, the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) in Vilnius and the Dutch embassy in Tokyo.

From 1-4 February, the work of Ruta Butkute will be on display at Art Rotterdam in the booth of Bradwolff & Partners.

In this article

Flor Linckens

Free Magazine Subscription

Articles, interviews, shows & events. Delivered to your mailbox weekly.

30 january 2024, Flor Linckens

Ruta Butkute: sculptural movement

Current shows