Evaluation
The installation “(Im)eternal values” by the artist Jolita Vaitkutė can already be seen by the residents of the city of Saulė in the Povilas Višinskis public library of Šiauliai county. The impressive skull, almost 2 meters high, is covered by the remains of plastic, textile and electronic waste embedded in the ground, which symbolically reminds not only of the longevity of garbage, but also of the responsibility of people.
A copper plate is installed in the forehead of the exposed skull, the touches of which are added up in a counter on the back of the head. To date, more than 12 thousand people have touched this counter. people.
It is a symbolic call to leave your mark on the planet in a sustainable, ecological and non-wasteful way – with your ideas and thoughts. With this work, the artist encourages not only to talk more about sustainability, but also to personally reflect on whether the garbage we throw away is what we want to leave to future generations as a cultural layer of the 21st century.
“I believe that this installation will make people think more about ecology and the future of Lithuania. Touching the forehead of the skull, let’s think about how we could live more sustainably. It is not very difficult to look at consumption a little more responsibly, not to buy unnecessary things and leave less garbage for future generations. Art helps to understand this huge problem in a more comprehensible way”, said artist J. Vaitkutė at the event held in Šiauliai.
According to the data of the Ministry of Environment, which initiated the work, one Lithuanian resident generates almost 500 kg of municipal waste per year, and the largest part of the waste consists of plastic and glass. Every year, this amount increases by approximately 10 kilograms, so if consumption habits are not changed, waste can increase.
“We can be happy that the municipal waste collected in the Šiauliai region has been decreasing in recent years: last year around 110 thousand tons were collected in the entire region, and in 2020 – 138 thousand tons. This proves that the people of this region are conscious, use resources sustainably, and know how to properly manage already generated waste,” said Aistė Žilinskienė, advisor to the Minister of the Environment, who participated in the event.
Šiauliai city municipality as early as 2021. initiated the pilot project of separate food waste collection “Aš Pats. I’m planning I’m eating. Sorting. I’m safe.” It involved more than 1,000 apartment residents who received special food waste collection buckets for successful food waste sorting.
The P. Višinskis Public Library of Šiauliai County showed initiative and invited this unique installation to be exhibited in the city of Saulė.
“We really wanted this installation by the artist J. Vaitkutė to come to the library, because art has an effect, stops a running person, maybe shocks, encourages thinking. We hope to change our relationship with the environment and consumption. This installation has been in our library for a few days now, and we notice a great interest of the public and young people in the installation, children touch it, ask what it is made of”, said the head of the Information, Educational and Cultural Services Department of the Šiauliai County P. Višinskis Public Library during the event. presenter Gerda Žymantaitė-Magalinskė.
This installation has already been exhibited in the Vilnius Martynas Mažvydas Library and Scientific Communication and Information Center, the Tad Ivanauskas Zoological Museum in Kaunas, the Tauragė Regional Museum “Santaka”, the Palanga culture bar “Kablys: jūra. Culture”.
Library visitors will be able to view the installation until the end of September during the library’s working hours.
