Where the fire stands

Ubiske3 Residence, Telšiai, Lithuania, 2023.

Artist Duo : Léonor Gomez

House spirits don't leave the chimney; they stay within it. A pole stands apart from the Ubiskės3 house, aligned with the house's chimney. On top of it, a small house displays a fire made of broken glass. In this region, monuments erected in the cemetery, the "kryžiastulpiai", carry the deceased souls that ascend to its top. Once the wooden monument collapses, it is said that the soul is released.

Our totem carries the energy of fire that resides in many Lithuanian homesteads ""vienkiemiai", serving as a symbol that will welcome future residents passing by.

Like a constellation around the house, evoking the way buildings are dispersed in a "vienkiemis', small chimney sculptures are installed. Their shapes invite residents to sit on them, providing different resting areas and points of view of the surrounding landscape. Made of traditional tiles used for building house chimneys, they are displayed to accompany the resident's journey throughout the years.

In the first place Léonor Gomez and Arthur Jules have been invited to this residency as part of Ateliers Panthere, a non-profit organization accompanying the art project in their production. Their proposal, as artists, was to offer an architectural and design intervention that would bring together the artists in residency, The latest addition to their constellation can be seen in the attic where they revealed the central chimney, creating connections between different interior and exterior spaces and providing a reflection on an object central to the daily life of this unique homestead organization.

text : Léonor et Arthur

Photo by Ovidijus Adomavičius