Asta Volungė’s exhibition “Dyking around” boldly and with a wide smile moves into the space of “išgirsti”. Thoughts about a queer home are met even before entering, with a title that points to a different relationship with domestic life. The dual meaning of the word – dyke and to be idle – blends into the theme of queer everyday life. The luxury of idleness, of enjoying imperfect domestic life, awaits after long days of work, meetings, and protests. The deeply rooted gender norms do not apply here, and housework becomes a game with its own rules. Idleness – a meaningful and shameless way of spending one’s time – reveals a life that has stepped outside the boundaries of heteronormativity.
It is an asynchronous archive of queer memories – fragments of shared existence and joy. Nights and mornings twirl together in idleness as we fail to finish recounting them, our stories and perspectives intertwine, while our laughter does not wind down. Our dance-worn heels and sweat-soaked clothes return home on a random June morning, to a kitchen overflowing with last night’s glasses. The lightness of being together soothes the exhaustion of our bodies – in each other’s company, part of a community. We let each other into our daily lives, our struggles, and our joys.
In the exhibition, the artist looks at her community, but also at her own legacy. Her textile works take root as a search for new connections in the family history and a reflection on identity that changes with the passage of time. In these works, idleness appears in novel ways through years of change and decay, kindling a desire to honor the marks of time with the slow process of embroidery, knitting, and mending.
Long-standing stories we tell each other in bars, tents, or under the covers linger in Asta’s paintings. There are no secrets in these story fragments, everything is out in the open. With no attempt to romanticize or embellish, these moments of life turn into universal images of the community. Long-standing connections settle in thin layers on the canvas – the artist immortalises late parties, moments of light chaos, and unconditional freedom where friends, colleagues, and lovers find a place for unoppressed being.
Asta Volungė is a queer woman, artist, cultural worker and activist. In her interdisciplinary practice, she merges the roles of curator, educator, and cultural producer in search of strategies on minimising social disparity, empowering vulnerable communities, encouraging critical dialogue about normativity and wellbeing. Based on these values, her artistic practice grew as an attempt to reconcile embodied roles and identities. Asta studied painting (BA) and alternative pedagogy (BA) as well as gender studies (MA), is cofounder of feminist and queer collectives and an active part of the community.
Curators: Viltė Barbora Vilūnaitė, Augustas Čičelis.
The exhibition opens on March 14, 2026, at 4.00–7.00 PM, and remains open on Thursdays at 4.00–7.00 PM, or by appointment, until April 16. The address: “išgirsti”, Darbininkų g. 8-1 (open entrance, three steps up), Vilnius.
The exhibition is partially funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Photos by Aleksandra Ivanova.
