Rūta Grùma. Running While Filming

Dear visitor,

I hope you’re doing well and have moments to enjoy the approaching summer. As I write you this letter, I’m thinking about how beautifully the sun is shining outside the window. I start caressing rays of light with my eyes. Phrases about the exhibition swirl in my mind, and I wonder how to describe it without unnecessary formalities. I want its description to be inviting, sincere, and intimate. I want you to feel as a part of this exhibition.

I’ve been dreaming about this exhibition for several years. All that time, I was deeply afraid to share my work – what would others think? Would anyone understand what I’m trying to say? Now, I’m no longer afraid. Now, I want to share. This exhibition is my final project, created over two years of studying for a Master degree in the Photography and Media Art department at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. I now joke that I set out to make a film and ended up with an exhibition. Sometimes it turns out like this : )

I titled the exhibition “Running While Filming” for a reason. The act of filming while running becomes both a gesture of resistance and survival — a way of existing even in silence. Over the past two years, I’ve run many times while capturing moving images that became the core of this exhibition. The installation presents archival footage from childhood, an animation on gender instructions, a football scene, and screenshots of messages from my mom after I came out. “Running While Filming” is an intimate and political story about queer aging, about the slow, painful, and fragmented coming of age into being oneself in a world that initially taught us to hide.

I wholeheartedly thank the following people, without whom this exhibition would not have happened: Egidijus Skudžinskas (sound editing), Rapolas Grinčelaitis (video editing), Emilija Zak (text editing), Vilius Vingras (voice-over, idea for dissemination), Laura Varžgalytė (graphic design of the publication), Bon Alog (filming), Augustas Čičelis (curating), Marija Martinaitytė (curating) Rūta Spelskytė (design of a visual), Aidas Stončius (graphic design for dissemination), Titas Antanas Vilkaitis (risograph printing), Julius Gaižauskas (binding), Aušra Volungė Griškonytė (funding, support), Miki Ambrozy (creative project supervision), Martyna Ratnik and everyone else who was there, supported, and contributed.

With love,
Rūta Grùma

The exhibition of Rūta Grùma is open on June 5–14, on Thursdays and Saturdays at 16.00–19.00. Address: „išgirsti“, Darbininkų g. 8–1 (open entrance, three steps up), Vilnius.

Graphic design: Aidas Stončius. Photos: Vilius Vingras.