Rehearsal
September 30, 11:00 AM–7:00 PM
“Rehearsal” – an introduction to the IPMA 2026 theme, CONNECTION.
At the centre of the project are the human subject, the gaze and the relationship between photographer and photographed person, between the individual and the viewer, and between the individual and the surrounding society.
During an approximately eight-hour live performance on 30 Septemebr, Monika Dirsytė will remain in an enclosed space separated from the outside environment together with Vincas Alesius, who will photograph her throughout the entire process. The extended duration changes the conventional situation of making a portrait. At first, the person being photographed can control her face, body and gaze, pose and construct a desired image. As time passes, however, maintaining this control becomes increasingly difficult. The project asks what remains when a person can no longer sustain the effort of “appearing” for eight hours.
Within this process, the photographer is not only the person who looks but also the person who remains present throughout. Photography becomes not simply the production of an image, but part of a relationship between two people. The project also relates this question to social media environments, where individuals are continuously visible, evaluated and engaged in constructing their image for the gaze of others.
Visitors will follow the performance on three screens. One will show a live feed from the enclosed space, while the other two will present Alesius’ archive of photographs of people accumulated over many years, continuously supplemented with new images made during the performance. The live photographic process and the existing archive will therefore form a continuously changing visual field.
A further element is a peephole installed in the door of the darkened room. It will allow visitors to approach the space physically and look directly inside at the unscripted situation unfolding there. While the screen enables observation from a distance, the peephole requires physical proximity and an individual act of looking, bringing the viewer from public space towards something normally kept private.
After the live performance on 30 September, recorded material from the performance will remain on display on the screens until the end of the festival in October.