Narkevicius, Deimantas

Born in Utena, a Lithuanian city in the former Soviet Union, Deimantas Narkevičius trained at the Vilnius Art Institute (now Vilnius Academy of Arts), the city where he lives and works. He is one of Lithuania’s most internationally recognised artists. Initially a sculptor, he spent a year in London from 1991, but after returning to his native country in 1993 he devoted himself exclusively to video and film. He uses documentary footage, voice-overs, interviews, recreations and found photographs to create his films, which address historical events with the narrative structures of fiction and cinema. Narkevičius examines the relationship between personal memories and political histories, especially of his native Lithuania. For the artist, history itself has become both his material and his working methodology.

Since the mid-nineties, Narkevičius has regularly exhibited in venues such as the Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2000), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2001), Tate Modern, London (2004), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2006), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2009), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest (2014) and Maureen Paley, London (2017), among many others. He represented Lithuania at the Venice Biennale in 2001. His works are part of collections such as Tate Modern, London; Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Modern Art Museum, Vilnius; and MACBA, Barcelona.