13|09 – 17|10|2025. Opening 13 September at 16 h.
From 13 September, glazed spirals dove grey, a new exhibition by visual artist Ruta Butkute, will be on show at Movement Exposed Gallery Space in Utrecht. glazed spirals dove grey is a new series of sculptures that enters into dialogue with videos and works from the series Fold (2024) and Spirals (2025).
Ruta Butkute questions the boundaries of the medium of sculpture and focuses on the innovation of materials during the artistic process. She also makes videos and performances. During exhibitions, she shows the interrelationships that can arise between these media to emphasise qualities such as movement, chance, and the presence of and interaction with the human body. These notions also play an essential role in her artistic process. This dynamic and partly unpredictable process has no fixed outcome. She uses her experiences with the constant exchange between process and presentation to find ways to appeal to the viewer’s senses and to introduce a new, interactive sculptural dimension.
For the series of sculptures glazed spirals dove grey and Fold, Ruta Butkute starts from a flat surface and gradually sends her material into space with folds and creases, curves and open forms. In a number of her sculptures, ceramics contrast with a strong but delicate interplay of lines created by very thin metal rods, elements derived from the deconstruction of (design) chairs. Sometimes Butkute evokes confusion with her works, baked clay can suggest the softness and elasticity of rubber. Or she playfully refers to everyday life, such as the impressions she made of simple utensils in the black clay of the Fold sculptures.
Last summer, Butkute explored new techniques at the International Wood Firing Kohila Symposium in Estonia. She was artist-in-residence at the EKWC (European Ceramic Work Centre) in Oisterwijk (2023) and the Guldagergaard international ceramic centre, Skealskor in Denmark (2019). Prior to that, she participated in residencies in France, Belgium, Japan, Spain, Austria and the United States.
Impression of the exhibition
