Sports at Home I Rug
by Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė · Vilnius, Lithuania

The development of SPORTS AT HOME idea started in the spring of 2020, at the beginning of the lockdown, when the intensive rhythm of life suddenly stopped all over the world. This series of works is a reference to a unique period of time, when the state of inactivity has overcome many spheres of our usual life. Sports is one of the dynamic areas, where everyday training sessions and the rhythm are very important. Having a teenage son who used to exercise on a daily basis before the lockdown, we felt acutely the pressing effect on a young person which was difficult for him to handle. The main news on sports during this period was about the events that do not take places (even the Olympics were moved for the “better times”).
All the objects from this series have been created from difficult items related to sports: basketballs and footballs, sports trainers, and socks, etc. Everything not to be used during the #stayathome period. Most of the objects used in the installation was the equipment for team sports that became redundant when the training was moved to the indoors and on the carpet. Therefore, the appearance of textile in this work is a conceptual reference to the absurdity of the indoor sports (on the carpet).
The series of the works of art develops a dialogue between two contrasting activities: a rather dynamic activity of sports and a monotonous activity of handcrafts, i.e., knitting. A variety of disassembled means of sports are connected through knitting into an abstract spatial composition.
The work is built on the idea of community and connection. The sports are characterised by the aspects of competition and achievements, which in this work is replaced by the challenge of cooperation. Even different (but well-recognised) sports brands in this work find themselves in an equal position rejecting the competitive fight in the market.