Eye Gymnastics, ein aus den Musikern Viktorija Damerell und Gailė Griciūtė bestehendes Duo aus Vilnius, bringen in den nächsten Tagen ihr gemeinsames Debüt “Nothing Supernatural” im Selbstverlag heraus. Ihre Musik, die in.der Vergangenheit bereits ausgiebig im Rahmen von Performances präsentiert wurde, verknüpft evokative Rezitation und passagenweise Gesang mit elektronisch dominierter Musik, die trotz ihrer vordergründigen Zurückhaltung immer wieder einen markanten Groove erkennen lässt, und nicht selten wirken die Stücke, wie bewusst in der Andeutung gehaltene Popsongs, deren Tiefe so noch stärker erfahrbar wird. “Nothing Supernatural”, an dem der Künstler und Komponist Arturas Bumšteinas mitwirkte, erscheint als digitales Release.

“Wonder and a certain form of vulnerability go hand in hand.   To be open to the world and what is around us –– that is to be vulnerable to it –– is what gives us the capacity to wonder. We need to cultivate attention in order to wonder.  But cultivating this attention means unlearning habits that close us off from the world. Often, we do not want to be opened out or have something opened out to us. We feel there is too much responsibility, too much at stake: if someone or something opens out onto us they implicate us in the decision to commit to them, to decide that what has been opened up to us is a gift and needs to be taken care of.

When we are busy in our own worlds, living precariously and living in a culture where individualism is the supposed source of our integrity, this kind of commitment, care and attention seem risky, too risky. But we are impoverished as a result. Eye Gymnastics is a lesson in moving together in mutual vulnerability:

THE WHOLE WORLD IS OPENING UP FOR YOU.
THE WORLD IS HERE FOR YOU,
ENLARGED, INTENSE, LUMINOUS.
AS IF IN A MOVIE THEATRE.
THE WORLD IS HERE FOR YOU.

THE COLOURS YOU NEVER WANTED TO EXPERIENCE,
BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNEW THEY EXIST,
NOW ARE OPENING UP FOR YOU.
THE WORLD IS HERE FOR YOU.

THIS INTENSE GREEN, SO INTENSE GREEN, SO INTENSE GREEN
IS OPENING UP FOR YOU.
THE WORLD IS HERE FOR YOU.
IT IS ALL PERVADING; IT GETS INTO YOU.” (Yates Norton)

Foto © Christian Margolus