Information
About the Exhibition
During Berlin Art Week 2025, Urban Spree Galerie presents "Spinning with Rats", the first solo exhibition in Germany of the Lithuanian visual artist Ervinas Blažys a.k.a Faktūra.
The exhibition's Opening will be held on September 12th, 2025 from 18:00 to 22:00 in presence of the artist who also curated an all-Lithuanian outdoor techno music program featuring Matas Petrikas @matas (live), Elektro Plasma Sound System, @elektroplazma (live), Matas Bernotas @mountakk, Matas Gancevičius @learntocontent, and Gražvydas Ivaškevičius @mr_grazzmatazz
The exhibition "Spinning with Rats" was partially created in Berlin during a Residency at Urban Spree in August 2025. "Spinning with Rats" pushes Faktūra further into a cycle of escape and return, of breaking habits only to form new ones. It is art as confrontation: with material, with place, with the impossibility of standing still.
Between past and present, surface and underworld — Spinning with Rats is an exhibition about movement, transformation, and the raw grind of creative survival.
Artist Statement:
"Watching the rat, I see it full of movement, unexpected discoveries, and a certain glow. At the same time, it hides in the darkness, almost invisible. Between light and shadows, I feel a quiet rhythm; time sometimes blurs, and the space shifts in fragments. Lamps flash, metal structures vibrate, and from the cracks, bursts of light emerge.
Sometimes I think – r.a.t.s = a.r.t.s. No wonder everything feels so fascinating when it whispers and plays quietly. In the city carnival, I move along with everything around me: between glass, metal partitions, shadows creep, whispers travel through ventilation grates like mail. Vibrations travel into the floor, flashes reflect off the walls. There’s no stage, no order – just a pulse rising somewhere nearby, and a game I’m part of, even though no one is watching.
The rats jump, crawl over racks, hide behind metal edges. I notice their barely perceptible traces. Sometimes I catch a leap into a shadow, sometimes I only hear a whisper, a vibration, a pulse – life. It exists not because it is seen, but because it constantly moves around me. I laugh quietly, because everything seems so serious until I realize how chaotic and playful this order really is.
Spinning with the rats, I embrace their dual nature: light and playful, yet restless and unpredictable. Movement flows through the space, the rhythm throws me between flashes and cables. Often it goes unnoticed, but it never stops. I laugh, because the city has once again found a way to dance without me… and with me."
Biography:
Ervinas Blažys a.k.a Faktūra is a unique artist of the younger generation, living and working in Vilnius. His work combines innovation, artistic expression, and visual experimentation. He actively participates in local and international exhibitions, festivals, and residencies, gaining recognition for his ability to create distinctive visual concepts that draw viewers into his artistic world and invite them to explore the connections between environment, architecture, and art.
Exhibitions:
2025 – Solo exhibition “Phase 1”, Vilnius
2025 – Group exhibition “Rave Nation - Dancing to the Sounds of Freedom, 1992-2004", National Museum of Lithuania, Vilnius
2024 – Group exhibition “Spectrum 2”, Vartai Gallery, Vilnius
2022 – Solo exhibition “The Most Important Quality”, Autarkia, Vilnius
2022–2024 – Creator of the visual and artistic concept for the “Audra” Festival, Art Director of the visual section
Team:
Exhibition design and architecture: Justina Tarasovaitė
Creative process assistants: Ąžuolas Merčaitis, Bartas Jankauskas
Acknowledgments to the exhibition and residency patrons:
Dmitrijus Borisenka, Irma Šimanskytė, Cultural Attaché of the Republic of Lithuania in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Lithuanian Cultural Institute, Urban Spree
Ervinas Blažys a.k.a Faktūra
Spinning with Rats
Solo Exhibition
Urban Spree Galerie
Revaler Str. 99
10245 Berlin
Catalogue & Info: pascal@urbanspree.com
