Andrius Arutiunian. A Gift That Keeps on Giving
Andrius Arutiunian. The Gift That Keeps on Giving Solo show I Curator Dat Bolwerck, Zutphen July-Sep. 2025
Three years after the Gharīb Pavilion at Venice Art Biennale, a new collaboration with the artist, for his first institutional solo in the Netherlands. This time, Gurdjieff ceded the stage to a new guest spirit: Britney Spears. Or rather, her Toxic — an algorithmic chant of mass desire — bringing in a messy cohort of geopolitics, petroleum extraction, and pitch correction. Written at the height of the oil wars, it became the accidental anthem of a decaying empire.
A 16th-century Dutch mansion, from cellar to attic, turned into a possessed instrument, vibrating with stretched drones of the song. Its famous “oriental” hook — once made to set dancefloors on fire — now leaked through walls, floors, and tar. Bitumen sculptures acted as speakers, transmitting low frequencies, while the track drifted from room to room, glitched and recomposed through vinyl and oil-based matter.
