2,500 black balls are rolling down the street. As if having had a taste freedom, subject only to the force of gravity, they interfere with the landscape, creating a new, fragmented one, yet accompanied by multidimensional associations of meanings. The artistic intervention is created by reflecting on the relationship between freedom and reality, and its performance gives rise to a wide ranging imagery of today’s contexts and circumstances, each of which is justifiable. Perhaps freedom is just a mirage? An oasis that we want to reach in order to become better? It is a relative quantity that describes your distance from a goal, which increases in proportion to the amount of effort you put into achieving it.

Paulius Markevičius is a theatre director, interdisciplinary artist and actor. His performances are presented in various Lithuanian theatres (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, Art and Science Laboratory, National Kaunas Drama Theatre). Paulius experiments with various genres, where the viewer becomes an integral part of the work (‘Alberai, WRU’ [Albert, WRU], ‘Analizuojant žvėrį’ [Analyzing the Beast], ‘Café existans’). He has played roles in various films (‘Summer Survivors’ by Marija Kavtaradzė, ‘The Poet’ by Giedrius Tamoševičius and Vytautas V. Landsbergis, ‘Pilgrims’ by Laurynas Bareiša) and performances (‘I’m Going to Buy Some Milk’ by BE COMPANY, ‘12 Grams Northwards’ by Aleksandr Špilevoj, for which he was awarded the Golden Cross of the Stage in 2020, and ‘The Divine Comedy’ by Eimuntas Nekrošius, to name a few).

As an interdisciplinary artist, Paulius has created the installations ‘Ataka Fungus’ (Lithuanian National Drama Theatre), ‘Gandras. Technikas. Sakalas. Žaibas’  (Stork, Technician, Falcon, Thunder; Art and Science Laboratory), and the performances ‘Whatever happens, keep crawling’ and ‘Džiaugsmo upė’ (River of Joy) at the Art Actions Week (BE COMPANY). Other accolades include: nomination for the Golden Stage Cross (2018) for his mono performance based on the work of Albert Camus ‘Alberai, WRU’ and the main prize at the Chamber Theatre Festival (2019), laureate of the Dalia Tamulevičiūtė Professional Theatre Competition (2019), winner of the Young Artist Award (2018), and nominee for the Golden Cross of the Stage (2023).