The exhibition Sensing takes time examines how human, material, and conceptual bodies mediate emotions and experiences through their surfaces, structures, and transformations. In a slow process of observation, the exhibition unpacks how familiar materials - paper and foam - shift, adapt, and reveal themselves, pushing the limits of their form. These elements take on the weight of collective experience: tension, anxiety, exhaustion. The works exist in a state of precariousness, caught between what they are and what they might become.

Matukonytė's paper sculptures draw from the language of domesticity - baking paper, sewing machines, fragile layers held together by tension and vulnerability. Her works grapple with self-censorship, the ways contemporary bodies (especially those read as female) are shaped and constrained by external forces. The paper figures attempt to hold themselves together, striving for an unfiltered presence, but remain susceptible to their environment. The surfaces shift under the weight of the gaze, revealing complex and contradictory states: exposed yet contained, static yet in flux. The floating, translucent structures recall utopian architectures, costumes that were never realized, and gestures toward something always just out of reach.

The artificial material foam is laid bare, interacting with structural elements between the walls and floors to prompt reflection on the comfort of the surrounding space. Emilija Višinskaitė employs foam as a reflection of the synthetic nature of contemporary environments, exploring states of (in)security and tension. She investigates how its softness invites touch and compression while also generating an illusory sense of comfort. Restrained and free-floating forms become imprints of tension and traces of absorbed experience. Industrial records proclaim that foam provides support where needed, allowing for relaxation and rest. Yet, this deceptive softness may induce a sense of "unnaturalness" without us even realizing it. Typically hidden as part of the inner structure of objects, here, the material is exposed, opening an inquiry into vulnerability, aesthetics, and emotional comfort.

The interplay of paper and foam, weight and lightness, enclosure and exposure, constructs a space of suspended transformation. The materials push against one another, absorbed in their own uneasy negotiations. The exhibition asks for time, patience, and a willingness to sit with discomfort and subtle shifts in the objects.

Laura Matukonytė (b. 1984) is an interdisciplinary artist currently pursuing a Master's in Contemporary Sculpture at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she previously obtained a Bachelor's degree in Costume Design.

With a background in design, her artistic practice explores the possibilities of paper in shaping forms while addressing contemporary societal issues, such as disruptions in identity formation, dependence on image, and the search for balance amidst modern excess. Since 2023, she has participated in group exhibitions, including Sambūris at the Galaunė House and Black/White at the Lithuanian Artists' Association gallery Drobė.

Emilija Višinskaitė (b. 1998) is a young-generation artist who earned a Bachelor's degree in Scenography at the Vilnius Academy of Arts and is now continuing her Master’s studies in the Sculpture Department. Her creative practice spans object-making, installations, and scenographic works across various spaces. She is particularly interested in the surrounding environment, the impact of industrial materials on human states, and themes of syntheticity. Currently, she works in scenography and arts education.