SOUND ROOM

On Saturday, 25 April, performances by participants of the Method, Sound & Silence mentorship programme for music and sound art will take place in the fourth-floor hall. The concert forms part of the Housekeeping in a Dangerous Time opening weekend programme.

5iuk5le5 (Adelė Petravičiūtė) creates and performs intimate experimental music rooted in a blend of post-internet and outsider cultures, and the cover scene. She has been developing her sonic identity since 2011, beginning with the guitar – writing songs about shampoo and corpses – and busking on Pilies Street after school. Her practice takes the form of a musical diary: radically honest yet self-deprecating, capturing both ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Her music employs simple tools, including phone recordings of piano, guitar, and voice, virtual synthesisers, found sounds sampled from YouTube, and Virtual DJ software. Her performances move between ambient tracks, raw remixes, covers, and original compositions.

Alino_Garino is an experimental music project that draws on Lithuanian mythology and literature to explore addiction. Their work examines the human drive to escape oneself through intoxication. Their sound incorporates elements of folk, post-punk, ambient, and acid house, while leaving room for experimentation. The compositions feature samples that expand the musical landscape through mythological narratives, alongside field recordings of the immediate environment.

Na, Ša. (Matas Sergijus Šatūnas) creates musical therapy rituals that support self-exploration. His practice blends aethereal, hip-hop, atmospheric, and electronica elements. Na, Ša. invites listeners to discover beauty within their own shadows.

On May 8 at 6 pm, the Sound Room at Sapieha Palace will host New Music and Music Enthusiast Initiatives at the Origins of Independence — a conversation with Tango magazine editor Robertas Kundrotas alongside a presentation of the Sound Room collection.

During the late Soviet period, original music recordings reached Lithuania from the West through personal connections before being copied and circulated locally. This process also functioned as a form of informal curation: certain individuals selected recordings and shaped listeners’ musical horizons. In 1990, this unofficial music distribution infrastructure was expanded by a new initiative for music enthusiasts — Tango magazine, curated by Robertas Kundrotas and Linas Vyliaudas.

At the beginning of the event, Benas Trakimas will introduce the music recording collection exhibited in the Sound Room. Later, Vladas Dieninis and Robertas Kundrotas will discuss the contexts of unofficial music in Vilnius during the late Soviet era and the early years of Independence, as well as the phenomenon of Tango magazine.

Admission with a Palace visitor or Sound Room ticket. VDA, LMTA, and history students receive free admission.

On June 19, the Sound Room at Sapieha Palace will host a practical workshop on writing about music led by journalist and one of the editors of NARA platform, Karolis Vyšniauskas.

The workshop is intended for emerging writers interested in learning how to reflect on music through text – from personal essays to album reviews.

“Both music and writing about it are democratic forms of creativity. You don’t need a journalism degree, and you don’t even need to know how to play an instrument. What matters is listening closely, feeling deeply, and wanting to start a conversation. During the workshop, I’ll share a few of my own principles for writing about music, talk about the authors I learn from myself, and then we’ll simply… write and read,” says Karolis Vyšniauskas.

Some of the texts created during the workshop will be published in the exhibition’s forthcoming zine publication, while selected participants may also be invited to continue collaborating with NARA’s New Scene section.

Places are limited. To participate, attendees are required to fill out the registration form and, before the event, visit the Sound Room of the exhibition Housekeeping in a Dangerous Time to choose the works, artists, or albums they would like to write about.

Participation in the workshop is available with either a workshop ticket or an unlimited-entry Sound Room ticket.

On July 15 at 5 pm, Sapieha Palace invites you to a listening session with Dovydas Bluvšteinas – music publisher, event organiser, radio host and music enthusiast.

In the early years of Lithuania’s restored independence, when the country’s underground music scene was experiencing an intense surge, Bluvšteinas founded Zona Records – the first alternative music label in the entire post-Soviet region. On his initiative, Vilnius hosted concerts by such alternative music stars of the time as Sonic Youth, The Fall and The Sugarcubes.

During the event, we will listen to music recordings selected by and significant to him. These will serve as a conversation starter about the phenomena and processes of Lithuania’s alternative music scene.

Admission to the event is included with a Sapieha Palace visitor ticket or a Sound Room ticket.

Admission to Sapieha Palace is free for students of VDA, LMTA, and history majors.