The Silver Thread   an exhibition by Ukrainian artists Oleksandr and Larysa Dirdovskyi

2026.01.30 – 03.01

"The Silver Thread" is a media project by Oleksandr and Larysa Dirdovskyi, exploring the interconnection between the creative worlds of sculptors Vilius Orvidas and Modestas Grigaliūnas. Through photography and video, the artists examine the impact of memory and time on artistic legacy, presenting sculptures not as static objects but as “speaking” carriers of history and bridges between the past and the present.

The image of the Silver Thread unites the enduring stone forms created by Vilius Orvidas with the fragile wooden plasticity of Modestas Grigaliūnas into a single spiritual line. Their encounter at the Orvidas Homestead creates a space of gentle, luminous melancholy — a reflection on fragile beauty akin to the Japanese concept of mono no aware. The Silver Thread is a silence in which transience and eternity meet.

The camera captures form, texture, and space, merging photographic stillness with cinematic movement. Light, composition, and editing transform each sculpture into a moment in time that does not disappear but becomes a vessel of memory. The artists document not only surviving works but also attempt to trace the shadows of those that have been lost.

In this project, the Orvidas Homestead is revealed not as a museum object but as a place of inner experience. As the artists note:

“For us, this homestead is neither a museum nor an art object, but a place where the world gathers. It does not explain itself — it accepts. There is Silence here, revealed to those who enter without haste.”

The project has grown out of many years of the Dirdovskyi’s work — from their first recordings in 1992, through films dedicated to the memory of Vilius Orvidas, to the film "Orvidų sodybos medinės skulptūros. Aware", which reveals the lines of fate and sculptural contours of Vilius and his friends. During the filming process, the artists met Modestas Grigaliūnas and his family, and it was then that a shared spiritual line connecting their artistic practices became apparent.

The Silver Thread is a poetic visual philosophy in which every form, photograph, and cinematic frame becomes a language capable of speaking about the inner worlds of Vilius Orvidas and Modestas Grigaliūnas, as well as about the Orvidas Homestead as a space where silence, memory, and the flow of time are naturally experienced.


Curators: Veronika Synenka, Karolis Rudenka.

Event Partner: Vilnius City Municipality.

The exhibition is part of the “SU-MENĖK 2026” contemporary art initiative organized by the Vilnius City Municipality.