Andrius Arutiunian – Poison Paradise

Mostra personale.

Comunicato stampa

Andrius Arutiunian’s first solo exhibition in Italy, Poison Paradise, delves into bitumen as both a physical substance and a potent metaphor. This fragment of ancient history holds a planetary rhythm of extraction, transformation, and control. The exhibition unfolds as a landscape of sculptural and sonic layers. Here, sound emanates directly from the mineral, while rhythm emerges as a form of resistance. This geology is punctuated by an echo of Britney Spears’s 2003 hit, ‘Toxic.’ Released during the US invasion of Iraq, the song collapses pop desire with the long memory of petrochemical conflict. Crawling through this world are snakes—symbols of the underground, renewal, and endless cycles. Poison Paradise is an invitation to listen to the hidden architectures of power embedded within the very materials shaping our present. Poison Paradise is part of the Cultura Lituana in Italia 2025–2026 program.

Andrius Arutiunian (b. 1991, Lithuania) is an Armenian-Lithuanian artist and composer working with hybrid forms of listening, vernacular knowledges and contemporary cosmologies. His research often experiments with temporality, resonance, and alternate methods for world ordering. Through playful investigation of hypnotic and enigmatic forms, Arutiunian’s installations, films, and performances challenge the concepts of musical and political attunement.

Arutiunian graduated in Music Composition at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 2022 he participated in the 59th Venice Art Biennale representing Armenia with a solo show entitled Gharīb. Other biennial shows include the 14th Shanghai Biennale, the 15th Gwangju Biennale, the 17th Lyon Biennale, the 9th Asian Art Biennale, 2nd Riyadh Biennale and the 15th Baltic Triennial. Selected shows include Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Centre Pompidou (Paris), M HKA (Antwerp), Stroom (The Hague), Kadist (Paris), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Pinchuk Art Centre (Kyiv), Survival Kit 13 (Riga), FACT (Liverpool), Memphis (Linz), Almaty Museum of Arts (Almaty), MO Museum and Contemporary Art Centre (Vilnius). In 2024 Arutiunian was selected for the Future Generation Art Prize shortlist. He was DAAD artist-in-residence fellow in 2023. Upcoming projects include participation in Performa 2025 in New York and La Biennale Gherdëina 2026. His works are in various collections including Centre Pompidou and KADIST.