Sun & Sea (Marina)

Sun & Sea (Marina) is an opera composed by Lina Lapelytė with a libretto by Vaiva Grainytė and directed by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė[1], and presented as part of the 2019 Venice Biennale in a project curated by Lucia Pietroiusti. It won the festival's top award, the Golden Lion. The opera premiered in 2017 at the Lithuanian National Gallery of Art and was translated into English for the Biennale, where it served as Lithuania's national participation. It is set on a faux beach indoors, in which 24 performers partake in commonplace beach activities while singing about the causes and physical impacts of climate change in solo arias and group harmonies. The performance was a popular attraction with long wait lines at the Biennale. Multiple reviewers considered Sun & Sea (Marina) a highlight of the overall exhibition and The Guardian included it among the best performances of the year.

External video
Official trailer

Description

As presented at the 2019 Venice Biennale, the opera is set on an imitation beach indoors. Around 24 performers from Lithuania and Italy walk on the sand, lounge on chairs and towels, and partake in beach and other mundane activities, such as eating salad, checking phones, knitting, and playing frisbee. The actors range in age and family status, reflecting a commonplace beach scene. Though the opera is staged in leisurely harmony, the libretto's contents darkly remark on Earth's deterioration. Their solo arias and group harmonies address the causes and physical impacts of climate change and topics including the sun, the tide, ocean pollution, threats to the Great Barrier Reef, and extreme weather events. The audience ascends stairs to a balcony and views the opera from above.[2]

Production

Sun & Sea (Marina) was created by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, and Lina Lapelytė.[2]

The opera premiered at the Vilnius National Gallery of Art in 2017. It was rewritten from Lithuanian to English for the Venice Biennale. The production was staged in the Marina Militare, within Venice's Castello area and apart from the main Biennale events in the Giardini and Arsenale. It ran during the Biennale's opening week and on Saturdays for the remainder of the exhibition.[2]

Reception

The Lithuanian pavilion received the Biennale's Golden Lion award for best national participation.[3][4] Multiple reviewers considered it a highlight of the overall Biennale exhibition.[5][6][7][8][9] The Guardian named the show as the year's second best and the best surprise of the Biennale.[10] Visitors waited hours in inclement weather to see the popular and "Instagram sensation" performance.[2]

Artsy wrote that the show's universality was underscored by its libretto and commonplace setting and activities. The website praised the piece for its aesthetic beauty and resonant message, that the beaches we associate with freedom and joy can become inhabitable, leaving humanity to artificial alternatives.[2]

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References
  1. Sun & Sea (Marina) (discogs.com)
  2. Lesser, Casey (May 14, 2019). "Inside the Indoor Beach Opera That's the Talk of the Venice Biennale". Artsy. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  3. Nayeri, Farah (May 15, 2019). "Venice Biennale's Top Prize Goes to Lithuania". The New York Times.
  4. Halperin, Julia (May 11, 2019). "Arthur Jafa and the Lithuanian Pavilion Win the Venice Biennale's 2019 Golden Lions, Casting a Spotlight on Racism and Climate Change". Artnet News. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  5. Farago, Jason (May 13, 2019). "The Don't-Miss Shows and Pavilions at the Venice Biennale". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  6. Perlson, Hili (May 10, 2019). "The 5 Most Talked-About Pavilions at the 58th Venice Biennale". Galerie. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  7. Delaqua, Victor (May 17, 2019). "7 Must-See Pavilions at the 2019 Venice Biennale". ArchDaily. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  8. Marchese, Kieron (May 16, 2019). "the venice art biennales 15 best national pavilions". Designboom. Archived from the original on May 22, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  9. Volk, Gregory (May 25, 2019). "Four Spots in the Venice Biennale to Stop You in Your Tracks". Hyperallergic. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  10. Searle, Adrian; Jones, Jonathan (December 15, 2019). "Top 20 art exhibitions of 2019". The Guardian.

Further reading
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