EGLE AMBRASAITE | Material Matters

Artist Talk | March 28, 2026 / 6:00 PM

Zaratan is pleased to present Materials Matters, an encounter with Egle Ambrasaite, who is currently in residence at our space.
What if materials could speak back? In this talk, artist, curator, and researcher, Egle Ambrasaite, will share three of her curatorial journeys that reimagine how we think with and through matter. Aikas Zado Laboratory: Crip Materialities draws on critical disability theory to question ableist assumptions in art, architecture, and conservation, highlighting practices that imagine more inclusive and intersectional futures. Ethereal Robes of Vulnerability examines post-photographic practices through the lenses of material feminism and posthuman studies, rethinking how images, forms, and materials interact in fragile spaces between nature and technology, life and death. Finally, Peripheria x Cor (PxC), a collaboration with designer Mantas Lesauskas, follows the stories of amber, stone, and wood to uncover how “peripheral” materials shape histories, ecologies, and futures.
Together, these projects propose curatorial frameworks that foreground embodied methodologies, decolonial strategies, and non-human perspectives, opening up new ways of thinking about matter, materiality, and their role in contemporary art and design.
During the session, the artist will be available to answer questions from the public. Please note that the meeting will be held in English.

BIOGRAPHY: EGLE AMBRASAITE is a Lithuanian artist, independent curator, and researcher based between Zeimiai, Berlin, Budapest, and New York. She is the founding director of Aikas Zado Association and the curator of Aikas Zado Laboratory, a collectively run, non-profit interdisciplinary art institution in Lithuania. Her practice weaves (crip) materialities, decolonial and more-than-human thought, affect theory, and dark ecology through exhibitions, public programmes, and research-based projects. She is currently a PhD candidate in Comparative Gender Studies at Central European University in Vienna. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Sciences from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, and a Bachelor of Arts in Film, Video and Interactive Arts from Middlesex University in London. Her curatorial projects include both solo and group exhibitions presented internationally. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include Passengers (Mono Gallery, Lisbon, 2026; Hosek Contemporary, Berlin, 2026), Screen Works (Galerija Meno Nisa, Vilnius, 2026), and Ethereal Robes of Vulnerability (Aikas Zado Laboratory, Zeimiai, 2026). Previous projects include It’s a Balance Trick (Residency Unlimited, New York, 2025), MURMURS & ROARS (Uncool Artist Residency, New York, 2024), Exuviation Fervor featuring Tabita Rezaire (Aikas Zado Laboratory, 2024), (Hope)stalgic Materialities and Wishful Horizons (Residency Unlimited, New York, 2024), and Elektra (VU Observatory of Ideas, Vilnius, 2024). Since 2018 she has curated numerous exhibitions and performances at Aikas Zado Laboratory, contributing to the development of a critical contemporary art ecosystem in rural Lithuania. Her work has been presented through public talks, workshops, and conference presentations at institutions including New York University (NYU), the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, Residency Unlimited in New York, Sapieha Palace in Vilnius, the Inter-University Center in Dubrovnik, the University of Santiago de Compostela, and SCS Centar-Jadro in Skopje. Ambrasaite has participated in international residencies including Residency Unlimited (New York), Uncool Artist Residency (New York), and AQB Residency (Budapest). She is a recipient of the Young Artist Scholarship from the Lithuanian Council for Culture (2018, 2020, 2021), the Mobility Stipend for Art and Culture Creators (2023, 2024, 2025), and the Culture Moves Europe Individual Mobility Grant (2026). In 2020 she was granted Permanent Artist/Creator Status by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. Her writing has been published by Mousse Publishing, Rupert Journal, Deleuzine, Kajet Journal, and other platforms.

LINK: https://egleambrasaite.com/

SUPPORT: Zaratan is a structure supported by República Portuguesa – Cultura, Juventude e Desporto / Direção-Geral das Artes. Egle Ambrasaite’s work is produced in Zaratan Residency with the financial assistance of European Union (#CultureMovesEurope).