First, we bite.

That is the title of Vilmantas Marcinkevičius and Indra Marcinkevičienė’s upcoming exhibition in Galatina, Italy. It is the artists’ first exhibition in a city that is gradually becoming a second home to them.
You could say it’s an introductory exhibition.

Why, then, such a sharp title? Right off the bat, about bites? You wouldn’t call that a gentle greeting.

But in Galatina, such a title inevitably takes on other meanings.

Galatina is unique for its tradition of tarantism. For a long time, it was understood as a mystical ritual of possession and healing. It was believed that after being bitten by a tarantula, the victim would lose their mind, and the only way to save them was through a ritual of trance dancing. It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that tarantism was almost exclusively practiced on women. Later research revealed another, unfortunately more mundane, side to this story: most often, the women who became “tarantatas” were those on the margins of society, burdened by abuse, loneliness, or unfortunate circumstances.

Thus, the body and dance became their language, and the ritual of tarantism—a rare opportunity for the community to acknowledge that pain, if only briefly.

This exhibition is a kind of homage—both to those women and to Southern Italy. It is also an attempt to rethink this and other myths that have shaped, and sometimes still shape, the concept of femininity.
Dig—bite—bite back. (But the mouth can still speak!).

Let’s meet in Galatina: June 6 at the Palazzo della Cultura – Chiostro dei Domenicani and Museo Pietro Cavoti. The exhibition will run until August 6.

Artists: Indra Marcinkeviciene, Vilmantas Marcinkevicius

Organizer: Marcart Public Institution
Curator: Neringa Miller