Identified Object

Concrete, steel
2026

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Lazdynai, Vilnius

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The title of the work, “Identified Object,” is a playful invitation (antithesis the term “unidentified flying object”) to spark the imagination and encourage viewers to try to discern, within an abstract form, something familiar to their own experience—something they might be able to identify through association—and thus experience the joy of discovery. It is a puzzle-like sculpture with no single correct answer.

 

The work embodies two elements that, at first glance, seem different: a natural, undulating form and a rhythmically repeating structure based on fairly clear architectural logic. Thinking specifically about the Lazdynai neighborhood, it seems that this is where a dynamic, natural landscape, green spaces, and the austere architecture of block-style buildings—closely aligned with the Brutalist tradition—meet and coexist naturally, creating a distinctive urban rhythm. The sculpture’s form is linked to the architectural layout of the Lazdynai microdistrict: Architektų Street, which stretches across the entire microdistrict, is circular, having neither a beginning nor an end, while in the sculpture, all lines are also based on the principle of a circle.

 

With its “cosmic” form, the sculpture also establishes a visual connection with the relatively nearby Vilnius TV Tower, which is visible in the background of the sculpture; at the same time, it serves as a historical reference, reminding us that in the past, when space exploration was a very new phenomenon, so many people’s gaze was so intently directed upward that even the names of nearby streets and shopping centers were associated with space (the current “Laisvės” Avenue was formerly called “Kosmonautų” Avenue, and in the neighboring Karoliniškės neighborhood, there were shopping centers named “Merkurijus” and “Saturnas”).

 

Project architect – Mindaugas Šutėnas

 

The creation of the sculpture was funded by the Vilnius City Municipality​