On February 14th, Energy and Technology Museum celebrates its 21st birthday in the modern exhibition space, Transformation Hall, with a shocking lightning concert by “Vilniaus Energija”.
The duo of avant-garde rap and alternative electronic music consists of Žygimantas Kudirka and Adas Gecevičius. They chose the energetic name because of the group’s tone–setting music. However, Vilnius residents occasionally contact the band members about… their electricity bills.
The concert will be illustrated with video projections by video artist Asta Ostrovskaja. Due to the specifics of the event, a limited number of listeners will be able to visit the Transformation Hall. Tickets are distributed by Paysera. Full programme of birthday events is here.
Žygimantas Kudirka and Adas Gecevičius
– Which one of you is Vilnius and which one is Energy? – We asked Žygimantas Kudirka.
– It’s an indivisible unit. We are both from Vilnius (I am the original Vilnius resident, Adas is from Druskininkai), and we both use electricity during our concerts – Adas creates the soundtracks out of his devices, and I use my own devices to effect my vocals live.
– If the Vilnius Power Plant had not been built 121 years ago (which led to the industrial and cultural boom), but later – what would music be like now?
– Then „Kraftwerk“ would debut right about now.
– Have you ever been asked how you will play Tesla, since it is an electric car?
– We’ll be playing on Tesla coils, which is just as impressive! Our pieces will be accompanied not only by projections, but also by electric discharges visible to the naked eye, which we will perform live.
But if you look at the images floating around the internet of Tesla cars burning on the sides of the roads, you could say that both Tesla coils and Tesla cars are lightning.
And as far as cars are concerned, playing in a Tesla car would not be so unexpected either. Münpauzn and I have done a concert at the former Lithuanian cinema using an open-door car as a sound system, as well as a concert on a trolley bus, which we could make our own route, and the audience would have to get off at various stops. At the Nida Art Colony, we managed to get the car into the exhibition hall somehow. I created a radio play especially for the car’s interior, with a soundtrack by Adas.
– What is the most crazy concert idea that you haven’t implemented yet?
– You are talking to someone who has performed on the river and on the surface of the lake, on a boat in a storm, on a trolley or in a car. And in general, whatever my project, no two performances are the same. Here we are, at the Energy and Technology Museum, playing with lightning!
– The most bizarre incident during the concert was…
– I once did a gig at a festival and during the concert a tipsy girl got on stage. For some reason, security and stagehands figured it was a band member and didn’t scratch her off the stage for the whole concert.
– You’ve performed in Israel, Iceland, the Netherlands. How is a concert for Hong Kong audience different versus Lithuanian audience?
– Me as an artist, or as a Messiah, and Adas with “Sheep Got Waxed” or other projects, we have travelled almost halfway around the world. We have played abroad and together as “Vilniaus Energija” many times. In my case, the main difference is that abroad I perform in English or in artificial, made-up languages. Even with “Vilniaus Energija”, we have an album called “Astrology of EU”, which is mostly in English and in fake languages. Find it online!
– Why are you “Vilniaus Energija” and not Vilnius Heat, Water or Utilities?
– “Vilnius Heat Supplier” or “Vilnius Utilities” are not sexy. Waters sounds nice, but since we play energetic music, we chose to be Vilnius Energy.
– How much electricity (or energy) do you use per gig?
– We recharge ourselves from the audience!
