Jolita Vaitkutė: The Tree that Flies from the Balcony and the Pangolin

“I wanted to create something strange, something that shatters typical thinking about traditional things and traditional holidays. The idea of a bent Christmas tree was born out of my reflections of the events of 2020 that have messed up the rhythm of the world,” the artist Jolita Vaitkutė said.

Like the entire year leading up to it, the festive holiday is going to be different to what we’re traditionally used to.

Although the majority of us are staying home, we want to share our joy with the widest possible audience. Home is now too small for the Christmas spirit, which takes the form of a Christmas tree. The tree flies from the balcony to the street both visually and physically.

A mysterious animal – a pangolin – sitting on the Christmas tree has been concentrating all the powers of nature that are beyond our control.

“I have put a pangolin, which is a totally unfamiliar animal in Lithuania, at the top of the installation. Back in spring, there were considerations that this animal could have caused the entire situation. The pangolin overlooking passers-by with its glowing eyes symbolises the whims of nature that are beyond our control. Nature is much stronger than human beings and we have to live with that.”

Although these powers have not been favourable this year, the desire to celebrate and share our warmth has not disappeared.

The installation encourages participants of the Alternative Christmas project to decorate their balconies in a bright and original way so that it is impossible not to notice them.

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