Are you lonesome tonight

2009
Video, HDV, 3.37 min
Kaunas, Lithuana

In Are You Lonesome Tonight, I step into a bustling bar in Kaunas, Lithuania—a place owned by the chief commissioner of police—and bring to life a provocative reinterpretation of Elvis’s “Jailhouse Rock.” Here, I’m questioning: What if Elvis were contemporary? And what if Elvis were a woman?

In a handmade costume that walks the line between a German gymnast’s attire and erotic lingerie, I enter the space with a sense of purpose, poised between the daring and the humorous. My performance unfolds as I attempt to engage with the patrons, many of whom are already slightly intoxicated. Some are older men immersed in a game of chess, while others, like a woman who eventually joins me on the dance floor, respond more directly—she even begins taking off her clothes. This bar, usually reserved for the routine and the familiar, transforms into a kind of experimental playground.

With each movement and interaction, I attempt to embody a raw, energetic, and uncontained presence. It’s a force that collides with the stillness and reserved atmosphere expected of such a setting. This tension, this clash, creates a charged dynamic where each character must navigate and assert their own way of existing within the moment. In this space, the young and old, the provocative and the traditional, intermingle and subtly wrestle, questioning boundaries, roles, and the freedom to define oneself.