Goda Palekaitė
Goda Palekaitė is an artist, writer, and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary art, performance, artistic research, literature, and anthropology. Her practice unfolds through long-term projects and interdisciplinary programmes that examine the politics of historical narratives, the agency of dreams and fiction, and alternative modes of knowledge production.
Goda is the author of three books, as well as numerous essays and experimental texts. She holds a BFA in Fine Arts (Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts), an MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology (University of Vienna), a Post-Master in Artistic Research (A.pass, Brussels), and a PhD in the Arts. In 2025, she defended her doctoral thesis at Hasselt University and PXL-MAD School of Arts, titled Ode to Teachers: History as Private Narratives, Lives beyond Normativity, the Unclassifiable, the Ambiguous, the Borderline and Borderless, Overwhelming Existences, and Intimate Experiences.
Over the last decade, she has presented installations, films, and performances in solo and group exhibitions at venues such as Beursschouwburg and BOZAR in Brussels, Kunsthal Gent, Västerås Art Museum, Whitechapel Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Arts and the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, the Biennale Architettura 2018 in Venice, Tranzit Bratislava, and Georg Kargl Gallery in Vienna, among others. In 2024-2025, she curated the Alternative Education Programme at Rupert in Vilnius.
While at Yale, Goda will be working on a new research project, Apocalyptic Imagination and the Grammar of the Future, which will result in a new book. This research draws inspiration from a historical period reminiscent of today: the 3rd–5th century AD, when the Roman Empire begins to crumble, Christianity - until then an underground movement - takes root in Europe. By actualizing this historical moment, she asks how today’s geopolitical, economic, and ecological crises might be understood through a historical allegory: if the decaying contemporary Western world-order mirrors that of ancient Rome, what new forms of life, belief, or imagination might emerge from the catacombs?