Augustas Serapinas (b. 1990) lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuania. Serapinas’ practice is invested in recomposing public spaces in order to foreground and problematize the assumptions that shape them. By doing so, he uncovers hidden dynamics of social hierarchy, economy and memory inherent to objects that are passed unacknowledged. He strategizes and weaponizes the physical existence of secrets and access to spaces through researching the historical usage of materials and traditions.

Standtune takes its name from a traditional fence style from the island of Gotland, Sweden — a building technique kept alive by a small group of local craftspeople. Historically, standtune structures functioned primarily as boundary and enclosure systems, though they may also have served defensive purposes. For Sculpture Milwaukee, Serapinas explains: “I essentially built the same fence, just with curves.” Made from locally sourced birch, the roughly 40 foot long sculpture no longer divides anything. It asks what we hold onto, what traditions we keep alive, and what we let go.

This work is part of Power of the Margins, Sculpture Milwaukee’s 2026 exhibition. Standtune is presented in partnership with Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (Riga, Latvia) in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) (Vilnius, Lithuania), and Haggerty Museum of Art (Milwaukee, WI). Support for this work is made in part by the Baltic Culture Fund.