The work Dark Matter was created in a health resort in Lithuania. The city is known for its mineral water, which has made it famous for centuries and also gave it its name: Druskininkai, »City of Salt«. The water is very salty and is used as a therapeutic agent. In combination with the mud, the water is enriched into a warm, mushy bath and used as a cure. The mud bath is black, deep, opaque, texturally repellent, i.e. visually not necessarily healing. The body sinks into darkness, the surface is dull, it reflects and absorbs the light rays at the same time. The dark liquid in the pool becomes a universe in its own right, leaving behind painterly, mysterious traces.
The title of the series Dark Matter comes from the field of cosmology. In terms of content and language, it plays with the parallel to the concept of dark matter. It is an invisible form of matter that has not yet been proven, but whose existence in space is considered to be secured as a counterforce to existing, visible matter. Neither is the healing power of the enriched water visible or measurable for the bathers, but a mysterious power and beauty can be felt.
