Vilnius Gallery Weekend is an annual art festival that unites various art spaces in Vilnius and invites the public to embark on a journey of art experience. This event, held for the eighth time this year, will present to the public a broad panorama of the capital’s contemporary art. On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, it was decided to look at the capital’s art field from the perspective of the golden ages.
This year’s theme aims to ask what, how and why do we know, remember and tell something? What are the golden ages that different individuals or communities dream of? What do we forget, what do we silence, what do we push to the margins? Are golden ages just an illusion?
On September 7-10, Vilnius Gallery Weekend will invite visitors to explore the city from the perspective of the golden ages and to visit over 30 galleries where audiences will not only be able to view new exhibitions, but also see the performances, participate in workshops, guided tours, and meet the artists.
Exhibitions
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09-10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Pilies str. 44, 01123 Vilnius
https://www.vda.lt/galerija-akademija
Onė Austėja Maldonytė „Virtuoti“
Author about the exhibition:
I would define my work as a state of “in-between”, an in-between connection between the inner world – consciousness, the realities of being and reality itself. During the ceramic process I balance between coherence and fragmentation. I am dancing in the liminal space between control and freedom, between what I know and what I cannot know in advance. The created entities do not have a defined function, nor do they have a stable base. The blessed ones balance in the space by holding their bodies on fragile points of contact, the rest rely on ropes, wooden and metal constructions. After the firings, the ceramic objects are identified as finished and perceived as static. By creating installations out of ceramic sculptures, I intentionally transform the being of the objects, thus changing them depending on the context and space. By reconstructing the objects, I will extend their capacity to change. Drawings composed of geometric shapes, lines and points dominate the surface of the sculptures. They are like charts or maps, meant for travelling, but not for finding the intended location or destination. My work is a channel between spaces, memory, time, fact and fiction. I would like to “accommodate” up to five sculptures in the Academy Gallery.
Izabela Carlucci St Anthony’s Fire
Author about the exhibition:
With this exhibition I want to draw attention to the human body through physical pain and suffering, as well as physical suffering as a punishment (in religious sense). My work explores so-called Body Horror, i.e., bio-horror, which is a genre of horror that evokes feelings of abjection by its imagery. Body horror was originally applied to the emerging North American horror film genre, but it has its roots in early gothic literature (e.g. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein) and has been extended to other media. The title of the exhibition, “St Anthony’s Fire” is derived from the medieval name of a disease known today as ergotism. The poisonous fungus ergot, which grows in rye, used to get into the bread eaten by the poor, causing ergotism – ergot poisoning. Symptoms include a burning sensation, painful convulsions and spasms, itching and, eventually, gangrene leading to limb loss. Mental effects (ergot contains the same carcinogens as LSD) include hallucinations, delusions or psychosis. The most detailed visualization of the subject can be found in Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘ Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony, which I use as a source of inspiration.
Admission is free of charge.
Exhibition open until September 13 2023
Exhibition can be viewed 24/7
More about the artist: www.zudys.lt
M. K. Čiurlionio str., Vilnius
apiece.lt
Adomas Žudys “Nerves of Non-Time”
On 5 August 2023, showcase gallery apiece, whose strategy centers around autonomous expression of artwork, opened an exhibition by Adomas Žudys. The artist abandons the traditional understanding of the exhibition space and splits it into two parts, an internal and an external one: these can also be said to be mutually navigable spatial and temporal systems. One part of the “system” consists of an oak root installed next to the gallery, which the artist himself dug up in his native Šiauliai region. It is a mass of roots from a tree that was struck by lightning several hundred years ago.
The viewers might associate these roots with currently much debated and outraged topic of cutting down healthy trees in cities. In addition to this issue, which unites people and brings them together into protest groups, the work also encodes another aspect, that of “returning to one’s roots”. However, rather than biological interactions, the artist himself is more interested in the contemporary environment constructed by our thinking and digital applications. Žudys does not question the biological, but rather the digital “systems of knowledge”.
According to the artist, it is “an attempt to understand a complicated world that is becoming incomprehensible, and to create a navigable knowledge system based on mythological, cybernetic, natural, as well as artificial artifacts. And since cybernetics and computers are an extension of the human nervous system, the root also functions as a “Sculpture of the Internet”.
At the gallery apiece, the artist presents a root fragment levitating in space, covered in gold dust, with a black box laid on the floor. The principle of displaying objects becomes the first step of alchemical work, as one gradually discovers the processes of negativity, decay, rotting and loss. This is linked to the attempt at representing that which resists representation, but it also enables creating arches of institutional value that unite the internal and external parts of the exhibition.
The title of the exhibition, which, according to Žudys, sounds ambiguous and somewhat comical, is an allusion to sculptor Philip Pavia’s essay Excavations in non-history (1959), which explores the interactions between nature, art and consciousness. The text prompted the artist to “dig into non-correct areas” thus creating an image of a “wooden” Internet: an extension of our nervous system. The connections of non-time in the exhibition can mean both a new eruption of an underground root as well as mental fatigue or the nervous burnout syndrome that we experience in an environment permeated with digitality and which leads to us (un)consciously trying to return to our “roots”.
Adomas Žudys (b. 1988) is an artist working at the intersection of digital and analogue media. In 2021 he graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts with an MA in Photography and Media Studies, and actively participates in exhibitions and events dedicated to interdisciplinary art in Lithuania and abroad. In 2017, the author was granted the status of art creator by the Republic of Lithuania.
Exhibition curators: Milena Černiakaitė and Aušra Trakšelytė.
Exhibition communication: Menų Komunikacija.
Graphic design: Marek Voida.
Exhibition funded by Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Exhibition will run until September 13.
09.08 – 7 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.09 – 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
09.10 – 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Vitebsko str. 21, Vilnius.
www.atletikaprojects.lt
“Mind Readers”
On 8 September 2023, a group exhibition “Mind Readers” opens at the Atletika Gallery, featuring artists Anton Karyuk, George Finlay Ramsay, Ieva Rižė, Jogintas Čepulis, Marija Šnipaitė and Sophie Durand. The show is curated by Aistė Marija Stankevičiūtė, the architect of the exhibition – Algirdas Jakas. The opening of the exhibition will feature a reading by George Finlay Ramsay, introducing his new film “Nursted, from the sleep side”.
Mind Readers
You listen to me for a long time and write something. I’m getting nervous, I hate invisible things, especially those in front of my eyes. Every sentence and seam of my clothing runs through your mind, and I start to wonder if everything is tied up neatly, if there is no button looser than the others on my jacket, are the washed glasses stacked bottom up in the kitchen. We are at home, it feels like home. My words slowly turn into a curtain, darkening the room, veiling us in a soft light that makes our pupils dilate a little. Your glass is like bone, mine is the same but lighter. The night is as young as your hands, the time exploded.
Each syllable stretches, becomes hardly familiar. I talk until I realise I’ve been silent all along, you’re far away, sleep is taking over. Creeping plants penetrate the foundations, people entangled in them speak the language of birds, one day we will know it too. For now, our soft fabrics are hanging on bone hangers, unmoved by the wind, we are comfortable and warm, we are stable. The black picture behind your vertebrae gets brighter the longer I look. Darkness, like you, takes time getting used to.
Artists: Anton Karyuk, George Finlay Ramsay, Ieva Rižė, Jogintas Čepulis, Marija Šnipaitė, Sophie Durand.
Curator – Aistė Marija Stankevičiūtė.
Exhibition architect – Algirdas Jakas.
Design – Studio Cryo.
Opening of the exhibition and readings with George Finlay Ramsay on 8 September 2023, 19.00. Readings will be in English.
Exhibition tours with curator: 15th, 30th September, 12th October.
The exhibition is supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality. Organizers – VšĮ “Galerijų savaitgalis” and the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association.
The show and events are free of charge, without registration.
09. 07 – 6 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 7 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
https://www.av17gallery.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AV17gallery
Instagram : av17_gallery
Jurga Barilaitė “Bottom”
Gallery “(AV17)” presents the solo exhibition “Bottom” by Jurga Barilaitė. This exhibition is a continuation of the project “Dreams of the Living and Dreams of the Dead”. In the exhibition “Bottom”, the author will present her latest works, which take as their starting point the visual and auditory instructions for survival generated by artificial intelligence. The works on display are clearly permeated by contemporary issues and the mood of war lingering in the air. In this project artist seeks to explore the relationship between the body and language and their instrumentality in resisting ideologies of power. Drawing on dreamed signs and mystical experiences, J. Barilaitė conducts empirical and historical research, looking for reflections of these experiences in the past and in everyday life of the present. The artist raises questions about the nature of violence and aggression, while at the same time searching for means of struggle and hopes for revival.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Gaono st.1, Vilnius
https://www.vda.lt/galerija-artifex
Vilma Bader “The Sun Will Rise”
Artists are convenors and archivists not simply of our historical times but of the mood and tenor of these times. Pandemics, wars, climate disasters — how does the mood of a city, a country, a place, shift? Or is it us that shifts? The Sun Will Rise engages with the role of language and place and plays with the power of optimism and magical thinking. It weaves together histories, stories, poetry, rituals and memories to expand on broader ideas around communal life and cultural and historical heritage. It is an immersive exploration, an active but non-intrusive attempt towards an archaeology of ‘place’. These works are an assemblage of moods, reactions and actions weaving between stories and histories of places both past and present. It is immersed in the local and particular, while also suggesting multiple narratives which link universal histories and the common memories they may share. The long list of residencies I have undertaken have informed my work. The Sun Will Rise is about localities and communities in three locations — Lithuania, Sweden and India. My work with textile is entirely hand stitched. I like the egalitarian method of hand stitching and its connection to the domestic and the intimate. Hand stitching has a particular relationship to time in a way that no other medium has. It also brings forth ways of making that are outside of painting into painting. I see it as a form of keeping track of time. My intent is to show work that interacts with life, with people, reacquainting them with their storytellers, and art as a way of knowing and seeing the world.
Vilma Bader lives and works on Gadigal and Muru-Ora-Dial Land in Sydney, Australia. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy (Visual Arts) at Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney in 2013 on an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship. She also completed a Masters of Visual Arts (by research) in 2009, a Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours (First Class) in 2007, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2006. Her inquiry based practice consists of personal histories and universal issues framed by linguistics and semiotics. In recent years her work has become increasingly about localities and communities elsewhere. This takes the form of cross-cultural storytelling and has taken her to various locations to undertake artist residencies for both her research and creative work. Her practice also involves long distance walks to better understand and experience landscape, having walked 1530 km across Northern Spain and Portugal and in 2021 a 275 km across the desert of Central Australia. A recurring theme in her work is how we see and understand our place in the world.
Exhibition will run until September 15 and is free of charge.
09.07 – 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
09.08 – 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Vitebsko g. 21, Vilnius, Lithuania
http://entity.lt/
“From Data Points to Spatial Experiences”
The immersive exhibition invites you to explore the extraordinary potential of virtual storytelling in Landscape Architecture amidst the challenges of climate change. The displayed speculations delve into the intricate interconnections between nature, humanity, and technology, transporting you to the heart of Singapore’s Rail Corridor. The installations explore environmental phenomena such as water scarcity, heritage preservation, and biodiversity, presenting them as spatial narratives. As we push the boundaries of landscape and architectural design, we strive to foster dialogue and inspire new perspectives on our environment in the face of climate change and rapid urban growth.
Aalto University Finland.
Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker – Computational Methodologies in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism.
Team:
Pia Fricker, Tina Čerpnjak, Andrew Walker, Christina Bliss, Kwan Yu Ip, Karolis Lasys, Yaqi Liao, Nanna Kemppinen, Werneri Vähä-Impola, Heidi Välisalmi, Lia Woelke, Tautvydas Zykevičius.
Admission is free of charge.
09.09 – 4 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.10 – 12 (noon) -4 p.m.
Malūnų g. 6A-12, 01200 Vilnius
https://www.godo.lt/
“Immersed”
Vilnius art space GODÒ Gallery presents the solo exhibition “Immersed” by Israeli artist Aron Kravits. The exhibition will be opened on 9 September at 4 p.m.
“I live and work in Tel Aviv, I am in constant dialogue with the city, absorbing its atmosphere. I observe the city and try to understand the inner laws of its structure, which (among other signs) manifest themselves in the visual rhythm of lines. From my point of view, it can be compared to the lines drawn by a seismograph – unstable, unstructured, reflecting the change inherent in our existence, and foreshadowing profound changes, the meaning of which we do not yet understand. But colours, being dynamic in nature, do not change their character. They convey the essence of any object – a house, a street, a person or the city itself,” says Aron Kravits.
In his work, the artist seeks to combine the fragility of the line with the unbreakable existence of colour. “The perception of my objects and their relationship to space may have been influenced by the work of a painter-decorator… I use mixed media, combining collage, pastel painting, marker, oil and acrylic with drawing on canvas, cardboard or paper,” says the artist.
Aron Kravits has devoted a series of works to Tel Aviv’s architecture, Bauhaus, and is currently working on a new series, Immersed, in which people become part of the space – their inner processes are inseparable from the changes in their surroundings.
“In this case, the setting is not necessarily Tel Aviv, but it is still subject to the same laws of colour, line and object relations. In an attempt to understand them and their interrelationships, I am using the methods I have discovered to explore this theme,” says the artist.
About the author:
Aron Kravits was born in 1958 in Ukraine and has been living and working in Tel Aviv, Israel since 1995. In 1992 he worked as a designer in the regional TV studio “Tonis”. In 1993-1994 he participated in annual art exhibitions at the city level. In 1994 he was a participant in an exhibition at the Kharkiv Opera Theatre Gallery.
Among other activities, he has been involved in theatre scenery for theatres in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, including the Israeli National Opera. He has done artwork for television and feature films.
His works are in private and gallery collections in Germany, Israel, Spain, USA, Canada and Russia.
He has had dozens of solo and group exhibitions in his home country and in Europe: Spain, Munich, Paris, etc.
The exhibition will run until 30 September and is free of charge.
09.07 – 7 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
Užupio str. 2a, Vilnius
https://hungryeyes.lt/
“The Streets of Baltics”
During this year’s Vilnius Gallery Weekend, the third edition of “The Streets of Baltics” will bring together illustrators, animators and street artists from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia for a showcase at the “Hungry Eyes” gallery. The exhibition will present a collection of limited edition porcelain cups with original screen-printed designs created as a collaboration between six creatives from the Baltic states and Riga-based ceramics studio “Krasta Keramika”.
The show will introduce the newly produced ceramics, as well as exhibit a retrospective of 19 designs from the previous initiative’s editions, made together with artists A. Bran, EGYBOY, Trafik, Kissi Ussuki, Ettoja, Akvilė Magicdusté, Zahars Ze, Vour, Lazy Bra, Tron, Rombo, Thobekk, Māra Drozdova, Ziepe, Esmeralda Purvišķe, Jonas Taul, Ingmar Jarve, Liisa Krusmag, Stina Leek and Roland Seer. The project aims to create a space where art and design can meet while representing the full range of unique creative scene in the Baltics and celebrating the region’s artistic community.
About “Krasta Keramika”:
“Krasta Keramika” is a ceramics studio in Riga, Latvia, established by Esmeralda Purvišķe and Zahars Ze in 2017. The studio creates handmade contemporary tableware with an artistic touch, using the slipcasting porcelain technique, as well as handbuild clay and stoneware ceramics. The creative team behind “Krasta Keramika” believes in the power of craftsmanship to make life more beautiful.
@krasta.keramika
Admission is free of charge.
09.08 – opening of the exhibition.
09.09 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
A. Goštauto str. 11, Vilnius
https://ideas-block.com/
[NOT]CRITICISING
Curator: Liucija Dervinytė
09.08 – 5:30 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
09.10 – gallery is closed
Gedimino Ave 43, Vilnius
https://www.photography.lt/lt/pradzia.html
Daphne van de Velde
OF ME AND YOU
Daphne van de Velde (Netherlands) personal exhibition ‘Of Me and You’ will be open at Prospekto photography gallery (Gedimino ave. 43, Vilnius) September 8th, 2023, 5.30 p.m.The exhibition is a part of an international competition “Restart”. The exhibition will last till October 7th, 2023.
The ongoing project ‘Of Me and You’ visualizes the boundary experiences of intimacy, the vulnerable, tender body and its desire and longing. Through her work, Daphne van de Velde tries to understand intimacy, but it remains elusive because it is so tearing, we want to both merge and disconnect at the same time. All that is required to move from indifference to love is the courage to have our hearts broken. A fight or an act of love in her work is therefore never quite clear what the body is involved in.
Making the skin physically palpable, the body’s border with the outside world and the other, can be described as the visual language of her work. She explores the longing for contact in a world where people increasingly live in their own space. More and more, we use the skin to avoid revealing the intimate, or to prevent the other from intruding. How do we deal with our containment of ‘self’?
With her body, she explores the border as a transition zone between the internal and the external. Photography paper functions as a substitute for skin, the skin that meets, touches, physically reacts, protects and isolates. She experiments with the flat surface of her photographs, manipulating it to construct a fragile ruin-like photosculpture.
Daphne van de Velde is a multimedia artist who transcends (is transcending) the limitations of the photographic medium. Daphne van de Velde studied at the ArtEZ University of the Arts Arnhem and the Fotoacademie Amsterdam where she graduated cum laude. Her work has won several awards both nationally and internationally.
With her body, Van de Velde explores the border as a transition zone between the internal and the external, using the skin as a metaphor. The Mondriaan Fund has granted her a stipend for 2022 and there are exhibitions planned like Unseen Amsterdam, a duo show at Art Gallery O-68, and a solo show at Allard Wildenberg Art Projects. In 2021, her work was exhibited at festivals such as Big Art, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Photo IS:RAEL, Object/ Art Rotterdam, and Verzasca Foto Festival. She has received the Photoworks Photography+ (UK) Graduate Award and the Dupho SO 2020. She won the Artconnect competition and the upcoming talent prize at Foto Festival Naarden.
Lithuanian Photographers’ Association is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
09.10 – gallery is closed
Stiklių str. 4, Vilnius
https://www.photography.lt/lt/pradzia.html
Kęstutis Grigaliūnas “1946“
On 30 August, at 5 p.m., the Vilnius Photography Gallery will present an interactive installation and a book on the theme of historical memory “1946” by the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art laureate Kęstutis Grigaliūnas. The exhibition will run until 30 September.
The installation is the third part of the ongoing project “1944-1954”, presenting the faces of 1,822 repressed citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and their short biographies, found in the criminal files of the Lithuanian Special Archive in 1946 by K. Grigaliūnas.
The aims and objectives of this project are best described by the words of the exile-dissident Dalia Grinkevičiūtė: “I can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that to the best of my strength, my mind, my abilities I built some kind of monument to the victims of the North, and that the world has learned of thousands of nameless martyrs in their fraternal icy tombs. This can no longer be destroyed or erased. It is history. It is a monument to my Fathers.”
About the author:
Kęstutis Grigaliūnas (born on 7 February in 1957 in Kaunas) studied at the Lithuanian Art Institute in 1976-1982. 1982-1996 – lecturer at Kaunas Juozas Naujalis Art School, since 1996 – lecturer at Vilnius Academy of Arts. In 1988-1989 he created linen carvings, woodcuts, silk screen prints, etchings and illustrated books. In 1990 he was one of the first Lithuanian graphic artists to use the colour stencil printing technique. He is characterised by a distinct graphic element – lines, signs, ornaments, figurative and abstract motifs. Since 1998, he has been creating more complex plastic graphic works and cut-ups, which are characterised by post-modernism, Pop Art, Fluxus elements, decorative and eclectic images. His works includes a playful mood, irony, various intellectual references to images of Lithuania and other cultures and civilisations. Since 1981 he has participated in exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. His works are held by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, the National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art, and the Library of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2011, he was awarded the National Culture and Art Prize.
The exhibition will run until 30 September and is free of charge.
09.07 – 7 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Aušros vartų str. 5 , Vilnius
https://cac.lt/en/reading-room/reading-room/
In September, the CAC Reading Room will showcase an exhibition by Gediminas G. Akstinas, consisting of new sculptural objects and artistic gestures. The works on display were created thinking about time, about how ordered environments become even more enigmatic, and about the links between identical objects and different spaces, as well as mathematics and imagination.
Gediminas G. Akstinas is a Vilnius-based contemporary artist. His creative work encompasses various sculptural practices, including objects, installations and performances.
The artist’s solo exhibitions include Nudes (Radvila Palace Museum of Art, 2022; Paneriai
Sculpture Park and a rented apartment in Vilnius, 2020); Companions (rented office space in Vilnius, 2019); and The SHIP (Kunstverein Gallery, Amsterdam, 2015).
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Maironio str. 3, 01124 Vilnius
https://www.vda.lt/lt/
„Austėja“
Curators of the exhibition: Jurij Dobriakov ir Julijus Balčikonis.
The exhibition was initiated by the Department of Textile Art and Design of the Vilnius Academy of Arts.
Opening of the exhibition – September 6.
It is an exhibition about what textile already is or could be if we turn our gaze away from its most recognisable elements and see it in the much wider field of contemporary art. At the same time, it is an attempt to imagine the Department of Textile Art and Design as a person, to reconstruct its features from individual details, traces and stories. The title of the exhibition refers, with gentle humour, both to this implied character and to the hypothetical bee goddess Austėja, associated with honeycomb weaving, which can be seen as a prototype of textile.
Artwork of Martyna Plioplytė Zujienė. Photography – Vaiva Abromaitytė.
Participants of the exhibition: Dijuota Žilytė, Ieva Laskevičiūtė, Jolanta Sendaitė-Paulauskienė, Unė Talmantaitė, Marijonas Verbel, Marija Žiemytė, Gabrielė Navickaitė, Deva Bartninkaitė, Aurėja Kriščiūnaitė, Gabija Švanaitė, Greta Matevičiūtė, Martyna Plioplytė-Zujienė, Aistė Radzevičiūtė, Gintaras Šeputis.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 6 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
09.10 – 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Pelesos str. 10, Vilnius
https://www.facebook.com/InTheClosetspace
Morta Jonynaitė “Innocence Becomes Sharks”
A space between the sea and the shore, a metaphor for the contemporary world — groundless, fluid and rapidly changing it affects our lives while we are the accelerators of all the change. Humans have always been enchanted by the seashore — its mysteriousness, power and magic — which evolved into politically, sociologically and historically complex zone. It is becoming evident, that the water is approaching our lives with the rising sea level and I am interested in how to find tranquility during this process. The installation is capturing the moment before the crash of the wave — when water retreats unveiling the beauty of the flora and fauna that can only be found in this particular zone.
– Morta Jonynaitė
InTheCloset is an artist-run space founded by Vsevolod Kovalevskij in Tromsø, Norway 2020. This showroom is located in the walk-in closet of the artist’s apartment, located at Fiskergata 2. From the beginning of 2022 InTheCloset has been relocated to Oslo and from 2023 InTheCloset:Vilnius has opened it’s doors.
The title of space is a double entendre, playing on the well-known saying “in the closet”, used to describe a person who is unwilling or unable to acknowledge their sexual or gender orientation publicly.
This title creates the foundation for a space, dedicated to showing artistic projects which question the meaning behind: gender, identity, in/visibility, lack of discussion, discomfort, censorship, inclusiveness or lack thereof. Ultimately, its intention is to expand and play with what it means to be in the closet.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
09.08 – 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 5 p.m.
09.10 – centre is closed
Malūnų str. 8, Vilnius
https://mekas.lt/
Antanas Zabielavičius „Pluto time“
In today’s context, we face a monumental challenge – to present not just the state and thoughts of an artist but that of all humanity. I believe this will be possible in the “Pluto Time” exhibition by Antanas Zabielavičius. The artist, more widely known as Azartget, is a creator of essentialist art whose works are often inter- preted as philosophical reflections of human experiences. The exhibition is initiat- ed by the open platform for artists, NBA (non budget art), once again allowing us to engage with contemporary art perspectives. This platform, contrary to the tra- ditional assessment and rating of artists based on the economic value of art proj- ects, undeniably demonstrates how artists can create and implement impressive ideas despite financial constraints.
This exhibition widely opens the window of audiovisual arts to a landscape still ravaged by war. Azartget introduces an artistic weapon, although symbolic, still potent and meaningful – the “ground-to-air” combat projectiles. This collection of nine thousand small balls made by the artist’s hands from earth and water is a profound aesthetic and emotional response to the war in Ukraine, which viewers will undoubtedly recognize.
We often discuss relevant art that makes us pay attention to what matters. Azart- get’s installation “Pluto Time” definitely fits this description. Being a unique voice in the Lithuanian artists’ landscape, he combines monumentality, conceptuality, and scenography in his works, which are astonishing and immersive. His art- works are eco-friendly, sustainable, and part of the environment. He usually opts for what is considered valueless, such as last year’s leaves, roadside sand, or cut grass… In his works, the artist transposes them into a new context, giving them new life and meaning. These materials are taken from nature and used to return them to it. It is a creation like the cycle of life, returning to the beginning and providing us with a deeper understanding and a new perspective.
But that’s not all. In the exhibition “Pluto Time”, Azartget reveals more than just the consequences of military aggression that we experience. He talks about the essence of time – its flow, which may differ from what we are used to. The time of Pluto, six times slower than our planet’s, is a metaphor for the artist’s creation, perfectly reflecting the long-lasting struggle in Ukraine. In the installation, the author invites us to experience the deep impression caused by the war and that long, seemingly never-ending flow of time when hopes rise and fall, emptying and filling again with experiences. He teaches us to see time as a process and a factor that flows and transforms us. Through the flow of Pluto’s time, we are al- lowed to look at the changes in the world from another, higher point, as if from another celestial body and its time. This changes the view of our planet and helps us understand its vulnerability.
Prof. Gregory Wide
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 11 – 8 p.m.
09.08 – 11 – 8 p.m.
09.09 – 11 – 8 p.m.
09.10 – 11 – 4 p.m.
Pamėnkalnio str. 1, Vilnius
https://pamenkalnio.lt/
Dovydas Alčauskis ir Eglė Petrošiūtė „BUILDER“
The object and creative concept of the exhibition is the Pamėnkalnio Gallery as a space and institution. According to the authors, the space itself determines the circumstances of the perception of the work, the context in which it is read, the institutional evaluation and the preliminary attitudes of the visitor. The exhibition seeks to conceptually dissect the concept of the gallery and its architectonics: plan, height, forms, not only as the constructive qualities of the building, but also as elements of spatial organisation that dictate the directions of movement. The authors are interested in how the gallery windows imply a correlation between the outside and the inside, the position of the building in the city, the possible relationship between works and scales, how the whole and the directions of movement are managed . It is not the work itself as an independent object that is important, but the circumstances and context of its display – how it expands or closes the horizon of the work’s idea.
The authors use the spatial situation of the gallery as a kind of architectural fabric. In this fabric, temporary hints of living spaces appear, which speak about man and his relationship to space. This moment, revealed through architecture, allows for the constant creation and intertwining of personal and collective experiences. The boundary between public and private space, the alien and the familiar environment is reconsidered. The other side of the façade is analysed – the process of building a wall or a space without walls. This also refers to the different narrative episodes of the works: certain community relationships create metaphorical contexts, which are manifested through the motifs and structures of the rhythmically cracking linear sequence. Through a look at architecture based on the relationship between space and people, the authors develop different ways of shaping spaces and are interested in the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. In this way, the exhibition explores the fragility of the relationship between space and the human being. Through the dominance of space, it is highlighted as a tool of power and, conversely, space as an opportunity for a new form of connection.
The nature of the works (video, paintings, objects) has elements of documentary, but focuses on certain abstract categories such as the relationship between image and sound, rhythm and duration. It relies on the viewer’s hunch and the possibilities of abstract thinking to grasp the exhibition as a whole, incorporating art historical discourses. Transforming the gallery space through sound and spatial sensations, the aim is to create an authentic rhythm of experience, to look differently at the relationship between man and space and the possibilities this relationship creates.
Still from a video “Šventoji”
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 20 p.m.
09.08– 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
09.09– 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
09.10 – 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Vilniaus str. 24, Vilnius
https://www.lndm.lt/protesto-menas-sovietmecio-nepaklusnieji-is-lietuvos-nacionaliniam-dailes-muziejui-dovanotos-vladimiro-tarasovo-kolekcijos/?lang=en
“Protest Art: The Rebels of the Soviet Era”
Exhibitions and displays open during the Vilnius Gallery Weekend – “Art of Protest: the Disobedient of the Soviet Era”. From the collection of Vladimir Tarasov donated to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
The exhibition features works by Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Latvian and Estonian artists who opposed the regime and official art, and who worked under the conditions of ideological dictatorship, censorship and restrictions on the freedom of movement in the Soviet Union of the 1960s-1990s. The main axis of the exposition is the work of the Moscow Conceptualists and Lithuanian artists, the so-called “silent modernists”. Although the artistic expression of the works is very diverse, they are united by a common feature – their defiance of the ideological and aesthetic attitudes of their time and the pursuit of creative freedom.
Curator of the exhibition: dr. Arūnas Gelūnas.
September 7–10 visitor tickets are 50 % off.
09.07 – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Latako str. 3, Vilnius
https://www.graphic.lt/en/exhibitions
Eglė Vertelkaitė „Moose Island“
In her creative project “Moose Island”, Eglė Vertelkaitė analyses heritage, archives, traditions, memory and its continuity. She draws on the drawings, photographs and maps of her father, a hydraulic engineer. E. Vertelkaitė re-creates and interprets the authentic material of the family archives by means of fragmentation, ink and shellac casting. By changing their meanings and content, the author seeks to decode as many Lithuanian words as possible (place names, hydronyms), and to erase the names of places and territories that were recreated during the Soviet period. The exhibition is a testimony to a painful history and the belief that the search for a beautiful, idealistic landscape is not in vain.
Meetings with Egle Vertelkaite will take place during the VGW. The artist will present her latest project, discuss it with the audience and answer the questions.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
09.08 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
09.09 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
09.10 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Arsenalo str. 1, Vilnius
https://lnm.lt/renginiai/
“Unresolved Composition. The Second World War In Soviet Lithuanian Art”
Does the apparatus of censorship and propaganda imposed by the dictators of the 20th century continue to influence our times? Are the ideological clichés of the occupiers echoed in the rhetoric of today’s aggressors? The Kremlin’s attempts to destroy Ukraine oblige us to look back at the painful experience of the occupations and to rethink the imperial narratives that were introduced in the Soviet-occupied territories after World War II.
The label “Unresolved Composition” was a favourite one used by Soviet art censors to criticize the level of a given artwork or an interpretation that failed to tow the official ideological line. In the context of this exhibition, the phrase refers to the complex circumstances of artistic life in occupied Lithuania, the distorted accents of the Soviet-era historical narrative, and the conflicts of our own scarred memory. This exhibition deconstructs the visual propagandistic narrative of the “Great Patriotic War”, as it was embodied in the artworks of Soviet Lithuania.
The GPW narrative became a tool of Soviet colonization. Art was an important element for legitimizing occupation and facilitating Lithuania’s Sovietization. Monuments to the “liberation” battles waged by the Red Army and their heroes appeared in newly renamed town squares, exhibitions were dominated by canvases painted according to narratives dictated by the ideologues, the image of the “Great Patriotic War” was disseminated through book and magazine illustrations and propaganda posters, and GPW iconography became an obligatory part of an artist’s training.
To consolidate this narrative, the occupying regime devoted considerable attention to visual propaganda: the removal of symbols of independent Lithuania from the public space and the creation of pro-Soviet products. The exhibition reveals the main ideological accents of the DTK narrative, and the duality of the theme is illustrated by radically different artworks.
This exhibition is being presented in the main facility of the Lithuanian National Museum, the New Arsenal, which has been closed for renovation. Prior to 1968, when it housed the first exhibition of the then Soviet Lithuanian Museum of History and Ethnography, the New Arsenal served a military function for nearly two centuries. This landmark area of the capital city, depicted in some of this exhibition’s works, and the museum walls partially stripped for architectural research, conceptually complement the exhibition’s narrative and symbolically complete this period in the history of the New Arsenal.
Curatored by Indrė Urbelytė, architecture by „Office De Architectura“, graphic design by Juozapas Švelnys.
“Shards and Echoes of Time: Soviet Censorship in the Work of Rimantas Dichavičius”
Shards and Echoes of Time: Soviet Censorship in the Work of Rimantas Dichavičius is a case study of an “unresolved composition”, illustrating the crossroads and challenges of creative work in the Soviet era. The art created by Rimantas Dichavičius from the 1960s to the 1980s was often banned and criticized by Soviet censors and, when it did succeed in passing screening filters without encountering obstacles, it was very often partially distorted by the artist’s self-censorship. This exhibition displays the work of Rimantas Dichavičius in three sections: in photographs banned by censors, in works subjected to criticism and correction by censors, and in work deemed suitable by the rules of Soviet censorship.
Curated by Renata Kovalčiukienė and Virginija Semėnaitė, architecture by „Office De Architectura“, graphic design by Juozapas Švelnys.
September 7–10 visitor tickets are 50 % off.
09.07 – 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
09.08 – 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
09.09 – 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
09.10 – 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
Didžioji str. 26, Vilnius
https://lnm.lt/renginiai/paroda-isvietinimas-displacement
Kristina Svalbonas “DISPLACEMENT”
Kristina Svalbonas is an artist with a BA in Photography and an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her work has been exhibited in a variety of venues, including the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, the Spartanburg Museum of Art in South Carolina, the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, the Klompching Gallery and the ISE Cultural Foundation in New York. Her work is held in numerous private collections, including the Cēsis Art Museum in Latvia, the Gregg Museum of Art and Design in North Carolina, the Woodmere Museum of Art and Temple University in Philadelphia. Recent awards include a grant from the Center for Photographic Arts (2022), a Baumann Creative Projects Grant (2020), the Rhonda Wilson Award (2017), a Puffin Foundation Grant (2016), a Bemis Fellowship (2015), among others. The solo exhibition “Displacement” wes shown at the Copenhagen Photography Festival (Denmark), the City Museum of Tallinn (Estonia), and the Museum of Textiles and Industry in Augsburg (Germany). Svalbonas is an associate professor of photography at St. Joseph’s University. She lives and works in Philadelphia, USA.
Exhibition will run until October 22.
“The Collectible Collector”
Kazys Varnelis – most likely, the most famous creator of optical art in Lithuania – was not only an artist, but also an avid collector. In his House-Museum the exposition put together by the artist himself pointedly parallels his works and the pieces of his collection, this way creating a wider narrative about their cultural endurance and movement from owner to owner. K. Varnelis not only collected, but himself became a collectable artist. A share of his works circulates beyond the boundaries of his museum and is invisible to the public or is only accessible fragmentarily.
Architect Justinas Dūdėnas
How many and which of Kazys Varnelis’s works could be in private collections in Lithuania? Perhaps a collector who promised to sell a composition painted by the artist still has it? Maybe it is possible to find the early experiments of the artist in someone’s Kaunas home? Did the „Knot“ sold at the US auction actually end up in Lithuania?
The continuous asking of such questions as well as many others for a few years helped assemble the corpus of the exhibition. Having grasped the significant temporariness of private collections, it became apparent, that this aspect will become the starting point of the scenography of the works preserved in private homes for the exhibition in K. Varnelis House-Museum.
The early paintings are evidence of a gradual transition from classical compositions to historical subjects, they also obviously show the influence of Stasys Ušinskas, who taught the artist at Kaunas Art School, and even New Objectivity (In German: Neue Sachlichkeit). Additionally, large classical optical paintings from private collections are presented at the exhibition, constructing a contrasting dialogue with small works and pieces created in substantially different style. K. Varnelis’s compositions created in the 1980s are also on display in the museum. Most of the paintings are shown in the exhibition hall, some interpose into other spaces of the museum. They, as temporary guests of this place, are perfectly visible: special constructions conceived for the exhibition allowed to install them respectfully in the rooms and distinguish them from other works.
The exposition is supplemented by objects revealing the phenomenon of collecting, famous and yet unexplored routes of migration: sometimes complex and enigmatic, sometimes clear and defined, sometimes destined by anecdotal events.
Who knows, maybe whilst the exhibition is taking place, perchance yet unseen work of Varnelis or a piece considered lost, which is quietly hiding in someone’s home as a composition of an unknown artist, will reappear.
Exhibition Curator Gabrielė Paškevičiūtė.
September 7-10 visitor tickets are 50% off.
09.07 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
09.08 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
09.09 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
09.10 – 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
T. Kosciuškos str. 3, Vilnius
https://lnm.lt/renginiai/tarptautinis-siuolaikines-tekstiles-festivalis-imagine
“IMAGINE!”
Images have always been a more universal language than written text. But what stories can textile creations tell us? The Festival International des Textiles Extraordinaires (FITE), an international festival of extraordinary textiles that first opened one decade ago in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and which continues to generate a great deal of interest, clearly demonstrates that textiles can be a wonderful means of sharing of personal and collective stories.
This unique international meeting place has become an important space for freedom and creativity, bringing together a vast community of creators from as many as five continents. Last year, the festival’s organizers asked us all to imagine: a different shared history and a new world where nature and the environment were cherished and cared for; a different way of consumption, new artistic practices, and a new body and new materials.
The theme and title of this biennial international festival is “IMAGINE!” and the partner country this year is Lithuania. In cooperation with the Lithuanian National Museum, the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and FITE, works of art will be brought to the National Museum’s House of Histories where, beginning on June 7th, it will be possible to see not only the contemporary textile works of Lithuanian artists, but also creations from Zimbabwe, Benin, Angola, Portugal, Morocco, France, the Netherlands, Estonia, Brazil, South Korea, Peru, Indonesia, and countries.
The organizers of this exhibition invite you to broaden your horizons and try to imagine humans as textile metaphors and works of textile art as expressions of activism and political acts; to discover links or deconstructions between tradition and the present day; and to search for differences and similarities between disparate cultures, as historical museum exhibits from the collections of the Bargoin Museum of Textiles and Archaeology and the National Museum of Lithuania, displayed alongside contemporary works, create conceptual links that defy time. Finally, the exhibited textile works will inspire you to ponder our shared future.
Exhibition will run until October 29.
September 7–10 visitor tickets are 50 % off.
09.07 – 6 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
Latako str. 3, Vilnius
https://www.editorial.lt
Milda Lembertaitė and Anna Ruth “Incantations”
On 7 September, 6p.m., the exhibition Incantations by two artists of the younger generation, Milda Lembertaitė and Anna Ruth, opens at Editorial (Latako srt. 3, Vilnius). The show is part of the Vilnius Gallery Weekend programme.
The joint exhibition “Incantations” by Lithuanian artist Milda Lembertaitė and Czech artist Anna Ruth interweaves contemporary and historical mythologies, animism and technology in a thick surreal narrative. Tree branches blinking with fake eyelashes and flower blossoms transformed into snake-charming musical instruments – in this mixed reality, bodies have no definitive form and can unfold, merge or disappear right before our eyes.
Milda Lembertaitė’s hybrid sculptures are like protagonists with their own character and unique stories to tell. The trees and branches that form the basis of these sculptures were found and collected by the artist in the urban suburbs of London, where these trees absorb car pollution, cleanse toxins, and heal. By combining these found organic formations with synthetic materials, gluing false eyelashes on their surfaces or attaching prosthetic limbs, the artist blurs the boundaries between the living and the inert, the natural and the artificial. Is it us looking at the tree, or is the tree that observes us? A fragment of obsidian stone, integrated into almost every sculpture, is like an organic precursor of the shimmering contemporary technological screen, a reflection of and a portal to all of our modern desires.
The canvases of the young Czech painter Anna Ruth combine desires, nature and mythologies, placing them in a dreamlike reality. The mythological logic is incredibly capacious, so expect no hierarchy here: flowers, whether sticky or flimsy, are no less a character than a shepherd covered in sheep’s wool or a woman with a head of a bird of prey. These characters, emerging like visions against abstract timeless backgrounds, are ephemeral and sinuous, slipping out of all attempts to grasp them with the instruments of rationality.
The two artists, using different media and modes of expression, are united by the search for a relationship with today’s world through self-created rituals, taming reality and making sense of it through their works as if those were incantations.
Milda Lembertaitė holds an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and a BA in Performance Design and Practice from Central Saint Martin’s (both in London). Selected exhibitions and residencies include: Swiss Performance Art Award (Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland, 2022), Primeval (Unit 1 Gallery, London, 2023), Amada Verde (Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, 2021), VOLUMES (Kunsthalle, Zurich, 2019), Can You Feel It? (Last Tango, Zurich, 2019), Beep (DANCE4, Nottingham, 2019), Swiss Art Awards (Halle 4, Art Basel, 2019), RA Lates: Transcendence (Royal Academy, London, 2019), The Day Of The Dead (British Library, London, 2019), Hamza – Exodus To The Underground (Salon 61, ABA, Berlin, 2019), LABVERDE (The Amazon, Brazil, 2018), I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Ice Cream (Fondazione Baruchello, Rome, 2017), Perímetro: Cine Expandido (Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, 2016), Che c’è di nuovo? (MASI, Lugano, 2016), and Artists-in-Residence/Schools Workshops (TATE Modern and TATE Britain, London, 2016), among others.
Anna Ruth is a recent graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where she studied under the supervision of Jiří Petrboek and Martin Gerboc in the Drawing Studio.
Anna Ruth’s work bears the hallmarks of what can be described as contemporary neo-romanticism. It has long been defined by her personal mythology, which is eclectically composed of fragments of different cultures. She freely combines real historical events with myths. In her work, we can thus see a reflection of how human society evolves and how it tries to understand its own existence. The environments of the paintings and installations combine a certain timelessness with a strong emphasis on nature, balancing between figuration and abstraction. Her work is characterised by large formats, light glaze painting, earthy colours, and fluid transitions between painting and sound.
Her recent solo projects have been presented in Pragovka or in the Brno-based artist-run space Zaazrak Dornych. This year she is also participating in the SWAB fair in Barcelona and the Turkish Contemporary Istanbul.
Exhibition design by Monika Janulevičiūtė.
Copy editing and translation by Alexandra Bondarev.
The exhibition is partially supported by Vilnius City Municipality.
The exhibition will run until 7 October, admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.
09.08 -8 p.m. – 9 p.m.
09.09 – 10 p.m. – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 10 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Gedimino Ave. 51, 01109 Vilnius
https://www.lnb.lt/
Kateryna Beslik “Hulyaypole – My Little Homeland”
From September 1st the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania hosts a personal exhibition by Ukrainian designer and artist Kateryna Beslik titled “Hulyaypole – My Little Homeland”.
The exhibition tells the story of the artists’ home city Hulyaypole in the Zaporozhye region, located within the war zone, and of the people living there, including Katia’s family. From the beginning of March 2022, the city is in a shortage of electricity, gas, water and everyday transportation, it is constantly shelled by enemies.
The people living in Hulyaypole and other similar cities can evoke a plethora of different feelings: admiration and disdain, pride and pity, contempt, understanding or respect. These are people who for personal reasons have decided to stay home even in the most extreme circumstances.
The artist is looking into the spirit of her country and into the feelings of these people. Why do they continue to live in these conditions? What do they feel? What is home for them?
“After visiting there in June this year I was very frightened. I saw their strength, courage, optimism, and I saw how the human psyche adapts to everything, how it numbs or destroys certain feelings.
For me Hulyaypole is a field, it is wind, revolt, freedom and a thirst for life.”
Kateryna Beslik has been working as a fashion designer and stylist. This exhibition is the first step into expanding her field of creative ideas, to introduce the fashion artist through materials that are closest to her – secondary raw materials and textile.
During the exhibition period, visitors will be able to participate in providing humanitarian aid to Hulyaypole.
The exhibition can be viewed on September 1–25th at the Exhibition Hall (3rd floor) in the National Library.
The exhibition is supported by “Ukreate Hub” and the Open Lithuania Foundation.
More work by the artist:
https://www.instagram.com/kateryna_beslik/
The poster uses photography by Marcin Kruk.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
09.08 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
3A Arsenalo st, LT–01100, Vilnius, Lithuania
https://www.lndm.lt/en/tdm/
“Encounter Estonian Design. Introduction”
The Applied Arts and Design Museum of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art holds an exhibition of Estonian design Encounter Estonian Design. Introduction. The exhibition traces the trajectory of design in the neighbouring country, introducing along the way its design creators – starting with pioneers – furniture designer Anna von Maydell – up to celebrities of contemporary design and the leading design studios.
‘Estonian design attracts increasingly more attention, and this exhibition aims to map out different strata of Estonian design, its characteristics and diversity by bringing into closer focus selected items which shaped the Estonian design stage,’ says curator of the event, Kai Lobjakas. She also notes the existence of several differing concepts of design.
‘Some see design as a specific technical detail, others as a valuable chair, still others as an innovation that transforms peoples’ life,’ says the curator, ’therefore, we are faced with the question whether it is a thing, or maybe, a service, whether it is visible or invisible, whether it is a product, a unique item, or maybe, a phenomenon.’
The impetus for the development of Estonian design came from the School of Arts and Crafts founded in 1914. The alumni of the school created new design traditions at industrial enterprises of independent Estonia. Plenty of initiatives born during interwar years were sustained during the years of soviet occupation. This period in design was dominated by furniture, lamps, glass and ceramic products. The Estonian design of the period knit together pre-war modernism, soviet ideology and aesthetics and the features of Western culture, their produce gaining a ‘nearly-Western’ status. The Baltic countries turned into a kind of ‘the West’ inside the Soviet Union, while the ideas of Western consumer society seeped into the Soviet Union via products, tokens of the comforts of everyday life.
Estonians have achieved solutions resulting in innovative design. Minox sub-miniature ‘spy’ camera, and communication platform Skype, created after the restoration of Estonian independence, are examples.
The exhibition has been organised by: Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design Museum
Exhibition curator: Kai Lobjakas.
Exhibition sponsor: Lithuanian Council for Culture.
Julijonas Urbonas “Planet of People”
Acclaimed by international audiences at the 17th Venice Biennale of Architecture two years ago, the project Planet of People, created by artist Julijonas Urbonas, is presented in Vilnius. After representing Lithuania at the prestigious event, the work was donated to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, which is exhibiting this interactive installation in one of its branches, the Museum of Applied Art and Design, for half a year starting with the 28th of April.
The version of the piece presented at the LNMA Museum of Applied Art and Design seeks to retain the original structure, scale, and content of the Venice display; nevertheless, there were certain challenges. A few months ago the installation, which requires a space with a high ceiling, was presented in Australia in a slightly lower scale, now it will also fit in the space of the museum in Vilnius. The central axis of the installation is an almost five-meter-high 3D scanner structure that scans human bodies and turns them into hypothetical bioarchitectural models. Visitors are invited to come into this custom-programmed device and get scanned in a choreographed pose of their choice. 3D images of the scanned bodies are transferred to an astrophysical simulation in space, while the installed screens show the forming lump and the visitors themselves as co-creators of a new cosmic body.
Curator, artist: Julijonas Urbonas.
Architects: Isora x Lozuraityte Studio for Architecture (Petras Išora and Ona Lozuraitytė).
Deployable structures designer: Vladas Suncovas.
Graphic designer, 3D scanner programming Studio Pointer* (Asya Sukhorukova and Jakob Schlötter).
Producer: Mindaugas Reklaitis.
Communication: Jogintė Bučinskaitė.
Printer machine programming: Andrius Mikonis.
Prototypes designer: Paulius Vitkauskas.
Partner: Vilnius Academy of Arts.
Media partners: LRT, Mediatraffic.
September 7-10 visitor tickets are 50% off.
09.07 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
4 Didžioji st, 01128 Vilnius
https://www.lndm.lt/en/vpg/
We invite you to immerse yourself in the vibrant and fresh world of flowers in the exhibition “Florentem” (curators Aistė Bimbirytė, Joana Vitkutė, Ramunė Savickaitė, Dalia Tarandaitė). The exhibition not only reveals man’s attempts to understand oneself through the relationship with nature, but also introduces the origins of the history of botany, gardens and parks, the language of floral symbolism in secular and religious works from the 17th and 18th centuries, the scientific and artistic activities of women in the sphere of flora of 19th-century. The greatest intrigue of the exhibition is the opportunity to look through a keyhole into the private and intimate space of a woman who creates art – the boudoir, which is also full of floral motifs.
Two exhibitions present the collections of Ukrainian museums. The exhibition “Old Masters from Ukrainian Museums. Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Art and Borys Voznytsky National Art Gallery in Lviv” features works by Old Masters from Central and Western Europe, as well as Lithuania and Poland. The exhibition includes examples of religious art dating back to the 16th century, landscapes, portraits, still-lifes and genre scenes. This is a rare opportunity to see the work of artists such as François Boucher (1703-1770), Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Jean-Pierre Norblin (1745-1830), Johann Baptiste Lampi (1751-1830), Henryk Siemiradzki (1843-1902), and others. Curators of the exhibition: Aistė Bimbirytė, Anna Lehedza, Anastasia Matselo, Skaistis Mikulionis, Ramunė Savickaitė, Dalia Tarandaitė, Joana Vitkutė, Olena Zhivkova.
Another exhibition, “Will She Rise Again? Goya’s Etchings from The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts”, presenting the famous series by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya The Caprices (Los Caprichos) and The Disasters of War (Los desastres de la guerra)(curated by Olena Shostak, Olha Honcharenko) invites us to look at the monsters born out of a sleeping mind through the eyes of the famous Spanish artist Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes from the 19th centuries. The series of prints “Kapričai” and “Horrors of War” expose the flawed nature of man, the darkest recesses of the soul, fears, passions and hopes.
Lovers of contemporary and modern art will be interested in the exhibitions “Kunstkamera” (curated by Aurelija Maknytė) and “Imagining Ourselves: Self-portraits of Lithuanian Artists from the 19th-Century to the Present Day” (curated by Dr Monika Krikštopaitytė).
The “Kunstkamera” exhibition-art installation, set in the historic interiors of the Chodkevičiai Palace, weaves contemporary and old art and natural objects into a seemingly chaotic, but in fact highly sophisticated and complex system. The project wittily and inventively addresses the complex relationship between man, nature and art. Visitors will be able to see a bull’s heart, knotted armour, a stone potato, a dreamed musical instrument, and the oldest object in the exhibition, the 1655 drawing “A Stork with a Human Face on Its Breast “.
The relationship between the old and the new is also explored in the exhibition “Imagining Ourselves: Self-portraits of Lithuanian Artists from the 19th-Century to the Present Day”. In the 15th century, artists moved from being constrained by guilds to becoming free creators, thus entering the elite of society. This giant leap opened up a dizzying creative freedom, shaped the legend of the artist, and thus the genre of the self-portrait. The desire for rebellion, change and the power of influence that erupted at the time is still recognisable in the work of both 19th century and contemporary artists. Nearly 70 self-portraits by Lithuanian artists and works reflecting on the author’s identity are presented in five halls. The organisers of the exhibition invite visitors to create their own self-portraits or replicate them and share them on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #ImaginingOurselves.
Photo: Gintarė Grigėnaitė
September 7-10 visitor tickets are 50% off.
09.07 – 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
09.08 – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
09.10 – 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
A. Goštauto str. 1, LT-01104, Vilnius
https://www.lndm.lt/vkdm/
“Litvak Artists in Paris”
A score of École de Paris artists and over a hundred of their art pieces – an exhibition Litvak Artists in Paris, the first in the Baltic countries comprehensive survey of the artwork produced by the immigrant Litvak (Lithuanian Jewish) artists in Paris. Among the lenders to the exhibition of international significance are such French art institutions as the Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture, the Museum of the Art and History of Judaism, as well as Lithuanian museums and private collectors.
As it has been pointed out by Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, Director General of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Litvak artists who notably contributed to the world history of art, are still waiting for a merited appraisal in Lithuania: ‘In almost every important museum around the world we are sure to find works created by the Jewish painters, sculptors or contemporary art creators originally from Lithuania or the broader territory once known as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. I may be wrong, yet I cannot help but sense that in Lithuania, these artists, albeit earning appreciation since times long past were not held to be a fully-fledged part of Lithuania’s cultural history. One may say that the exhibition Litvak Artists in Paris is a major effort, an extraordinary artistic and historic adventure to regain this part of history.’
The exhibition will chart the stages of Litvak artists’ emigration to Paris and bring to light their ambitions and achievements, longing for the Fatherland and continuation of tradition. Early-20th-century Parisian artistic circles included quite a number of Jewish artists who arrived not only from the big European cities, but from much smaller Jewish towns and villages (shtetls) of the Russian Empire. The years 1909–1913 saw Mark Chagall, Michel Kikoïne, Jacques Lipchitz, Emmanuel Mané-Katz, Chaïm Soutine and other artists, who belonged to the same generation and had in common the several-centuries-old Litvak culture, settle in Paris. They all came seeking political, social, cultural and religious emancipation.
The exhibition presents: Mark Antokolsky, Arbit Blat, Naum Aronson, Max Band, Michael Brenner, Victor Brenner, Ossip Zadkine, Rafael Chwoles, Ilya Ginzburg, Léon Indenbaum, Michel Kikoïne, Pinchus Krémègne, Jacques Lipchitz, Emmanuel Mané-Katz, Jacob Messenblum, Lasar Segall, Chaïm Soutine, Boris Schatz, Mark Chagall, Jacques Schapiro, William Zorach.
Curator: Dr. Vilma Gradinskaitė.
Exhibition and catalogue designer: Edita Namajūnienė.
Exhibition architect: Eglė Matulaitytė.
“Equation with Unknowns. Lithuanian Artists in Germany from 1945”
On 10 November Vytautas Kasiulius Museum of Art opened with an exhibition featuring Lithuanian Artists in Germany launching a series of events that presents research into Lithuanian émigré art, followed by exhibitions from the artists who linked their future with other countries.
The exhibition is arranged across two floors of the museum and is composed of two contrasting parts. The first part shows the artwork created in the context of Germany, as the first refuge territory for Lithuanians arriving there as war refugees fleeing soviet repressions. This was also the first station of the artists’ Odyssey, where many an artist, both established, and burgeoning, found their creativity succoured. Somewhat later, most of them travelled for the USA, Canada, Australia, France and other countries. This part of the exhibition revisits the efforts of post-war artists to create art and new homes in these strange countries.
September 7-10 visitor tickets are 50% off.
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 8 p.m.
09.08 – 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
09.10 – 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
22 Konstitucijos Ave, 08105 Vilnius
https://www.lndm.lt/en/ndg/
Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas “Partially Swamped Institution”
Across cultures and landscapes, the swamp spells crisis. It is bad nature that undoes the elementary order by mixing up soil, air, and water into a bottomless formlessness resistant to being mapped and depicted. Home only to vermin, nothing can be built or cultivated in its chaotic fecundity, which even threatens to make a mess of time itself by preserving the bodies and materials that come to rest there.
Embracing – and reversing – such negative mythologies of the natural world, Partially Swamped Institution sees hope and futurity in the swamp. The exhibition restages major works from the last decade by Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, including River Runs (2012), Mushroom Power Plant (2017), and The Psychotropic House: Zooetics Pavilion of Ballardian Technologies (2015-16). Archives of earlier projects are also presented, some of which date back to the time of transition following the fall of the iron curtain. From early feminist readings of the (post-)Soviet psyche to community-based activist art and assemblages of art and science, the exhibition traces the changing phases of the Urbonases’ oeuvre. A regard for what we would today call environmental citizenship, however, has been a premise of their collaboration all along.
Characteristic of how the artists play with social forms and processes, Partially Swamped Institution is an exhibition that leaks agency and permits contingency. Straddling human and not-so-human bodies, it includes workshops, living entities, and robots – and in an extraordinary gesture, brings the swamp to the museum, as one has been constructed in the courtyard of the National Gallery of Art. This piece of live contraband tangles urban and natural ecologies, and invites the institution to act as a caregiver for a community of organisms that becomes both a device for action and a meditation on new forms of coexistence.
Exhibition organizer – National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
Curator: Lars Bang Larsen.
Exhibition architects: Jurga Daubaraitė, Jonas Žukauskas.
Graphic designer: NODE Berlin Oslo.
Coordinators: Giedrius Gulbinas, Mindaugas Reklaitis, Aušra Trakšelytė.
“Overseeing 6 Ares. Collective Gardens”
Whether it was the act of digging into the ground with your hands, feeling the soil under your nails and forging a connection with nature, or building an idyllic summer house to consolidate your status as a successful Soviet citizen, community gardens offered numerous avenues for self-expression. The regime not only tolerated such expression, but actively encouraged it for various reasons. It promoted active participation in community gardening, promising citizens access to tools, designs for summer houses, seedlings, and even public transport tickets – at least in theory. In practice, the reality was much more lacklustre. Nevertheless, the establishment of community gardens was a significant infrastructural and ideological project that required pretext, planning, and resources. So why bother in the first place? And what should come of it?
The initial decree calling for the widespread establishment of community gardens in the Soviet republics was issued in 1949. The beginning of this initiative coincided with significant food and housing shortages, but over time, it evolved to encompass not only pragmatic goals but also more profound spiritual aspirations of the government. Headlines in journals aligned with the official ideology, such as when Our Gardens proclaimed: ‘The garden enriches a man’. Meanwhile, a parallel world was emerging in the vast expanse of the hundreds of thousands of 600-square-metre plots – from menial labour to financial schemes, from petty intrigues to personal utopias, and even discussions between members of the cultural elite and dissidents. Requiring constant care from the gardeners, these 600-square-metre allotments and the processes that took place in them would not escape the scrutiny of the government. The 600 square metres of land became a space of political, economic, architectural, and cultural conflict, but also one of opportunity, where the ailing system and its subjects found themselves entangled in a complex love-hate relationship with the gardens.
Over the decades, community gardens have become a deeply ingrained phenomenon in our collective consciousness. Initially established on the barren, abandoned land of former military bases or collective farms, these allotments are now flirting with suburban lifestyles or being reborn in new forms, such as community initiatives. Our relationship with these strange, seemingly liminal places has been reflected on by creators across various fields, including painters, contemporary artists, architects, photographers, television producers, and writers. Through their artistic works and archival materials, the exhibition showcases the diverse visions and contradictions of collective gardens: the challenges posed by infrastructure, the wide variety of summer houses, the gardeners’ penchant for risky undertakings, and the gardens themselves with their constant demand for maintenance, being both binding and liberating at the same time.
Organiser: National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.
Creators of artworks and other exhibits: Algimantas Aušiūra, Eugenijus Barzdžius, Feliksas Bielinskis, Jonas Buračas, Juozas Čepavičius, Kazys Daukša, Andrius Erminas, Eglė Gineitytė, Gintarė Grigėnaitė, Linas Jusionis, Stanislovas Karanauskas, Birutė Kasperavičienė, Jonas Klimašauskas, Vsevolod Kovalevskij, Feliksas Lukauskas, Ignas Maldus, Algirdas Mulvinskas, Algimantas ir Vytautas Nasvyčiai, Domantas Pigulevičius, Upė Pilitauskaitė, Lukas Pilkauskas, “PUPA Life over space”, Mindaugas Skudutis, Rūta Spelskytė, Vladas Suncovas, Algimantas Švėgžda, Andrej Vasilenko.
Curators: Goda Aksamitauskaitė, Matas Šiupšinskas.
Architect: Gabrielė Černiavskaja.
Designer: Laura Grigaliūnaitė.
Architect-producer: Mindaugas Reklaitis.
Translators: Paulius Balčytis, Erika Lastovskytė-Fritolli.
Editors: John W. Fail, Laura Patiomkinaitė-Čeikė, Ieva Puluikienė.
Financed by Lietuvos kultūros taryba.
Partner: Lietuvos kino centras Sponsored by Exterus, Fundermax.
September 7-10 visitor tickets are 50% off.
09.07 – 11 a.m.– 5 p.m.
09.08 – 6 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.09 – 11 a.m.– 5 p.m.
09.10 – museum is closed
Savičiaus str. 11, 01127 Vilnius
https://mkcnamai.lt/lt/
“Unfamiliar Čiurlionis. The Vilnius Society of Art II”
The second part of the exhibition “Unfamiliar Čiurlionis. The Vilnius Society of Art II” is dedicated to the creative work of the members of the Society. The Society, which united artists of different ethnicities, held annual spring exhibitions in Vilnius from 1909 to 1915, which turned into an important cultural event. They were attended by Vilnius residents and guests from other cities.
Few artworks have survived, but the artworks on display in the exhibition from the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and the Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis National Museum of Art give an idea of those exhibitions. The photographer Stanisław Filibert Fleury showed motifs of Vilnius Old Town. Landscapes dominated, the local landscape, and country houses were depicted by Józef Bałzukiewicz, his sister Łucja Bałzukiewicz, and Bolesław Buyko, while the head of the Vilnius Art Society, Ivan Rybakov, painted the romantic Mickūnai Manor House, which was a favorite of Juliusz Słowacki. The audience admired Jalmar Hanson’s stormy views of the Black Sea, while Antanas Žmuidzinavičius showed impressionistic studies of the Atlantic coast brought back from his trip to the Azores. There were a number of portraits, such as a salon picture of a lady by the Warsaw painter Józef Puacz, or a girl in Renaissance dress by Kazimierz Mirecki. Symbolist works were shown by Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, Polish artists Zofia Plewińska and Bronisław Bartel, and Art Nouveau metal inlays were presented by Petras Rimša. Alongside realistic artworks, the spring exhibitions brought the search for new, modern art to Vilnius in the early 20th century.
Curator: dr. Laima Laučkaitė.
Exhibition design: dr. Akvilė Aglickaitė.
Exhibition consultant: Žygimantas Augustinas.
Exhibition coordinator: Milda Pleitaitė.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
09.08 – 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
09.09 – 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
09.10 – 2 p.m.–5 p.m.
Šv. Brunono Bonifaco str. 12, 01124 Vilnius
https://www.roostergallery.eu/
“Harvesting”
On Vilnius Gallery Weekend, The Rooster Gallery is opening with a group exhibition, dedicated for this event and presenting the newest works of the gallery artists. Traditional collective return of the artists to the gallery space for the Harvesting celebrates the beginning of Autumn and the start of the exhibition season. This year the exhibition transfers to real and fictional golden ages, following the trajectories to the past and the future, marked in different media and various forms of artistic expression.
Artists: Raminta Blaževičiūtė-Mozūraitienė, Kazimieras Brazdžiūnas, Tomas Daukša, Eglė Karpavičiūtė, Vytautas Kumža, Jonas Meškauskas, Eglė Norkutė, Vita Opolskytė, Sandra Strēle, Ieva Trinkūnaitė, Andrius Zakarauskas.
The Rooster Gallery’s events are kindly supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.
09.08 – 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
Montvilos colony, Švenčionių str. 14-3, Vilnius
https://contourart.gallery/
“Eden‘s Garden”
Contour Art Gallery and Lina Fisheye host an event Eden‘s Garden. Intimate photography exhibition by Lina Fisheye will be opened on the 7-10th of September. Join us for a journey into the soul of this historic neighbourhood as well as one house story. Lina’s striking photographs will replace the furniture for just these 4 days of the event, offering a glimpse into the past life of her apartment and the stories that unfolded within its walls. The event will take place within the very house where Lina once resided, located in the heart of Montvilos colony.
The photography exhibition will be complemented by Eden’s Garden project, which is a part of Lina‘s ongoing artistic research. Artist collaborates with her neighbours on an audio venture, capturing their stories of their lives in Montvilos colony. Meanwhile, the photographs within her former apartment serve as a personal journey, reminiscing about her own life experiences.
Within the exhibition, step into the heart of the apartment—the kitchen, symbolizing camaraderie. Enjoy a drink, reminiscent of cherished gatherings.
This event is a part of Vilnius Gallery weekend program.
Admission is free of charge.
09.08 – 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. (Performance – 5 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.)
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Šv. Jono str. 11, Vilnius
https://meduza.cargo.site/
Andrius Arutiunian „Counterfates“
The autumn season of the art space “Medūza” opens with a solo exhibition “Counterfates” by an artist and composer Andrius Arutiunian. It presents four new works that invite to explore the notions of artificiality and fake through contemporary and historical sonic phenomena. From the Artificial Intelligence based installation “Synthetic Excercises” to the paradoxical history of the artwork-forgery “A Gift That Keeps On Giving”, the cosmology of A. Arutiunian’s work unfolds through alternative ways of knowing and auditory thinking that exists beyond Western musical traditions. “Counterfates” is a continuation of the series of works by A. Arutiunian’s Armenian Pavilion “Gharīb”displayed at the 59th Venice Biennale, that further develops political resistance and esoteric sound practices. During the opening of the exhibition, in collaboration with the Music in Space Festival, A. Arutiunian will present a performance “Armen”.
“Armen” is a work based on the music of the Armenian diaspora with musical material composed from the artist’s personal record collection. The version adapted for the festival offers an unusual form of approach – listeners are taken by a car along a route through the peripheral spaces of Vilnius, to the sound of a cassette player.
More information about the event: https://www.muzikaerdveje.lt/programa-2023/#arutiunian
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
09.08 – 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
09.10 – gallery is closed
Vilniaus str. 39, 01102 Vilnius
https://www.galerijavartai.com/
„Waiting Waiting Waiting“
“Vartai” Gallery starts the new autumn season with the opening of the exhibition Waiting Waiting Waiting by young designers. On the “Showroome” platform, a collective of young designers presents an exhibition of design objects created over the last few years. Through their works, the artists offer a unique synthesis of traditional craftsmanship, advanced technologies and organic forms, imbued with personal narratives and approaches to contemporary design. In the exhibition, the young creators seek to overcome the interaction between creative impulses and the sense of anticipation that echoes in an uncertain future. Rather than merely trying to fill the void of waiting, they invite us to embrace a conscious form of contemplation. In this exhibition, waiting is reconceived as a possibility of unrestricted imagination, allowing us to wander freely through unbounded landscapes of thought.
Participants: Linas Čeponas, Emilija Daraškevičiūtė, Ani Gandžumian, Liepa Gradauskaitė, Ieva Gudelaitytė, Mykolas Kavaliauskas, Beatriz Pardo, Justina Stipinaitė, Paulina Vasiliauskaitė, Kvintas Zepp.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 12 (noon) – 7 p.m.
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 7 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
Užupio str. 19, Vilnius
https://tumogalerija.lt/
“The Last Days of Summer“
“The Last Days of the Summer Exposition” at the Tumo Gallery. The exhibition features parallels between Samuel Bak’s life game and the chessboard, the quest to unlock the lock of a lost childhood and a lost hometown Vilnius, “birds of the soul” – a return to what is uniquely precious inside everyone; Théo Tobiasse’s canvas “Un exode sans rivage” on the theme of exile and departure, and a series of lithographs based on the “Song of Solomon”, also known as the “Song of Songs”, a unique book of the Bible, the Old Testament; Arbit Blatos’ famous Paris’ Concordia Square and storms at night in Venice, the landscape of Giudecca Island and portraits of one of the world’s most famous mimes – Marcel Mars; the works of Stasys Eidrigevičius, Pranas Gailius, Vytautas Kasiulis, Eva Kubba, Juozas Kėdainis, Viktoras Petravičius, Leopoldas Surgailis, Mindaugas Šnipas, and Mikalojaus Povils Vilutis.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 6:30 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.09 – 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 4 p.m.
T. Vrublevskio g. 6, 01143 Vilnius
https://driftsgallery.com/
Šarūnas Baltrukonis “Nexus”
Thursday, September 7, 6:30 p.m. the first personal exhibition of the young generation painter Šarūnas Baltrukonis “Nexus” opens at the “Drifts” gallery (T. Vrublevskio st. 6-2, Vilnius). It presents the artists’ paintings and objects created in recent years, which creatively reflect our changed relationship with technology and the technological.
The change in this relationship is also the problem of the experience of the real as an objective visual reality, which forms the dialectic of reality-virtuality spread on both sides of the screen. The title of the exhibition was inspired by the questions of interconnectedness and overlapping of different spaces of social cognition (reality, digitality, virtuality) in contemporary artistic creation. “Nexus” is a reference to causal-aesthetic connections between ideas and bodies functioning in those different spaces.
In the painting of Šarūnas Baltrukonis, the spaces of reality and digitality and the bodies acting in them are connected. However, these spaces are abstracted, when only certain fragments of them become recognizable – wedges of reality or virtuality, often characterized by urban and/or cybernetic aesthetics.
The motifs in Baltrukonis’ canvases, having lost their natural “realism” or “digitality”, enter into a qualitatively new relationship that can be understood through mutual interaction. By combining motifs that are opposite in nature and searching for their aesthetic balance, the artist uses the rough, sharp, smooth or slippery surfaces of the planes as certain media containing different information about the bodies made of them. The surfaces of the works become a specific membrane, structuring the arrangement of motifs in the picture and creating their continuous interaction on both sides of the boundaries of the spaces of reality and virtuality.
In the paintings of Baltrukonis, we see clear hints of naturalness, parts of bodies of vital origin, as if they have given up the possibility of ageing, disintegrating or decaying and are floating in virtual, high-resolution landscapes. This is an opportunity to look through the eyes of an archaeologist at the genesis of technical and organic individuals as a continuous process of aesthetic individuation.
In this context, we can take into account the professional skills of the creator: perhaps we enjoy the images of Šarūnas Baltrukonis precisely because they – although empirically recognizable – are not the real thing, do we enjoy them because of the skills with which they were created? This pleasure, which comes when looking at the artist’s works, presupposes that we do not become victims of a blind mimetic illusion: we do not stop realizing that the cultural text seen in Baltrukonis’ works is just a “double” of the real, that what causes improvement is the illusionistic visual effect, the artificiality of the artificial [sic.].
However, what we perceive as artificial in reality is not necessarily unnatural in digital perception, and vice versa. The carefully thought-out strokes of Šarūnas Baltrukonis‘ paintings make the digital image on the canvas cosy and close as if leaving virtual anonymity aside. In the meantime, the viewer’s experience penetrating the depicted and visible objects, fills them with specific information.
In 2021 Š. Baltrukonis completed his bachelor’s studies in painting at the Kaunas Faculty of the Vilnius Academy of Arts. The artist’s works have been exhibited in group exhibitions, among which the Quadrennial of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association “LTQ’23: Communities”, gallery “Arka”, Vilnius; Surface Condition KKKC, Klaipėda; Another Energy, curator Andrius Zakarauskas, the Museum of Energy and Technology, Vilnius; Counterargument V, curators Vita Opolskytė-Brazdžiūnienė and Kazimieras Brazdžiūnas, gallery “Meno parkas”, Kaunas, etc.
Curator – Alberta Vengrytė.
Exhibition architect – Ieva Cicėnaitė.
Text editing and translation – Alberta Vengrytė.
Graphic design – Gasparas Zondovas.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 6 p.m. opening of the exhibition
09.08 – 12 (noon) – 8 p.m.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 5 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 5 p.m.
Aušros vartų str. 7, LT – 01304 Vilnius
https://www.arkagalerija.lt/
“Suiten. Spaces of Changing Perceptions”
LDS Gallery “Arka” invites to the opening of the exhibition “Suiten. Spaces of Changing Perceptions”, which will take place on September 7, 6 p.m., at the “Arka” gallery.
Thoughts between lines. Silence between sounds. Emptiness between form. A mystical and mysterious medium changes the perspective of perception and opens up the space between sound and object.
The experimental nature of the exhibition is based on the combination of experiential art and its intense perception. Sound unfolds here as a volatile and invisible sculptural material, transforming the physical bodies in the space, and the space itself, into unexpected instruments that penetrate the viewer’s experience. The exhibition is integral, without boundary markers, which allows the sounds in the gallery to synthesize with each other, their overlaps, depending on the listening position and methodology, create new links between immersive and changing perceptions.
The exhibition concept was inspired by the Japanese naturalist and ethnologist Minakata Kumagusu’s (1867-1941) theory of the emergence of perceptual meanings by rethinking how objects are understood differently when they are together or apart. The change in perception even has a breaking point, which Kumagusu called “suiten” – a position of intersection that changes the perspectives of perceptions.
The initiators of the exhibition – artists Tomoo Nagai and Renata Valčik – have created a site-specific soundscape installation-exhibition that will be spread in the architectural space of the “Arka” Gallery and will allow for a different experiential environment. It is an intangible but perceptible medium, formed at the moment when sound and form meet, one work with another, the observer with the observed object.
Tomoo Nagai (JP) – composer, percussionist, composer of music for film, theatre and sounds for public spaces, creator of unique instruments. He researches the visuality of sound (soundscape) and the resonance of matter. Since 2005, he has organised joint and solo concerts in Japan, Indonesia, France, Iceland, Brazil, Morocco and Lithuania.
Renata Valčik (LT) – set, costume and lighting designer, interdisciplinary artist. Associate professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Theatre and Music, participant of local and international exhibitions and residencies, winner of the Golden Stage Cross.
Saulius Valius (LT) – artist, curator, exhibition architect, Honorary Professor of the Academy of Fine Arts.
Dualhead.lt (LT) – a duo of media artists (Aistė Valiutė and Daumantas Plechavičius), photographers, creators of interactive exhibitions.
Diana Radavičiūtė (LT) – painter, graphic artist.
Rūta Šipalytė (LT) – painter, ceramic artist.
Dalia Truskaitė (LT) – curator, contemporary artist working with glass materials.
The exhibition is partly funded by Vilnius City Municipality and Lithuanian Artists’ Union.
Exhibition will run until October 8.
“The Clothed Home: Tuning In To The Seasonal Imagination”
Adam Mickiewicz Institute presents “The Clothed Home: Tuning In To The Seasonal Imagination” exhibition rooted in bygone Polish textile traditions and domestic rituals, the exhibition seeks to re-establish and cultivate a more attentive relationship with the natural world and its continuous changes. In the pre-electric era, before the accessibility of central heating and air-conditioning made residents inured to outdoor conditions, homes functioned as resonators helping them feel the cyclical rhythm of the year.
In manor houses, aristocratic mansions, and peasant cottages of pre-modern Poland, textiles were widely used as seasonal clothing for architecture. They helped adapt domestic spaces to the twelve phenological seasons characteristic of the Central European climate zone. The recurring appearance of textiles in domestic interiors allowed the residents to consciously participate in the cycles of nature – celebrating the passage of time, with an enhanced sense of immersion in the circadian rhythm, and the sequence of light and darkness.
With this notion in mind, artist Alicja Bielawska, architects Małgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis of CENTRALA, and curator Aleksandra Kędziorek created an installation evoking a ‘clothed home’. While it is not an illustration of a time-specific space, it offers visitors of Arka Gallery a multi-sensory experience.
Once inside the exhibit, visitors are guided through the rooms by different weaves of textile e.g. hand-woven rugs, wall coverings, and kilims manufactured by local artisans using traditional weaving techniques and natural yarns. The color palette is inspired by the year-round observation of the Polish landscape. Orange and red textiles which are thick and woolly evoke the cold seasons, whilst lightweight fluttering blue, and green textiles that yield to and encourage the movement of air suggest the warm seasons. A film explores how we interact with fabrics – how they react to being touched, whether they’re stiff, or soft and easy to bend. The exhibition highlights a variety of traditional techniques of weaving, showing how these historic textiles are still relevant to contemporary trends in interior design.
The Clothed Home advocates for a degree of openness to the discomfort of changing external conditions, and physicality, arguing that staying in tune with nature may help us hear better its fading pulse. “In this day and age, when many of us are cocooned in centrally heated apartments and air-conditioned offices, we have grown inured to the nuances of nature’s changing cycles. Contemporary design can help us tune into the seasons again” – adds Kędziorek.
Exhibition will run until October 8.
Admission is free of charge.
09.07 – 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
09.08 – 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
09.09 – 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
09.10 – 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Malūnų g. 5, Vilnius
https://www.vda.lt/lt/5-malunai/apie-5-malunai
Marija Brusokaitė “How to hide within time”
Exhibition is composed of three major parts: animation sets “Ciao, Sweetie” (2021), “Falling Apart at the Seams” (2023) and a sequence of silkscreen prints from a project “Nolens Volens” (2019).
Willy-nilly from Latin, these prints appear here as quite ironic, since it’s been the most recent project I have executed using printmaking techniques. Crudely forged photo collages, over-exposed migraine auras, distinctive grimy texture, which has emerged by neglecting halftones as I reduced the image to its essence. Motifs of nature and the city, routes of walking in circles, glimpses of beloved Vilnius. Pain chained me to this process, so did I tie the series to pain, until it left my head and made a nest elsewhere.
Feverish research executed using solely a pencil on a tracing paper led to a collection of numerous sets of frames and their variants. One of these sets is exhibited here as well, with an intention to convey trial and error pulsating throughout the process of making. A creeping sense of threat is an omnipresent phenomena linking my works. Time thins out, days spent in this process produce barely a moment, and it gets increasingly hard to get out. I hide myself in time spent drawing, the pictures come alive and their raving brings out the fragility of peace. Any system is shattered and replaced as soon as it is crystalised, next frame is directed by pure chance. ‘All shall pass’ – remains the sole rule with a condition that one might leave only after bearing until end. “5 Malūnai” adopts my bearing to be looped, stared at, made out in tremble or in loss of time.
Animation soundtracks, a crucial part of this project, were composed by Anton Zolo. In fact, they go perfectly with the silkscreen prints as well.
Marija Brusokaitė – (b. 1997) 2021 graduated from the Bachelor of Graphics studies at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Obsessed with experimental animation for the past few years. Works in the kitchen, makes ice cream, pours tea mushroom.
Admission is free of charge.
09.09 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
09.10 – 12 (noon) – 6 p.m.
Pelesos g. 10, Vilnius
Bėgių parkas art studios are opening its doors to the public. During this exclusive event, visitors will get a unique glimpse into the inner workings of professional artist’s studio spaces, which are located in the heart of Vilnius train station. Visitors are also invited to immerse themselves in a collection of new and ongoing works from Illustrators, ceramists, photographers, such as Pipe & Pallet (IE), InTheCloset (LT), Daukante (LT), Cécilia Noiraud (FR), Staselė Jakunskaitė (LT), Ettoja (LT), Trafik (LT) and many more, to meet and chat with them about their practice. Join on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of September, from 12:00 to 18:00 at Pelesos g. 10. You will find us in the middle of the tracks.
Programme
5 p.m.
– Guided tour with Dr. Vilma Gradinskaitė, curator of the exhibition “Litvak Artists in Paris” at Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum.
6 p.m.
– Opening of the group exhibition of young designers “Waiting, waiting, waiting” at Vartai Gallery.
– Opening of Jurga Barilaitė’s exhibition “Bottom” at the gallery (AV17).
– The group exhibition “Suiten. Spaces of Changing Perceptions” at the gallery Arka.
– Opening of the exhibition “Incantations” by Milda Lembertaitė and Anna Ruth at the Editorial gallery.
– Opening of the exhibition “Innocence Becomes Sharks” by Morta Jonynaitė at the space In The Closet.
– Educational session for adults at the exhibition “Beyond the Frames: Korean Art Photography 1920s–2020s” at the Radvila Palace Art Museum.
– Reed paper workshop at the National Gallery of Art with Natalija Grom, author of the project “Papernik”. Pre-registration required. Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/uKVTfW6v1i
6:30 p.m.
– Opening of Šarūnas Baltrukonis’ exhibition “Nexus” at Drifts Gallery.
7 p.m.
– Opening of the exhibition “[NOT ] CRITICISING” by Alisa Palavenis and Justas Kažis at Ideas Block – Kompresorinė space.
– Opening of the exhibition by Gediminas G. Akstinas in the CAC Reading Room.
– Opening of the exhibition “Krasta Keramika” by the project “The Streets of Baltic” in the space Hungry Eyes.
20:30-22:30 p.m.
– “Ssshhh! : No Fun At The Seated Discotheque”. Screening of Artūras Barysas-Baras films with curators Lijana Siuchina and David Elis (London). N-16, location: the Events Hall of the cultural center SODAS 2123, Vitebsko st. 23, Vilnius (part of the programme curated by VGS).
More information: https://vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/ssshhh/]
11 p.m.
– Vilnius Gallery Weekend starting on the 7th of September invites you to the opening night of VGW, which will take place in the Estafetė bar at the cultural centre SODAS 2123. Following the full day of exhibition openings and events – let’s meet at the evening programme at 11 p.m.
Vitebsko str. 23, Vilnius.
4 p.m.
– A walk through the exhibition “Beyond the Frame: artistic Korean photography from the 1930s to the present day” with Ugnė Marija Makauskaitė, photography researcher and exhibition coordinator, at the Radvila Palace Art Museum.
5 p.m.
– Walking tour of the exhibition “The Clothed Home: Tuning In To The Seasonal Imagination”at the “Arka” Gallery.
5:30 p.m.
– Opening of Daphne van de Velde’s exhibition “About Me and You” at the Prospekto Gallery.
– Guided tour of Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas’ exhibition “Partially Swamped Institution” at the National Gallery of Art. Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/krbWF7QD4x
6 p.m.
– Opening of Andrius Arutiunian’s exhibition “Counterfates” at the art space Medūza. The performance “Armen” will take place from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
– Opening of the exhibition “Unfamiliar Čiurlionis. The Vilnius Society of Art II” at the M.K. Čiurlionis house.
7 p.m.
– Opening of the group exhibition “Mind Readers” at the Atletika gallery and readings with George Finlay Ramsay (in English).
– Anton Zolo’s musical performance and a meeting with Marija Brusokaitė, the author of the exhibition “How to Hide in Time”, will take place at the gallery “5 Malūnai”, Malūnų str. 5.
8:30 – 9 p.m.
– “Cracks”. Dance performance by Grėte Šmitaitė. Duration – 25 min. The performance will be held in English. Recommended age 14+. Location: the Events Hall of the cultural center SODAS 2123, Vitebsko str. 23, Vilnius (part of the VGS curated programme).
More information: https://vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/cracks/
9:30 – 10:30 p.m.
– Screening of the film The Abyss with DJ Charlotte Bendiks. Duration – 40 min. Recommended age 16+. Location: Events hall of the cultural center SODAS 2123, Vitebsko str. 23, Vilnius.
11 – 12:30 a.m.
– Speculative guided boat tour “You should learn to look at the empty shore” on the Neris River in Lithuanian with Tata Frenkel. Registration: here
More information: https://vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/boat/
12:00 (noon) – 1:30 p.m.
– Guided tour in English “Ages of Exploration: Vartai gallery – Drifts – Exhibition Halls Titanikas – The Rooster Gallery. Start: Outside the entrance to the Vartai gallery building, Vilniaus str. 39 Registration: here
– Guided tour in Lithuanian “Ages of Space: Arka Gallery – CAC Reading Room – the gallery of Vilnius Graphic Art Centre “Kairė – dešinė” – Pamėnkalnis Gallery”. Start: Outside the entrance to the Arka gallery Aušros Vartų str. 7 Registration: here
– Guided tour in English “Ages of Myth and Reality: Project space Editorial – LAA contemporary culture and art space Medūza – VAA Textile Gallery ARTIFEX – Gallery (AV17)”. Start: Outside the entrance of Editorial building, Latako str. 3. . Registration: here
More information:
https://www.letmekoo.lt/
12:00 (noon)
– Creative workshop for families “I Wish For a Garden” at National Gallery of Art. Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/krbWF7QD4x
12:00 (noon) – 6 p.m.
– Open Studios event at “Bėgių parkas” Art Studios, Pelesos str. 10.
1:30 p.m.
– Meeting with an artist Eglė Vertelkaitė at the gallery of Vilnius Graphic Art Centre “Kairė – dešinė”.
2 p.m.
– Meeting with an artist Jurga Barilaitė and art historian dr. Laima Kreivytė at the gallery (AV17).
– A guided tour of the exhibition “The Art of Protest: the Disobedient of the Soviet Era” from the collection of Vladimir Tarasov, donated to the Lithuanian National Museum of Art at the Radvila Palace Art Museum.
2:30 – 4 p.m.
– Guided tour in Lithuanian “Ages of Exploration: Vartai gallery – Drifts – Exhibition Hall Titanikas – The Rooster Gallery”. Start: Outside the entrance to the Vartai gallery building, Vilniaus str. 39 Registration: here
– Guided tour in English “Ages of Space: Arka Gallery – CAC Reading Room – the gallery of Vilnius Graphic Art Centre “Kairė – dešinė” – Pamėnkalnis Gallery”. Start: Outside the entrance to the Arka gallery Aušros Vartų str. 7 Registration: here
– Guided tour in Lithuanian “Ages of Myth and Reality: Project space Editorial – LAA contemporary culture and art space Medūza – VAA Textile Gallery ARTIFEX – Gallery (AV17). Start: Outside the entrance of Editorial building, Latako str. 3. . Registration: here
More information:
https://www.letmekoo.lt/
3 p.m.
– Walking tour of the exhibition “Suiten. Spaces of Changing Perceptions” at the “Arka” Gallery.
– Walking tour of the Montvilla (Rasos) Colony with Lina Fisheye and presentation of her project “Garden of Eden”, Švenčionių str. 14-3.
Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5dKT3Ac4LJVjFHqUHPkPOkyaBV02wV1kE7JHxmuN1M6uxuQ/viewform
4 p.m.
– Dainius Liškevičius’ performance “One Minute Portrait of Jurgis Mačiūnas Saying CIAO”, P. Cvirkos Square, event of the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association.
More information:
https://www.letmekoo.lt
– Meeting with an artist Eglė Vertelkaitė at the gallery of Vilnius Graphic Art Centre “Kairė – dešinė”.
– Opening of the exhibition “Immersed” by Aron Kravits at GODO Gallery.
– Walking tour of the exhibition “Dressed House. Attunement to the Seasonal Imagination” at the “Arka” Gallery.
7 p.m.
– Anton Zolo’s musical performance and a meeting with Marija Brusokaitė, the author of the exhibition “How to Hide in Time”, will take place at the gallery “5 Malūnai”, Malūnų str. 5.
11:00 – 12:30 p.m.
– Speculative guided boat tour “You should learn to look at the empty shore” on the Neris River in Lithuanian with Tata Frenkel. Registration: here
More information: https://vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/boat/
12:00 (noon)
– Dialogues about art with Oleksandra Mazurenko (in Ukrainian) and Egle Nedzinskaitė (in Lithuanian) in the exhibition “Overseeing 6 Ares. Collective Gardens” at the National Gallery of Art. Registration:https://forms.office.com/e/krbWF7QD4x
/
Діалоги про мистецтво з Олександрою Мазуренко (українською) та Егле Недзінскайте (литовською) на виставці «6 акрів турботи», Національна художня галерея. Реєстрація: https://forms.office.com/e/krbWF7QD4x
12:00 (noon) – 6 p.m.
– Open Studios event at “Bėgių parkas” Art Studios, Pelesos str. 10.
12:00 (noon) – 1:30 p.m.
– Guided tour in Lithuanian with translation to sign language “Ages of Space: Arka Gallery – CAC Reading Room – the gallery of Vilnius Graphic Art Centre “Kairė – dešinė” – Pamėnkalnis Gallery”. Start: Outside the entrance to the Arka gallery Aušros Vartų str. 7 Registration: here
More information:
https://www.letmekoo.lt/
2 p.m.
– Thematic guided tour “Prisoners of the Golden Age: Images of Women in the Tradition of Western Painting” at the exhibition “Vivid Profiles of the Old World” at the Radvila Palace Art Museum.
– Walking tour of the Montvilla (Rasa) Colony with Lina Fisheye and presentation of her project “Garden of Eden”, Švenčionių str. 14-3.
Registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5dKT3Ac4LJVjFHqUHPkPOkyaBV02wV1kE7JHxmuN1M6uxuQ/viewform
– The exhibition “Partially Swamped Institution” will include a guided tour with the artist Nomeda Urbonienė and the exhibition’s architects Jurga Daubaraitė and Jonas Žukauskas. Registration: https://forms.office.com/e/krbWF7QD4x
2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
– Guided tour in Lithuanian with translation to sign language “Ages of Myth and Reality: Project space Editorial – LAA contemporary culture and art space Medūza – VAA Textile Gallery ARTIFEX – Gallery (AV17). Start: Outside the entrance of Editorial building, Latako str. 3. Registration: here
More information:
https://www.letmekoo.lt/
4 p.m.
– Denisas Kolomyckis’ performance “The Phantom” at National Gallery of Art (part of the VGS curated programme).
More information: https://vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/fantomas/
Golden Ages
To celebrate the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, it was decided to look at the capital’s art field from the perspective of the golden ages. Popularised by the Greek poet Hesiod almost three thousand years ago, the idea of a perfect and glorious past – a period of prosperity and bliss that never seems to return – has been ingrained in the imagination of mankind as an idealised image. Today, the Golden Age is usually defined as an unparalleled boom in economic, social, cultural and/or artistic life, which for a few decades elevates the city to the international Olympus of fame.
Vilnius’ golden age is considered to be the vibrant, nationally and culturally diverse middle of the 16th century, and today the city’s historical notions of prosperity continue to be the inspiration for the identity of our open and dynamic city. The concept of the Golden Age is inevitably linked to much broader themes, able to open up yet undiscovered layers of Vilnius’s cultural life. The meaning of the lost idyll is expanded by mythologised history, utopian spacetimes and images of popular culture: the Arcadian landscapes, charming with their harmonious relationship with nature and peaceful life; the gardens of Eden, freed from sins; the lands of Cockaigne, bursting with laziness, earthly pleasures and cornucopia; grimaces of poverty masked by a social-realist sun; parties permeated with hedonistic joy; and islands of inner peace built in the face of suffering and war.
This is why the plural form of the term – the Golden Ages – was chosen for the theme of the Vilnius Gallery Weekend: to reflect the extensive network of our everlasting memory and imagination, and the visions of the past, the present and the future that weave together into a smooth unity in art galleries. This year’s theme aims to ask what, how and why do we know, remember and tell something? What are the golden ages that different individuals or communities dream of? What do we forget, what do we silence, what do we push to the margins? What stories are masked by optimism and what hopes for a better future are suggested by pessimistic images of the world?
Map
"Tag the author win the artwork" competition
The “Tag the author win the artwork” competition invites art gallery visitors to take part in a game the prize of which is a work of art.
Gallery visitors are invited to tag artists in their Instragram posts – in the photos of artworks during and after the Vilnius Gallery Weekend for a chance to win one of three prizes – artworks.
The competition runs from 07/09/2023 to 15/10/2023.
The prizes:
1) A print by Visvaldas Morkevičius
Public Secrets #12, 2012, Vilnius. Pigment print, 135mm film, 21 x 30 cm.
2) A vase by Rokas Dovydėnas
“Siamese twins”, 2023. Clay, glaze, cobalt. 22 cm x 11 cm.
3) An artwork by Aistė Marija Stankevičiūtė
The prizes will be awarded by lottery, with the artworks chosen at random. The winners will be announced on www.vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/zymekautoriu website on 17 October 2023. The winners will also be notified by contacting them via their Instagram accounts.
How to tag? Only Instagram posts are eligible for the competition if they have been tagged with all the following hashtags and active links:
#žymėkautorių
Active link and/or name hashtag of the artist’s social media profile
@vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis
If the uploaded image shows more than one artwork by different authors, the authors of all visible artworks must be tagged.
Full competition rules available here
About the “Tag the Author” Social Media Campaign
Tag the Author is a social advertising campaign that fosters public respect for creativity, copyright and related rights, and engages a wide range of cultural consumers. The campaign is launching in parallel with Vilnius Gallery Weekend, starting on 7 September 2023 and running until 15 October 2023.
We are living in times of endless daily visual excess, where the value of the images circulating in the virtual field is measured in terms of maximizing financial gain. This value is rather fluid, while the question of authorship is often forgotten. Virtual images can be created and re-created by anyone at the click of a button, and the tools to create, distribute, multiply and circulate them are available indefinitely, in an unlimited territory.
Very often, the work of prominent or emerging visual artists find their way into this stream of circulating images without attribution, and often without the possibility of tracing their source. The creators are then powerless to claim the authorship of the works, as the original sources and subjects who created the images are unknown to them.
This phenomenon also has a negative impact on the artists’ need to monetise their creative activities. The dissemination of creative practice through various channels is an integral part of the artists’ activity of selling or using works for remuneration. For example, artists’ profiles on Instagram are often presented as their creative portfolios and as a tool for additional dissemination of their work. The use of an author’s work to create new social media content is an issue these days when social media content creators monetise their own content and other authors’ artworks become part of it, without attribution to the artist or attribution to the social media account from which the content is used.
Considering the above, the social advertising campaign Tag the Author is launched to highlight the issue of authorship attribution in social media content and to raise awareness among social media content creators and users about the importance of attribution. The campaign also aims to foster respect for creativity and the socially responsible habit of understanding the need for attribution in visual art, to promote the artist’s profile, to be aware of the authors of the content disseminated on social media and to tag them using a widely used and widespread tool: hashtags or links to their personal social media accounts.
Organiser of the social promotional campaign.
VšĮ „Galerijų savaitgalis“
Project supported by
Information partner
About VGW
Vilnius Gallery Weekend (VGW) is an annual art festival, organised since 2016, that unites various art spaces in Vilnius and invites the public to embark on a journey of art experience. This year the event, which is being held for the eighth time, will present to the public a broad panorama of the capital’s contemporary art. To celebrate the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, it was decided to look at the capital’s art field from the perspective of the golden ages.
Vilnius Gallery Weekend is initiated by VšĮ Galerijų Savaitgalis together with the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association, with an aim of introducing the public to art spaces operating in the city, introducing new initiatives and developing a long-term habit of visiting galleries. Every year Vilnius Gallery Weekend symbolically marks the beginning of a new exhibition season. Over the past 8 years, the list of participants has expanded significantly, so even regular visitors to the event can be sure to discover something new every year – would it be a previously viewed gallery, or an artist who has recently started a creative path, or intriguing talks by professionals in their fields.
Organiser – VšĮ Galerijų Savaitgalis
Partners – Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association, cultural centre SODAS 2123
Project supporter by Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality
Main information partner – LRT Plius
Information partners: VšĮ ArtNews.lt, Nara.lt
Sponsors:
MB Menų Komunikacija,
UAB JCDecaux Lietuva,
MB Laisvės Žodžiai,
UAB Clear channel Lietuva,
Papa Goose.
Team:
Curator: Indrė Urbelytė
Head of Communication – Stefanija Jokštytė
Soc. media curator & communication coordinator – Eglė Trimailovaitė
Public Relations Representative – Laisvė Radzevičienė
Coordinator – Neda Rimaitė
Designer – Rokas Sutkaitis
WEB – Vitalis Vitaleus
Organiser
Partners
Project supporter by
Main information partner
Information partners:
Sponsors:
© Vilnius Gallery Weekend | Design: Rokas Sukaitis | Web: Vitaleus