KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE
Export
Illustration by Art Belikov
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More unseen posters by „Meno parkas“ and an interview with the gallery team can be found in this very issue
While 2018 gets closer, one starts thinking not only about the ways to celebrate the 100th birthday of independence here in Kaunas, in Vilnius, Kėdainiai or Pagėgiai but also about what the world will hear of it. Our grand duke Gediminas used to write letters to various professionals in foreign countries to invite them to Vilnius, introducing it as a new, hot destination on the map. The same goes for any active modern Lithuanian since we all want more people than just our neighbours to witness the fruits of our labour.
Until further notice But what does the export of Kaunasian culture look like? The Soviet years had it, we have it today as well via the Internet, postal services or travelling. The term “export” already suggests it’s more about the exterior anyway, therefore we find it natural that not all solid trips abroad get the attention they deserve. It’s a shame they don’t! November welcomes us talking about the interesting voyages of the past and those of the near future too – yes, those during the 100th
anniversary celebrations. One of Kaunas’ busiest galleries shares the routes they’ve taken over the 20 years; we’re also curious about the mystery ways the artworks by M. K. Čiurlionis travel the world or how the modernism of Kaunas will soon stroll around Europe. A real Kaunasian says hi from Riga this time. Surely, we’ve also got to think about the visual language we’ll use to address our continent as a European Capital of Culture all the way to 2022 and beyond.
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A poster for an exhibition (or any other event) usually tells us much more than the text on it: the paper quality, attention to details, graphic design solutions – all this depicts the spirit and context of a particular time period. Before reading about Kaunasian art and culture traveling abroad, we’re exploring the archives of “Meno parkas” gallery and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, at the same time saying thank you to the Vilniusbased “Mažoji galerija” for sharing the posters of the exhibitions by Vytautas Kasiulis and Arbitas Blatas.
Posters unseen by Kaunas
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“You have to mature and start appreciating yourself eventually, right?”
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Arvydas Žalpys and his friends have rebuilt the monument “For those who died for Lithuania’s freedom” in the garden of the war museum, and a few years later, after finishing his career at the Kaunas Artists‘ House, in 1997 he opened the doors of the 27 Rotušės str. building as the director of a new gallery “Meno parkas” [“Art park”] that’s part of the Lithuanian Artists Association, Kaunas branch.
By Kotryna Lingienė and Kęstutis Lingys Photos by Donatas Stankevičius
Approaching the end of 2017, we could talk for hours with an artist and curator A. Žalpys and his colleagues about all the projects they’ve done in Kaunas and abroad this year only. As this was a jubilee year, there were many events, but none of them were casual one-timers. “Meno parkas” is the gallery boasting most international connections in Kaunas, with contacts in Poland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, USA… All of
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these elements came together for the anniversary of the gallery, also playing an important role in confirming the topic of this very edition you’re holding right now. Therefore, we’re speaking with the director and his colleagues Giedrė Legotaitė and Lina Šniraitė-Mikalauskienė about art export, and… we hope we’ll get a chance to hear the whole story of the monument in the war museum’s garden.
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What were the conditions to establish a gallery in Kaunas in 1997? A. Ž.: It was a decision by the Kaunas branch of the Lithuanian Artists Association. It came pretty naturally since the Lithuanian cultural life was changing rapidly and no one was restricting the contents of any art creations. The association had a few buildings, that was a big plus. Even now there aren’t that many exhibition spaces in Kaunas, and the situation was much worse back then, so the idea to establish a gallery was born. Vilnius already had “Vartai” for several years, Kaunas had the now non-existent “Albertas” gallery and also “Langas” which later changed the nature of their work. I was one of those invited to work in a new gallery – I had some experience in curating international art projects; I took a chance even though I haven’t worked at a gallery before that. How were the first international partnerships initiated? A. Ž.: I was lucky to have a pretty wide circle of friends: some of them had relatives or acquaintances working in the art sector of Paris, others – in Germany. After regaining the independence, Lithuanian art became relevant again and we all needed to promote it abroad so my friends pushed me to do it. We worked quickly and with plenty of enthusiasm. The West supported us financially as it was in their own interest. Which Lithuanian artists were most interesting to the West? Did your taste match the one of foreign collectors or spectators? A. Ž.: Those experiments were great experiences – even now we have to fight for such trust, such conditions like we had then. The philosophy was to trust the curator: if you messed up, they wouldn’t in-
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vite you again. Also, no one gave us any commands that you still might hear today. The projects were massive, taking part in all three Baltic countries – we used to travel around Estonia and Latvia with foreign curators to select artworks. Yet there was no need to get anyone’s approval for a choice – the essential thing was to select quality pieces. We’ve showcased the works of those artists who contributed to the cultural life of Kaunas the most – Rimvidas Jankauskas-Kampas, Eimutis Markūnas, Naglis Rytis Baltušnikas, Česlovas Lukenskas, Elena Balsiukaitė. Local people liked these names, and we wanted to show the world we have many great artists here, proving that we didn’t just sit around doing nothing for all these years of occupation. Giedrė Legotaitė: We have the same aim now, it’s just more about the location.
A. Ž.: Yes, however back then everyone was excited about what we were doing; now we’re not that attractive in a political sense since we’re part of a big, competitive environment. When did this political attractiveness come to an end? Was it when people stopped seeing Lithuania as a new country? A. Ž.: When we opened “Meno parkas”, the wave was still on, that’s why we started a continuous, international, contemporary dance exchange project “Meno linija” [“Art line”]. Everything was happening to fast! For instance, one professor of Kaunas University of Technology brought a Polish gallery expert to us, we started talking to another gallery in Poland, and then we made new contacts through the Polish cultural centre. The then-cultural attaché of Germany for Lithuania helped us a lot in strengthening new bonds too. We had several years of extra attention, and many of our projects abroad came to life because of the support from foreign partners, especially in Germany. Later, more new names appeared on the European map – we became old news and it’s only natural that we started supporting ourselves. Was it complicated to do so? A. Ž.: Our network of foreign partners was still relatively large, so we began applying to European projects together. We won one or two, then another one – it’s continuous work as you can’t really do much without funding. We’re constantly going abroad and then we’re waiting for foreign artists to come to Lithuania, however the first priority of “Meno parkas” is exporting Lithuanian art – we’re always organising more exhibitions in other countries than our guests organise here. Some people might think that it’s our own belief that we’re wanted abroad, but basically all artists want to showcase
their art in new territories, so we have to work hard on the cultural exchange. Do you present projects/exhibitions differently depending on the country you’re in? Also, do you modify the ideas in accordance with the trip’s goal or the gallery your visiting? G. L.: We do. We’re thinking about every exhibition differently, tailoring it to a specific location. Sometimes we even try to guess which nation would like this or that more. We have to send detailed information about the stands if we’re applying to take part in an art fair, and if we fail, we never apply for another fair with the same project. A. Ž.: There are no two exhibitions that are the same. Of course, if we get the chance to adapt something we think is relevant, something we believe in, it’s always terrific to make it a continuous phenomenon rather than a one-time thing. For example, the project by Aušra Barzdukaitė-Vaitkūnienė “Gamtos gurmano kabinetas” [“The office of a nature’s gourmand”] was adapted for a London gallery “Unit 1 Gallery|Workshop” – it was a great fit there. You’ve mentioned contemporary art fairs – we do have a question about them. There aren’t many similar experiences in Lithuania as we only have “Art Vilnius”. How does one participate in such events? Do you only take care of your own stand, or do you look for partners? Does it pay off and if so, how? G. L.: Preparing for applying, examining the spaces, perfecting the projects, gathering information about the artists are all parts of a long process, and, after receiving the confirmation about taking part, the work continues remotely. Certainly, the goal is for the works of the
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artists to find their way to the collectors. Another crucial part of it is nurturing relationships – we’re looking for artists or curators that we could invite to the festival “Kaunas mene” [“Kaunas in art”] that we organise every two years. Arvydas has mentioned the exhibition by Aušra Barzdukaitė-Vaitkūnienė – the team of the London gallery actually found us in a fair. Later, we organised their photo exhibition in Kaunas. A. Ž.: The recent years have seen the art fair format changing – before, they weren’t that focused on collectors. Now some fairs have achieved a level of quality so high that even being there makes sure the value of an artist increases dramatically. So it’s difficult to speak of the art market in Lithuania since foreign countries have much larger numbers of good artists and solid events. A saleable artist is the one with a good bio, a legend and a few other factors that help the decision makers make up their mind to invest. Which fairs are the most important ones? A. Ž.: “Art Basel”, of course. There probably isn’t a gallery on this planet that wouldn’t dream of being there. It’s an event that’s fascinating in its quality, quantity and other aspects that dictate the theses of contemporary art. Could any Lithuanian gallery take part in that fair? I doubt it. It’s fairly expensive and we don’t have a single gallery that could manage it. But, if we only to talk about the art, Lithuanian artists can and have their works exhibited at “Art Basel”. G. L.: Sure, but the more you go to such events, the more you understand that it’s not only about the art. A. Ž.: A good artist can’t exist without a gallery and a gallery without an artist. When evaluating galleries, people look at the whole picture. 1 4
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If you have a remarkable artist yet your gallery is not yet at the same level – the application might get you nowhere. Typically, we get reasonably good reviews as a gallery, but there’s still some work to be done until we reach the level of “Art Basel”, the “Armory Show” in New York or the FIAC in Paris. We could go for it, but getting there is not the whole thing. Any fair requires tremendous investments. Art fairs make sure the pieces are seen by vast crowds throughout a very short period of time, with only the biennales of Venice or Lyon being able to match it. We’re talking about tens of thousands of spectators – that’s incredible for any artist, gallery or even city. By the way, there’s a rule not to write the country on your stand, only the city name, that’s why even in Berlin, when taking part at the POSITIONS art fair, we’re often faced with the question “where’s Kaunas?”. At times when we’re home, we Lithuanians might even think we’re a fairly big deal, but when you go abroad… You’re basically doing the work of ambassadors of Lithuanian and Kaunasian culture then. A. Ž.: Well, sometimes it may become an issue. For instance, some visitors in Singapore were very hesitant to come closer to the stand after reading the name of our city. However, a destination people haven’t heard of intrigues them too – many professionals stop to say hello, sharing their positive feedback. In Berlin, the curator of the Bucharest biennale noted that our stand is the only one worth the attention. G. L: And a few collectors who bought a piece from the same stand in Berlin have later visited Kaunas to add some new art to their collection! A. Ž.: Yes, it’s always great when we can help the artists this way. Let’s be honest – there aren’t many artworks being sold in Lithuania.
A. Ž.: Not at all. There are names that occur more often than others, but only a few Lithuanian clients see the selecting process as something much more than looking for a painting that matches the carpet. We have to “thank” local interior designers for the way Lithuanians try to tailor the art to the furniture. Sometimes I even have to go to a client’s house to see if “the artwork fits here”, on rare occasions managing to convince the buyer that hanging a truly profound piece up and this way enriching his/ her home is worthwhile.
A. Ž: The situation of young people – able to afford buying art – who don’t even go to galleries is, in my opinion, a consequence of the never-ending education reform. A new minister of culture creates absolutely new cultural politics: when I started working here, we were swamped by tours of schoolchildren – eventually that stopped as it’s not in their programme anymore. A child has to grow close to culture in order for it to seem valuable when the person grows up. Do Lithuanian and foreign buyers tend to choose the same artists you represent?
Well, working for 20 years is quite a mature experience. How will you celebrate it? A. Ž.: We already had an “official”, celebratory exhibition at the “Titanikas” hall in Vilnius Academy of Arts. Back in Kaunas, we’re also organising a short event at the M. K. Čiurlionis museum on November 15th to introduce a publication about the 20 years of “Meno parkas”. We’ll open an exhibition at our gallery on the same evening, with artists that we represent taking part. By the way, during the period of this exhibition, we’ll keep asking the visitors whether Kaunas needs a contemporary art centre. It’s our own way of going through an advisory referendum. We know our answer to that question – believe us when we say that we must decline a rather big number of projects just because there aren’t suitable spaces for them in Kaunas.
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But why isn’t there a rebirth of the culture of collecting art, buying it for your home or as a present in Lithuania? G. L.: I think this is just not a matter of first priority here. Living in Lithuania is not that easy – and I’m not talking about millionaires who can afford it but maybe don’t know that they can own a prestigious collection.
The art that Lithuanians buy almost never goes to international fairs. But since you can’t make money from these affairs, we don’t advertise such carpet-matching works anymore. We exhibit those artists that deserve to be bought solely for their art, and this is not just our opinion as a gallery. There are enough galleries selling “elements for the interior” already. You have to mature and start appreciating yourself eventually, right?
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Escaping the traps of nationalism and regionalism
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After sneaking out for vacation, this January the Kaunas International Film Festival announced its return to the city calendar. The first deed of the now-rested festival was an exhibition curated by Valentinas Klimašauskas, yet it didn’t take place in Kaunas or even Lithuania for that matter – it’s online.
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Officially, the film festival starts November 30th, and we’ll get back to that, however first we have many open-ended questions for the Kaunas-born Valentinas, who worked in Vilnius for a long time, spent an active one and a half year in Athens (managing to present a book, curate a few exhibitions and a residency programme) and who’s keeping his finger on the pulse of various projects worldwide while currently living in Riga. By the way, V. Klimašauskas is behind the captivating literary phenomenon “Alfavilnius” – a fictitious autobiog-
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raphy compiled of different internet sources; the author adds that if Kaunasians would be more open and curious readers and publishers, pieces like that focused on Kaunas would basically write themselves. He also wrote “B and/or an Exhibition Guide in Search of its Exhibition”, which was presented at New York’s MOMA; it delves into the intricacies of putting exhibitions inside texts. Productive and fearless – isn’t that usually the case with world-roaming Kaunasians?
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“We all once lived in Kaunas, a failed modernist city with hope” – this was the sentence you suggested artists could interpret at the video exhibition “Portals… or location scouting in Kaunas”, which was placed on the website of Spike Art magazine. But how do you yourself see this city’s failure and hope? It’s a rather conflicted relationship, and being born here myself, I often try to look for any significant stories linked to Kaunas, especially keeping in mind that knowing or avoiding these stories is probably what shaped my personality too. I’ll start by saying that I definitely got to know Kaunas better after leaving it; the reason behind that most likely has to do with the city discovering its historic consciousness only quite recently. Putting the Žalgiris basketball club aside for a moment, we have to remember that it’s primarily a place where a few people crucial to the world’s history were born, the likes of human rights activist Emma Goldman, philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, radical avant-gardist and founder of FLUXUS Jurgis Mačiūnas. These were people who broadened our understanding of being citizens of the world and gave us more rights, freedoms and knowledge. Kaunas also has cosy, modernist, smaller-scale architecture, and a museum of M. K. Čiurlionis, which is actually not that related to its location. However, this city is a traumatic destination, a certain model of 20th century utopia and catastrophe. It was a fortress of Tsar’s Russia in the 1900s and became a space for the dictatorship of A. Smetona from 19261, when the new temporary capital was being built after World War I. Kaunas has bled during the years of Soviet occupation and World War II due to exile, emigration and being involved in 1
massacring its own Jewish residents. Later, when the second Soviet period hit, the city expanded substantially, welcomed many folks from the provinces and turned into the most industrialised place in Lithuania, a centre of sport, tourism and education. The end of 1980s saw the ideas of rebirth and ecology growing stronger: Laisvės avenue was declared to be a smoking-free zone, water-cleaning systems were being installed, various ecological initiatives took off and so forth. After the country’s independence was regained in the 1990s, capitalism showed its many faces in Kaunas – most industries went bankrupt, money as well as intellect hitchhiked to the capital or abroad, organised crime took over the streets and gradually the city became Northern Europe’s go-to spot for synthetic drugs and counterfeit banknotes. Even thoroughly exploring the history of 20th century Kaunas won’t result in getting a grip on the city’s identity since it was constantly changing and suffering all kinds of losses in terms of ethnic diversity, tolerance, democracy instead of following a civic vision. Thus the “failed modernist city with hope”. Many things can bring hope – there’s an increasing number of initiatives for critical thinking, like this year’s Kaunas Biennale (curators Paulina Pukytė, Laima Kreivytė, Udi Edelman and others) that takes interest in memory, nationalism, Jewish tragedies and similar subjects, or the bookstore Six Chairs, a social centre Emma, an international residency Šilainiai Project and other bigger or smaller activities that point to Kaunas being a more social site. And how did the internet exhibition go? Was it a rational or con-
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ceptual decision to make it online? What about the geography of the visitors? Also, why Spike Art – what’s the connection between the magazine and festival? More often than not the financial and technical situation determines a project’s format. The geography was very diverse yet it still correlated with the typical audience of the magazine – Central Europe. That’s why this magazine was chosen in the first place, with its main office and gallery now being situated in Berlin. What was the essential lesson you’ve learned when working as a curator at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) in Vilnius for ten years? The experience of working at the largest contemporary art centre of the Baltics, which also boasts a professional and constantly-refreshed team lets you see the bigger picture and raise more extensive questions. For instance, what influence does the CAC hold on the art scene itself, especially when compared to other countries that don’t have such institutions? Or, in remembrance of a phrase by Andy Warhol that contemporary art is what’ll be trendy in ten years, we can wonder whether the things we consider to be new now will maintain their authenticity a decade later? Which topics of exhibitions or artworks are relevant and which are outdated? Keeping in mind that there are always more artists in Lithuania than the art centres are able to invite, just how transparent are the processes of selecting the right creators? If institutions have an obligation to show the global tendencies of art to local audiences, what’s the recipe of not becoming obsessed with chasing fashionable trends and this way colonising your institution? Sometimes the simplest questions are the most complicated, for example, what is
talent? Why are some artists more successful than others? Why aren’t there more authors in our region that can work on such subjects as migration, equal rights, ecology, artificial intelligence? Can we compare the CAC with the art centre Kim in Riga that you’re now part of? The CAC probably has the best building to exhibit contemporary art in the north and middle of Eastern Europe, and the building itself is also at the very heart of Vilnius Old Town. The 25 years of experience, and these years were much more difficult that it might seem to an outsider, contributed greatly to the development of exhibiting contemporary art in Lithuania, to the quality representation of our artists abroad, like at the Venice Biennale. These processes are now just unfolding in Latvia and Estonia – their institutions are fairly younger and of much smaller scale. On the other hand, Kaunas has a few tremendous museum spaces but I’ll remain pretty critical on how these spaces are being used today. You’re the programme director at Kim for a few months now. How did Riga welcome you? The fact that Kim chose a foreign curator is a statement for the whole art scene of the Baltics that this centre is an international institution, therefore Riga welcomed me with plenty of curiosity. As expected, it’s a relatively dynamic city: 2018 will witness the beginning of the new Riga Biennale with Katerina Gregos, a curator from Greece; by combining private, state and business initiatives, a few new museums will be born. So the local art scene is going through a certain exciting revival. My time in Riga so far has been more about researching the audiences, artists and institutions, but the first meetings you have with
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people here are usually very warm experiences – many artists and institutions tend to offer various projects to collaborate on.
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The aim to be international is one of the main points of Kim. How do you see this aim as the programme director? Any internal struggles to favour Lithuanians? Our plans are based on escaping the traps of nationalism and regionalism as much as we can, but I do often wonder why some art scenes are more successful or autonomous than others. For instance, the one in Vilnius is truly vibrant and diverse, so I’m sure we won’t avoid it at Kim. The hundredth birthday of the Baltic sisters is coming up – will you work on any initiatives linked to it? Maybe Latvian ones? Yes, the upcoming big project of 2018 is the Baltic triennial of contemporary art, which will open in Vilnius, then Tallinn and will reach Riga in autumn. Kim’s other projects of the 100th anniversary will be implemented while collaborating with the BOZAR art centre in Brussels, Bunker centre in Kraków, SIC exhibition space in Helsinki, Paraguy Press, Ricard foundation in Paris. Ten years ago you became a laureate of the contest “Create a vision for Lithuania” – how do you see the WikiLithuania vision you proposed back then? Are we closer to it, should we completely rethink it, or is it still as relevant as it was then? Knowing something rarely surpasses the actual experience, and the structures of power that I wrote about want to keep the status quo, they’re afraid of change and similar visions. The idea of a Wiki-based society as a firm ground for a hybrid post-state government is not new whatsoever – many countries are
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gradually shifting to this model. Lithuania often seems like a state full of citizens who hate themselves and run by conservative government officers, that’s why my proposal at the time was an attempt to operate a different vocabulary when talking about us and our future, to reconsider “knowing” the language and also to tackle dominant ideological positions. I’d say Lithuania’s most successful vision lies in the letters written by grand duke Gediminas, inviting craftsmen and tradespeople to come to Vilnius, offering them tax breaks and confessional tolerance. It was these letters that shaped Vilnius rather than the famous dream of an iron wolf, and, through the capital, the rest of Lithuania was shaped accordingly. Those written messages had a few meanings to them, and one of them was defining Vilnius as an open and liberal city. Certainly, this was a trick of sorts since the political environment wasn’t really that welcoming. Still, we’re left with the question of how can we be more open to the world, future and new possibilities? As a curator, you’re working closely with designer Gailė Pranckūnaitė. What’s the secret behind the strength of your tandem? I’d like to use this opportunity to thank more people I’ve worked with or am working with right now, including designers, publisher, curators, writers, editors, artists and those close to me. Art projects – and even literary affairs – are results of the collective work of many talented professionals. How does Lithuania’s presence at the Venice Biennale this year look in the context of the earlier editions? Will our current participation in this biennale cause ripples in the Lithuanian art scene?
The Kaunas International Film Festival is back on track. Will you return to it, and to Kaunas too? I hope so. We have some plans with the bookstore Six Chairs, and I’m definitely recommending anyone to visit it [the bookstore is now located at the Kaunas Artists’ House], also our movie wasn’t yet shown on any larger screen of Kaunas.
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Which working Lithuanian artist is the most solid ambassador for our art scene abroad? Could anyone possibly change the leading ambassadors M. K. Čiurlionis and J. Mekas soon? Answering this question would probably mean me acting in an irrational and unethical way as the process of art is an alive one – the changing
political reality and technological environment are both constantly modifying the parameters of values. Lithuania has a few generations of successfully working artists, so we can expect surprises from any of them.
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I wasn’t there this year, however I wouldn’t predict a shock of any kind as Lithuania is represented by artist Žilvinas Landzbergas, who already held his solo exhibition at the CAC before it became the project for the biennale.
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The Čiurlionis code By Kotryna Lingienė Photos by Donatas Stankevičius
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“The messages about the jubilee of Čiurlionis are still travelling the world, even today Lithuanians receive information on the attention this artist is getting in Africa – Kenya, Tanzania, Mauricio, Uganda, Ethiopia. […] Locals had the chance to see the reproductions of the artworks. […]
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We also know about the recent interest in Čiurlionis from the people of Nepal and New Zealand, so life is telling us that the journey of this artist has probably just begun” – this is how the book “Čiurlioniui – 100” [“Čiurlionis turns 100”] compiled by Jonas Bruveris ends. Released in 1977, it reflected the 1975 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth. The publication notes that the fiestas stretched all over from Lithuania to Japan. “But we shouldn’t accept everything written in that book as an absolute truth,” smiles Osvaldas Daugelis, director of the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. This is the first and only job Osvaldas has, so we could keep cracking the code of the painter/composer together for hours.
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We started the conversation by remembering the metaphysic experience of O. Daugelis’ childhood, when he was walking the glass corridor of the M. K. Čiurlionis gallery. Many Kaunasians visited that place as kids, but what if age doesn’t really matter here? When Jean-Paul Sartre stopped in Kaunas for a few hours in 1965, he talked of Čiurlionis too, even though the memoirs of Simone de Beauvoir focus on the sculpture “Rūpintojėlis” [“Worrior”] by Juozas Mikėnas much more. Sitting down with O. Daugelis had us touching on an important trip that the art of Čiurlionis took – the 1992 exhibition at the Sezon Museum of Art, Karuizawa, close to Tokyo, Japan. The then-director Malvydas Sakalauskas had Osvaldas working as a deputy director for science at the
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time, and the latter says there were more attempts to bring Čiurlionis to Japan before, yet the political situation was always the main obstacle. However, since 1975, when there was a long queue of art admirers waiting through the whole night for the opening of the M. K. Čiurlionis exhibition (66 pieces) in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery, up until 1992 – where our story begins, the artworks managed to go to West Berlin (1979, 38 pieces), Duisburg (1989, 17 pieces), Berlin (1991, 5 pieces), Brussels (1991, 5 pieces), Bona (1992, 14 pieces). 165 artworks went to Tokyo, but the larger part of the exposition consisted of graphic works, sheet music, letters and so on, with a total of 60 paintings. Yasuhiro Nakasone, former prime minister of Japan, visited Kaunas as early as 1988, being impressed by the Čiurlionis gallery and the museum of folk instruments – this was the start of the international relationship, where an important role was also played by… a modern fax machine given as a present to the people of Kaunas. The machine added to strengthening the bonds with the Land of the Rising Sun, but it also solved several logistic-linguistic problems that occurred when communicating with Finnish workers who didn’t speak English or Russian and who came here to bring the paintings to Helsinki, where the works continued the trip to Japan. According to the legend of the museum, those problems were addressed
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by trying to use a small book of Estonian-Russian conversations. There were some Lithuanians that weren’t happy about such a large number of artworks leaving the country – there even was a special jury that decided which pieces can go and which can’t. The paintings were escorted out of Kaunas with the help of armed police officers, and O. Daugelis sat in one of the police cars. Freezing Latvian customs professionals greeted the convoy at the Lithuanian-Latvian border… Exotic? Maybe now it seems so. Back then, everyone worried more about not forgetting to put silica gel in the packages with paintings. On March 27th, 1992, a talk with O. Daugelis and M. Sakalauskas by Ramutė Vaitiekūnaitė was printed in the “Kauno tiesa” [“Kaunas truth”] newspaper. The respondents then stressed that the organisers of the exhibition “M. K. Čiurlionis: Life and creative works (A Lithuanian mystic and fantast)” consulted with Kaunasians about “every little nuance – lighting, temperature, humidity and other parameters. […] The imperial couple visited the exposition as well, obviously, while the tickets looked like officially published postcards”. Certainly, such attention to details is not uncommon today, so there’s probably no need for a special jury to decide which artworks can leave the country. The printed conversation also had a mention of the fragility and ultra-high importance of Čiurlionis’ pieces being the reason why they never went to factories, kolkhozes, cultural centres in provinces or travelled around the USSR. Leaving the Soviet reality aside, we’re interested in how the artist was “promoted” behind the Iron
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Curtain, having in mind that the last time these pieces went abroad before 1979 (when the works went to Berlin) was the 1912 exhibition in London after Čiurlionis’ death. And there are many stories to tell! For instance, one Italian professor who studied in Moscow was brought to see the works in Kaunas cleverly wrapped in a cotton wool jacket, since foreigners weren’t allowed to enter the city. The government didn’t allow for the pieces to go to the 1986 exhibition “Futurismo & Futurismi” in Venice, so fans of Čiurlionis’ talent installed a black room at the exposition hall and hanged some reproductions of his works… People say that one of the organisers of that exhibition who also had an interest in Oskaras Milašius was working on getting a permit to visit Kaunas for ten years. We can mention an earlier event too – the Venice Biennale of 1948 printed an article called “Who was first – Čiurlionis or Kandinsky?” which was harshly criticised by the Russian painter’s widow Nina. Basically, the artist was seen around the world pretty much at any point in time, and the fact that there are many different cases of forging his art proves that – even now Osvaldas’ museum gets offers to buy such works from suspicious second-hand auctions. “One time, people brought a “Čiurlionis” painting to the museum, and after close examination we determined that it was painted on the cover of a publication to celebrate the life of Leo Tolstoy who passed away in 1910. We didn’t manage to spread the word about that painting before they took it away, but later I saw that same piece at some art collection”, Osvaldas explains whilst we’re hoping that he’ll decide one day to write his memoirs.
More than 50 of the 130 pieces of the exhibition are Lithuanian, with the whole event focusing on mythology, folklore, fantasies, dreams, decadence and visions of the world. The visitors will be able to learn more about Čiurlionis, Kalpokas, also Ferdinandas Ruščius, Adomas Varnas, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, Latvian artists Janis Rozentāls, Vilhelms
The fragility and ultra-high importance of Čiurlionis’ pieces [was] the reason why they never went to factories, kolkhozes, cultural centres in provinces or travelled around the USSR.
Purvītis, Estonians Kristjan Raud, Konrad Vilhelm Mägi and others. The exhibition is supervised by the Art Museum of Estonia, Latvian National Museum of Art and the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art. “Finally, Čiurlionis won’t be alone in Paris,” Osvaldas laughs yet he’s not joking at all because the year 2000 saw a 97-piece exhibition of M. K. Čiurlionis at the same Musée d’Orsay. “Why do we bother to bring these paintings to the emperor?”, asked some Kaunasians in an unhappy fashion after seeing the convoy ready to export the paintings in 1992. Maybe it’s another legend of Čiurlionis, maybe a concentration of some of the opinions of those days. The situation is probably very different in 2018, when many Lithuanians would like to go to that symbolist exhibition and feel like they deserve some of the praise for the artworks. Surely, that’s part of our centenary celebrations, so if you’ll find yourself in Paris from April 9th to July 15th, give Baltic symbolism a go.
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So that’s about it on the first independent steps of Čiurlionis’ works abroad. Another important trip will take place in April 2018, when Musée d’Orsay in Paris will open an international exhibition dedicated to the 100th birthday of the Baltic countries titled “Symbolism in the Art of the Baltic States”. Initiated by the Latvian National Museum of Art, it’s curated by a known expert Rodolphe Rappeti, who recently joined Laurence Des Cars – the head of the mentioned Parisian museum – in visiting the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas. After the visit, the list of the pieces by Čiurlionis and other artists that will go to Paris grew dramatically: “We wanted to show the early works of Petras Kalpokas to the guests just for the context, but they loved them so much that we had to agree to their request to bring these pieces as well”. Osvaldas also notes that the exhibition of Baltic symbolism will co-open with the new season of Musée d’Orsay after the reconstruction, with a symposium, concerts and other exhibitions taking place. The symbolist event was actually planned for the later part of 2018, but the Parisians decided to change the date to an earlier one, at the time of the season opening – that’s quite a compliment keeping in mind how busy those prestigious exposition spaces are.”
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Speaking the international language of graphic design
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Long gone are the days when a flag and a coat of arms were enough to announce your presence to the world. A logo, a brand book and a slogan are now essential items for a country (city, region, etc.) that cares about its local and international image.
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We’ve been having a bit too many debates about the Lithuanian image recently; but this particular chat is not a discussion on an existing brand or design. In fact, we contacted Peter Bilak, a Slovakian graphic and typeface designer living in the Netherlands, before his first ever trip to Kaunas. He’s been nominated as head of jury of the international
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visual identity contest for Kaunas 2022, the European Capital of Culture programme that’s already started and will wrap up in 2023. The winner(s) of the contest will be announced on November 7th, after the jury thoroughly examines the proposals. With Peter, we’re trying to find out why all of this is significant and where the right answers hide.
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I’ve read that some of your biggest influences were the places you have lived at. How exactly does the location transform your work? Which locations have made the biggest impressions? I’ve been fortunate to travel to various corners of the world, and finding out more about new places makes you consider your own roots. I believe that by leaving your home, one has an opportunity to find out more about himself/herself and more about the home place. In this way, all places I visit leave an impression and define who I am. An award for spreading the good name of Slovakia abroad is really impressive – congrats, even if it’s three years too late. Could you elaborate more on how do you think the image of Slovakia depends on the aesthetics and design? Slovakia, just like many younger countries, is in the process of defining its own identity. At the beginning of such a process, the attempt is romantically nationalistic, to be different from the neighbours. But with time, Slovakia became a progressive, more confident of a country, which instead of only looking at history, traditions, folk culture, arts and crafts, is now looking at the human capital and its younger generation. Slovakia started its new international presentation campaign recently, which looks at innovations and the power of ideas, where design plays a role. What made you choose the Netherlands as a place to live – apart from the great design traditions? Netherlands is truly an international place, where one feels to be in touch daily with the rest of the world. My work is very international, so it is an ideal base. I can make a roundtrip to Paris or London for a meeting and be back in time for a dinner, or a conference call with the client from the US. I feel connected with the larger community. K AU N A S F U L L O F CU LT U R E
From your point of view and experience, is there such a thing as a “country’s graphic design”, I mean, can you look at a logo and presume which country it comes from? I do think that design is a result of social, political and economic conditions, and that’s why different conditions of places result in different designs. At the same time, people use the same design tools and share ideas internationally, and many times it results in an international design language. How did you start working with non-Latin fonts? Is it just pure personal interest in other languages and alphabets? What do you think is your biggest achievement in that field? I’m interested in languages, and I don’t feel that my work should be constrained only by the language of my parents. Learning about other languages affects how we understand the world. My achievement is that as an outsider, I – with the help of many other people – was able to create useful, relevant work for natives in India, Middle East, Russia, Inuktitut communities in Northern America, etc. We just launched a new Hebrew type programme last week in Tel Aviv. What experience do you have with city or country branding? Is it something you want to work with more in the future? I was indirectly involved with the branding of Slovakia and its campaign “Good Idea Slovakia”, which uses part of my work. I’m now working on a new project about visual style and visual orientation of the Paris transportation, which presents the city to the future visitors of the French capital, speaking countless languages. And in our “Works That Work” magazine we have made research into design possibilities of country
What traits and aesthetics do you think could work for the Kaunas 2022 branding? This is the first question I’m going to ask the organisers of the competition, and later compare the proposals based on how they articulate these qualities in a very compressed way of designing the logotype. As usu-
One of the problems of country and city marketing, at least in our lands, is trying to fit everyone’s needs and stay as politically correct as possible, which sometimes leads to overly safe and therefore not so interesting decisions. What do you suggest would be the right and forward-thinking way of dealing with this dull safeness? Any wish for a change starts with addressing the current situation. I’m pleased to hear that there’s a desire to avoid the safe but dull solutions, and by talking about political correctness, we can include original forward thinking as one of the criteria of this competition. 2017
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peterbilak.com worksthatwork.com
What sights of Kaunas popped up in your mind when you were asked to join the jury of Kaunas 2022 graphic identity? I’ve been to Lithuania once, but only stayed in Vilnius. I only know Kaunas because of its basketball team – which is interesting as a case study how we get to know places with which one has no personal experiences. I’m looking forward to finding out more about this city.
al, most places want to be known as unique, original, retaining rich history, traditions, but also dynamic, energetic, innovative. The trouble is that all people, companies, cities and countries want to express some of these values. It’s a challenge to balance clichés while presenting cities, and finding true core values that define one place.
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Photo from the Typographica.org archive
branding and researched as well as published articles about the role of design for defining national identities of Bhutan and South Sudan. We also made a documentary film about Bhutan’s identity which was made as a form of self-preservation.
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In 2018, while independent Lithuania celebrates its 100th birthday, the architecture of Kaunas will spring out of the geographical, physical and mental limits of the city. A movable exhibition titled “Optimizmo architektūra: Kauno fenomenas, 1918–1940 m.” [“Architecture of optimism: The Kaunas phenomenon, 1918-1940”] will congratulate Vilnius and then carry on with its trip to other European cities – Paris, Rome, Wroclaw, Brussels. An architectural historian Marija Drėmaitė tell us about the project that’s opening a large round window for the export of Lithuanian modernism.
Optimistic exports By Julija Račiūnaitė Photos by Dainius Ščiuka
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Please describe this project. We’ve decided to organise this movable international exhibition that’s going to travel around Europe and the world to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of independence. You might say that the idea behind this project was prompted by a few tendencies: a wave of international attention that Kaunas modernism is getting and, in my opinion, a clear trend to focus on representing Lithuanian culture through architecture and design more. The exhibition invites people to see the modernism of Kaunas in an international, global context – it’s like a test, a way to evaluate an object that’s hoping to become part of the UNESCO heritage list. At the same time, it’s an effective publicity campaign. Could you comment on the link between optimism and Kaunas architecture? It’s what the organisers of the exhibition are emphasising. The idea to bring in optimism as a guideline came from not trusting the term “modernism” anymore: all three of the curators of the exhibition – Vaidas Petrulis, Giedrė Jankevičiūtė and myself – don’t find the usage of this term right if the architecture possessing modernist traits is not closely connected to introducing a new social programme. Sometimes modernist architecture and a specific social programme occur simultaneously, and that programme might be about creating a new society or reflecting this whole process. Another take would be that a new kind of society needs new architecture in a functional and aesthetic sense, or this society is being created by using architecture – good examples of that are Soviet Russia or the Weimar Republic (the Bauhaus school). Pre-revolutionary experi-
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ments always end up being the most radical. The modernist architecture of Kaunas has traits of modernism’s aesthetics, but what was the new social programme for Kaunas? It all probably came down to a single aim – to create a capital. Buildings of that period weren’t radical from a functional standpoint, they weren’t based on exceptional planning ideas. But, the Panemunės residence designed by a Swiss architect Edward Peyer is quite interesting, right? His work could be considered to be a new project of “life planning”, introducing an idea of a different micro-neighbourhood: large in territory, including newly-styled complex houses, new street layout and social infrastructure. Most ideas like that were left on paper. The architecture of Kaunas is actually pretty traditional in its origins, with a clear demand for representational and monumental properties. For instance, the main façades of the buildings were much more palatial than the back ones – we’ve noticed many similar principles and so we didn’t want for the term “modernism” to mislead people. So what does the modernism of Kaunas express and which of those ideas are mutual? In fact, it’s not all about the radical modernism but rather about optimism, which was fairly usual for the newly-established countries of Europe, when the state walls were modified after World War II. The word “optimism” sounds like a term for a specific style (like “modernism”), even though it’s not a style – it’s an optimistic state of mind that shouts “we’re building a new capital, a new state, a new identity”.
What aspects of the 1918-1940 period will the spectators get to know during the exhibition? Well, back then Kaunas was a place implementing the new project of the capital. One part of the exhibition will examine five structures that tell stories of the troubles and considerations by those who were building the new city. Historically, all five objects satisfy the modern representational needs of those days yet the interiors disclose many processes of “searching for the national style”. We came across a complex that new states typically have – it urges people to be very modern but preserve their exceptionality in a European context. So we chose five buildings – which one represents our national identity best? Obviously, the national museum [of M. K. Čiurlionis]. Later the capital needed a certain mausoleum, a modern nation’s pantheon and at the same time a monument for independence – the Resurrection Basilica became that object. Let’s not forget that military power was important too as the whole Interwar period was spent preparing for war – European militaries were guarantees of statehood for their countries. That’s how the Kaunas Officers‘ Palace came along, with all of its national features in the interior. The fourth building is the Kaunas Palace of trade industry and craft, symbolising economic power – economic independence. Finally, Kaunas’ Central post office was representing new ways of communication and telling everyone that Kovno is now Kaunas – packages sent to the old address won’t make it to the new capital. The discussed part of the exhibition is dedicated to the “construction of a nation” through five symbolic structures. Another part is all about the rapid modernisation of the industries – there were many obstacles related to agriculture! After regaining
the independence, Kaunas wasn’t up to the standards of a grand national narrative – the streets were a mess, there were no sewers and so forth. During the modernisation, the offices of state administration had to find their new locations. The education system was reformed quite radically, from primary schools to the university. Another interesting sector is recreation: a relatively large city with many working residents needs comfortable rest areas, so resorts like Panemunė and Kulautuva were being built around the city. Gradually, sport become a mean of educating a new person, and a cult of a trained body became stronger – people needed such structures like a stadium or a sports hall. Of course, there was a growing need for modern entertainment like theatres and cinemas. So the exhibition’s second part, as you can see, is packed full of pretty much all sorts of elements. Why did you decide to get the exhibition to Paris, Rome, Wrocław and Brussels? Our route for 2018 starts in Vilnius, National art gallery, with a clear propagandist aim – to show Kaunas to Vilnius. Certainly, residents of the capital have already heard a lot of Kaunasian architecture, but not everyone has seen it live. The exhibition in Vilnius is a sort of statement to our cultural community, also a check-up and a test of the event. Then we’ll be on our way to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Again, the aim is clear – to showcase the objects we want to include into the list of World Heritage Sites. A good exhibition can tell so much more than a written dossier. Rome is next, where May will see us organising events in the exclusive three-building complex designed by Renzo Piano. This will basically be a decade of Lithuanian culture in Rome, welcoming
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conductor Mirga Gražinytė to perform at a concert, participating in many other events and presenting this exhibition too. Then we’re off to Wrocław – the local museum of architecture is important because of its specifics, function and the fact that it’s dedicated to architecture. And, we need to nurture our cultural relationship with Poland. On the other hand, many tourists come to Wrocław during summertime, the museum has a great reputation and is visited by people interested in architecture, so it couldn’t be a better space for spreading information about us. There will be a symposium during the exhibition – we’ll discuss the context of Central and Eastern Europe in terms of Interwar modernist architecture, focusing on the links between city centres and outskirts, between the real, Bauhaus-styled, Le Corbusier modernism and the regional, “marginal”, less-known modernist variations. We’re also trying to get the exhibition to Tallinn, to the National Library of Estonia since the European Architectural History Network’s congress will take place in this city. It’s a very serious event that’s organised biennially, and we think it’s crucial for more professionals to know of Kaunas and start thinking about Baltic modernism. After that, we’re going to Brussels, to the royal Centre for Fine Arts often referred to as the Bozar. In 2018, six or seven European countries are celebrating their 100th birthdays, and Bozar is hosting special events for these particular occasions. Therefore, an exhibition on Kaunas modernism will be introduced during an international symposium dedicated to creating new cities, new capitals. This event will bring together architecture professionals as well as many politicians.
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Have you considered organising this exhibition in Kaunas too? We have! There are plans for it, but we’re just discussing it at the moment. We became quite close with the team of Kaunas 2022, so the “merchandise” of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture programme will go everywhere we’ll go, along with invitations to visit Kaunas in 2022. We’re meeting people from the Kaunas City Museum to find a permanent home for the exhibition at this museum once we’re finished with our route. The project could stay here and serve as an addition to Kaunas 2022, or it could continue its trip if we’d need to introduce Kaunas to other countries. I’m actually going to meet representatives of Israel today to talk about it; I also know that China is interested to host it. One way or another, we simply have to bring the project to Chicago, USA since most architects and engineers who worked in Kaunas during the 1918-1940 period settled there. Also, the Bauhaus school is celebrating its hundredth anniversary in 2019 – Germany will have many large events, and we’re dealing with the organisers in order to be able to present the modernism of Kaunas. Why did you choose the house of Jurgis and Aleksandra Iljinas with that round window to be the main symbol of the exhibition? People say ideas are in the air. When we were deciding on the exhibition’s title that could open modernist Kaunas to the global context of modernism, the architects of the project – Ieva Cicėnaitė and Matas Šiupšinskas – were looking for a visual key, a symbol to focus on.
key element, and now the concept of the exhibition is being constructed around that letter O. By the way, the circle was used as a universal form in Interwar architecture, easily bringing Kaunas modernism to international waters. Everyone recognises those round windows as a clear landmark of this particular period.
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It all happened at the same time: reviewing the photos of the Iljinas house designed by Arnas Funkas, choosing the key word “optimism”, presentation of the idea (visual design with the highlighted letter O) by the designer of the exhibition Linas Glaudelis. The architects offered to have the round, shinning window of Iljinas’ dining room as the
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Established in 1969, the Lithuanian Photographers Association, which from 1969 soon opened its departments in Kaunas and other cities. The younger child in the family, Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilniaus g. 2), will celebrate its 40th birthday in 2019.
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The activities of the gallery include residencies, exhibiting and publishing, making the space one of the most important cultural hotspots in the city, country and even the region. As a publisher, the gallery not only concentrates on presenting exhibitions and artists but also contributes to the legacy of Lithuanian photography. For the past few years, Kaunas Gallery has participated in many important international exhibitions, art book fairs etc. In September’2017, the unofficial
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culture embassy of Kaunas was opened in New York and Amsterdam; in November, representatives of the gallery will be travelling to Paris and Tel Aviv. The most important books published by Kaunas Gallery landed on the non-existent shelves of Merkurijus this month. In fact, the photoshoot took place in the freshly repainted gallery itself. This is where you can purchase all of the books, too.
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“Vitas Luckus. Biography/Works”, edited by Margarita Matulytė and Tatjana Luckienė-Aldag
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Vitas Luckus (1943-1987) is one of Lithuania’s most important photography artists from the second half of the 20th century. In his work, he bridges tradition and the avant-garde, Modernism and Postmodernism. In his unusual form of expression, he expanded greatly the boundaries of the prevailing aesthetics in photography. Luckus advocated a style in which there was no hierarchy of meaning: every element in a photographic composition was of equal importance. Only then was it possible to capture the truth, and represent the essence of a scene, the essence of life itself.
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“Antanas Sutkus. People of Lithuania”, edited by Gintaras Česonis, Margarita Matulytė, William A. Ewing Antanas Sutkus (1939), who had a huge impact on shaping photography during Soviet times, is considered to be one of the great masters of the photography world. According to William Ewing, Sutkus is a photographer of people, not of things, although there are always enough of those things to show the rough frameworks of life.
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“Claudia Heinermann, Michail Iwanowski, Indrė Šerpetytė. Post-war Stories”, edited by Ieva Meilutė-Svinkūnienė Three photographers, German, Polish and Lithuanian, explore the legacy of the Second World War through three very personal projects. The photography book is a visual narrative in the language of contemporary art, reflecting distinctively stories that took place in Lithuania after the war, and actualises the past in a new way.
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“The Theory of a Naked Body”, edited by Donatas Stankevičius Even though the selected works reflect Lithuanian photography from the 1960s to the early 1990s, the catalogue focuses on the relationship between the photographer and the model. While flicking through the genre’s archive of images, one cannot help but question the validity of these two different intentions – to create an artistic image using the naked body, and to see a naked body under the guise of photography.
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“Vytautas V. Stanionis. Photographs for Documents”, edited by Gintaras Česonis The photographs for documents, actually taken by the father of Vytautas V. Stanionis of the inhabitants of Seirijai and the surrounding area, were created in 1946 when the Soviet authorities changed the Lithuanian passports to Soviet ones. 2017
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Calendar 10 30 - 11 21
Exhibition: “Uneasy Travellers” by Romualdas Požerskis
Thursday, 11 02, 18:00
Residency: “Centras 2017” Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56
VDU art gallery “101”, Muitinės g. 7
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The night will consist of a guided tour of the residency exhibition, presentation of the catalogue and presentation of “Le musée menteur”, a work by Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė.
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Thursday, 11 02, 19:00 The exhibition and the book bearing the same name presents the life of young kids of the 70s and speaks of the need of personal and political freedom at that time.
Live: “WhaleSounds” „Šelteris“, Vytauto pr. 79
Thursday, 11 02, 18:00
Musical drama “Pilėnų legenda” (The Pilėnai Legend) Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71
The Lietuva ensemble is kicking off its 77th season with an exclusive premiere. The drama is based on the national opera “Pilėnai” by Vytautas Klova and presents a modern touch to the legend.
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Part of the Foreign-Friendly Performance Platform, the show is about five actors diving and moving to create ambient multi-instrumental electronic music.
More events pilnas.kaunas.lt
November Friday, 11 03, 18:00
Theatre: “Heraklis” (Hercules)
„Girstutis“, Kovo 11-osios g. 26
Saturday, 11 04, 19:00
Live: Andrea Bocelli “Žalgirio arena”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50
Director Gildas Aleksa is investigating how thousands of years that have passed have changed the perception of the cult hero. The results of the investigation are aggressively funny.
More than two years have passed since Andrea Bocelli visited the biggest concert venue in the Baltics. A new version of his best-selling album “Romanza” will be out next year – that’s a hint of what to expect this time. Saturday, 11 04, 18:00
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Traditional and modern dance performance Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71
The charity event together with a choir performance on November 4th is dedicated to the friendship between Lithuania and Japan. All donations will be given to Rugutė foundation and the tsunami victims in Japan. Friday, 11 03, 18:00
Live: “Swing Out Show” by Gunhild Carling and Kaunas Big Band VDU main hall, S. Daukanto g. 28
„GC Film Festival 2017“
Kaunas Culture Centre of Various Nations, Šv. Gertrūdos g. 58 The geocaching film festival happens all around the world, Kaunas is no exception. 17 finalists will be screened – one of them is made in Lithuania! Saturday, 11 04, 21:00
Live: MILD (“Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming”) “PuntoJazz”, Kęstučio g. 6
MILD is the mixture of free/atmospheric/experimental jazz. The band have already released an EP that’ll be available at the gig.
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Live: “Mano juodoji sesuo” “Largo”, Vaistinės skg.
11 07 – 01 05
Exhibition: “Žvilgsnis į Laikinosios sostinės kultūrinį gyvenimą” (A Look At The Cultural Life of Temporary Capital)
For the past 25 years, the Lithuanian band have been playing their own deep and romantic version of darkwave. They finally have a vinyl album out – this is what the concert is all about. Sunday, 11 05, 19:00
“GM Gyvai”: “Mad Meg” “Renginių oazė”, Baltų pr. 16
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“Mad Meg” are sometimes compared to Nick Cave, Gogol Bordello and Tom Waits – they’ve been inspired by them, too, as well as Leonard Cohen and Iggy Pop. 11 07 – 12 06
Exhibition: “Peizažai” (Landscapes) Lithuanian folk music museum, L. Zamenhofo g. 12
Rūta Levulienė was inspired by her mentors Antanas Obcarskas, Violeta Juodzevičienė, and Lukas Kalmogercovas. She often seeks inspiration in nature – this is reflected in the painter’s new series of works.
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Come and see a vast collection of various posters for concerts, cinema, theatre plays etc. – all from the interwar era in Kaunas. 11 08 – 11 29
“Kaunas 2022” On Tour Kaunas region
More events pilnas.kaunas.lt
November Kaunas will be joined by the regional towns in 2022, the year of European Capital of Culture. It’s about time the team meets the people – everyone’s invited. The meetings will be held on Wednesdays; Raudondvaris, Vilkija and Rokai will be visited.
Wednesday, 11 08, 18:00
Play: “Sriuba” (Soup)
Kaunas State Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71 The foundation of Vytautas Kernagis present a monospectacle inspired by the witty essays of Mikalojus Vilutis.
Wednesday, 11 08, 18:00
Exhibition: “Mano Šilainiai” (My Šilainiai) Šilainiai dept. of V. Kudirka Public Library, Baltų pr. 81
11 09 – 12 31
Exhibition: “Šiuolaikinis ekspresionizmas ir ne tik” (Contemporary Expressionism and Beyond) M. Žilinskas Gallery of Art, Nepriklausomybės a. 12
Ramūnas Kazakevičius presents his photographic wanderings around Šilainiai. He does it all year round, so expect to see both the beauty of winter and the green fields of summer.
French art critic and curator Christian Noorbergen and Lithuanian collector Edvidas Žukas present an exhibition focusing on artists free of any kind of limitations.
More events pilnas.kaunas.lt
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Calendar Thursday, 11 09, 18:00
Indian Art Festival “SurSadhana” Kaunas State Puppet Theatre, Laisvės al. 87A
For the ninth time, the festival will bring some colour and spirit into the grey skies of November. A dancer and choreographer of kathak Parbati Chaudhury is among this year’s highlights.
The first night of the iconic festival is dedicated to the classics of Lithuanian modern music and the composers of the brave new sounds of the 70s and the 80s – Bronius Kutavičius, Osvaldas Balakauskas and Algirdas Martinaitis. Thursday, 11 09, 18:30
Talk: “Kitos industrijos: Komiksų kultūra” (Other Industries: Comics)
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Talent Garden Kaunas, Laisvės al. 59 Friday, 11 10, 16:00
Book presentation: “Atsiminimai apie skulptorių Juozą Mikėną” (Memories Of Sculptor Juozas Mikėnas)
National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art, V. Putvinskio g. 55 Art historian Gražina Marija Martinaitienė wrote the book a few decades ago but it has only been published in 2017. The book lets us discover the personality and talent of one of the most famous Lithuanian sculptors of the 20th century.
One of the most colourful illustrators in Lithuania, Akvile Magicdust, will present the comics culture in Lithuania (and in Lithuanian).
Friday, 11 10, 18:00
Friday, 11 10, 19:00
International Contemporary Music Festival “Iš arti” (Up close): Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5
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Play: “Identify”
VDU theatre, S. Daukanto g. 27 Brought to Kaunas by “Atviras Ratas”, the play focuses on the self-reflection of the 21st century person.
November Friday, 11 10, 21:00
Friday, 11 10, 21:00
“Lemmy” club, Girstupio g. 1
“Largo” club, Vaistinės skg.
Live: “Devlsy”, “Extravaganza”, “Autism”
Live: “Garsovaizdžiai” (Soundscapes)
“Devlsy” have a new album out, hence the occasion. “There’ll be no time to be neither sad nor happy”, says the band.
The events are dedicated to the experimental and ambient electronics written and produced in the forests, hills and mosses of Lithuania. Girių Dvasios, Ersha, Migloje and Vėlių namai are on the line-up this time.
Friday, 11 10, 21:00
Saturday,11 11, 12:00
“PuntoJazz” palėpė, Kęstučio g. 6
Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5
Live: “Quite Sublime”
The members of the quartet share a similarly contemporary approach to music and the feelings and ideas it transmits, as well as the harmonies and rhythms. It’d be pretty hard to limit the repertoire to one style only; the musicians, however, see themselves in the world of modern jazz.
Children Music Day
This one’s for the smallest members of your family. Bring them over to be introduced to various musical instruments. The latter will be tried out, of course – the kids will also be invited to prepare a programme and perform it on stage.
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NOVEMBER
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Calendar Saturday, 11 11, 18:00
Tuesday, 11 14, 15:00
Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A
Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56
Play: “58 sapnai” (58 dreams)
Readings: “Pakalnučių metai”
The novels by Jurga Ivanauskaitė have been transformed into bare-naked readings that involve the listeners into the creative process.
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Tuesday, 11 14, 18:00 Written by Julius Keleras, the psychological drama focuses on the problems of depression, neglecting reality and miscommunication. Sunday, 11 12, 18:00
International Contemporary Music Festival “Iš arti” (Up close): “Window to Lithuania” Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5
International Contemporary Music Festival “Iš arti” (Up close): “The Baltic Magic” Kaunas State Philharmonic, L.Sapiegos g. 5
Two Lithuanian premieres by Algimantas Kubiliūnas and Raimundas Martinkėnas will be accompanied by some of the best pieces written in Latvia and Estonia. Wednesday, 11 15, 18:00
Play: “Alksniškės”
Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A
The program that travelled around the world a few years ago consists of some of the finest chamber opuses by Lithuanian composers. Time to hear it home, too.
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Written and directed by Gytis Padegimas, the play reveals the story of President Kazys Grinius who was forced to move back to his little village after protesting against the nazis in the 1940s.
Įdomiausius savaitės maršrutus sekite pilnas.kaunas.lt
November 11 15 – 12 04
Exhibition: 20 years
“Meno parkas” gallery, Rotušės a. 27 We’ve interviewed the gallery team in this very issue – be sure to come and congratulate them during the exhibition that showcases the works by Aušra Andziulytė, Robertas Antinis, Elena Balsiukaitė – Brazdžiūnienė, Milda Gailiūtė, Česlovas Lukenskas, Eimutis Markūnas, Julija Pociūtė, Povilas Ramanauskas, Rosanda Sorakaitė, Aušra Vaitkūnienė etc.
“Carnal Diafragma” (goregrind) from Chech Republic and locals “Infestation” (satanic brutal slam) together “Attaktix” (crust/d-beat) are going to master your Thursday. Friday, 11 17, 17:00
Rock opera: “Eglė”
Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5
Wednesday, 11 15, 19:00
Performance: “Psycho” “Šelteris”, Vytauto pr. 79
The Eglė myth is one of the oldest we’ve got; it was first transformed into a libretto 50 years ago. Due to many reasons the rock opera only got ready to be premiered in 2017. Friday, 11 17, 17:00
The century-old language of cinema is transformed into the contemporary performance lingo by world-travelling director Gintarė Minelgaitė. Thursday, 11 16, 18:00
Live: “Violent Carnal Fun” “Lemmy” club, Girstupio g. 1
Balley: “Kita Pelenės istorija” (Cinderella: The Other Story) Kaunas State Musical Theatre, Laisvės al. 91
Choreographed by an Italian author Gianni Santucci, the fairy-tale about Cinderella is nothing you’ve seen before.
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NOVEMBER
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Calendar Sunday, 11 19, 08:00
“TEDxKaunas 2017: Unbox the future”
KTU Santaka valley, K. Baršausko g. 59
Wednesday, 11 22, 19:00
Talk: “Islandija – Ledo ir ugnies keliu” (Iceland – The Road of Ice and Fire) “Vero Coffee House”, Maironio g. 7
Andrius Sakalauskas biked all the way through Iceland and he’s now ready to tell you all about it.
Independently organized TEDx events are pretty well known worldwide – stoked to have the first one in Kaunas, too! Get ready for a day full of personal stories that change lives around them.
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Live “Cantate Domino” festival opening
St. Nicholas church, Benediktinių g. 8 Friday, 11 24, 18:00
“Traviata”
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Thursday, 11 23, 19:00
Sunday, 11 19, 19:00
Play: “Šokis Delhi” (Delhi Dance) Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A
Kaunas State Musical Theatre, Laisvės al. 91 The musical theatre is presenting a new collaboration with the international opera festival PromFest (Parnu, Estonia) – this time the Estonians are bringing a new interpretation of Verdi’s most famous work. Friday, 11 24, 22:00
“Digital Tsunami: Myn” “Lemmy” club, Girstupio g. 1
Seven novels by Ivan Vyrypaev introduce us to a famous dancer and the people that surround her – all of them are looking for the inner peace and quiet. Directed by Oskaras Koršunovas.
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November The DJ trio have already played as far as London and Texas this year; the full squad is now back in Kaunas and have invited a Parisian-born eclectic selector called Myn to jam with them.
Thursday, 11 30, 18:00
Live: “Royal Christmas Gala” “Žalgirio arena”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50
Saturday, 11 25, 11:30
Kaunas Biennial: Walking tour
Kaunas Picture Gallery, K. Donelaičio g. 16 The biennial is raising the questions of a monument and preserving the collective memories of a community. Not many people remember Kaunas was once home to 34 thousand Jews and most of them were killed, and why they were killed. The walking tour through this year’s main exhibition will raise even more questions – and provide some answers, too.
Sarah Brightman, Gregorian chants, Royal Symphony Orchestra and many more special guests are coming for the grand event. 11 30 – 12 13
Kaunas International Film Festival Various locations
Sunday, 11 26, 14:00
Play: “Ti”
Kaunas City Chamber Theatre, Kęstučio g. 74A
Dedicated to teenagers, the play by Antanas Gluskinas is happening not only on stage, but in your mobile phone, too. Just download a special app!
One of the most important film events in the country is back after a short break. The 10th edition of the festival will be opened by a film by Iranian director Areza Khatami; the full program will feature some of the best new releases that have already been awarded in other festivals. Canadian cinema will be a hot topic, too.
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pilnas.kaunas.lt
“When in exile, I saw the “forest” only to understand what a small tree I was”
Vytautas Kasiulis (1918-1995) Painter, graduate of Kaunas Art School, who went into exile in 1944
KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE
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Monthly newspaper about personalities and events in Kaunas (free of charge)
Authors: Art Belikov, Artūras Bulota, Bernadeta Buzaitė, Daina Dubauskaitė, Dainius Ščiuka, Donatas Stankevičius, Eglė Šertvyčūtė, Gunars Bakšejevs, Julija Račiūnaitė, Kipras Šumskas, Kotryna Lingienė, Kęstutis Lingys, Tautė Bernotaitė Patrons:
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ISSN 2424-4481 2424-4465
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2017 2017Nr. Nr.11 2 (27) (18)