In the first ever LRT annual awards, 9 out of 2 nominations went to the MO team. Elected as initiative of the year MO Museum, and Danguolė and Viktoras Butkai are the people of the year.
Interest in modern and contemporary art, the unique architecture of the MO building, the abundance of visitors, events - who remembered and attracted attention?
Lithuanian interest in art is growing
At the end of the year, a representative survey of the Lithuanian population conducted by "Baltijos Researches" showed that, compared to the previous year, the popularity of MO has almost doubled (from 23% to 40%). According to the research, during the last 12 months the number of people interested in modern and contemporary fine art in Lithuania has also grown.
"We see people's desire to get to know Lithuanian art - great interest in excursions, intensive use of the e-guide. We see the museum as an inspiring space to learn new things, meet and communicate. We hope that the exhibitions we organize will be increasingly discovered by a wider audience as a relevant form that invites thinking, discussion, and raising questions. It is here that we see the important MO Museum role. In the future, we will organize events that develop the themes of the exhibitions, meetings with creators and works of art, which offer visitors other points of view and experiences", says Milda Ivanauskienė, director of the MO Museum.
The Director of the MO Museum also adds that at the end of the year, the visitors of the MO Museum were counted. From October 18 to the end of the year, nearly 70 people visited the MO Museum. people. "This number is encouraging, inspiring and motivating to keep trying," she says.
First assessments
The building, designed by the world-class architecture star Daniel Libeskind together with the DO Architects team, immediately attracted the attention and appreciation of both visitors and professionals.
At the end of October, MO Museum was selected and awarded the best architecture in the exhibition-competition "Looking at Yourself" by an international audience. The MO Museum's interior was recognized as the best public interior in the fourth annual My Space interior architecture competition. MO is also among the nominees in the international competition "EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award".
"We thank the architects for an excellent project that fulfills several goals - it invites people to come and experience art, encourages them to spend time both inside the building and outside, and fits into the architecture of the junction of Vilnius' old town and new town," says M. Ivanauskienė.
She also adds that in addition to all these interior and design awards, a great appreciation for the founders and team of the MO Museum is the LRT year awards - initiative of the year and person of the year - awarded at the end of the year. Danguolė and Viktoras Butkai were awarded the Cross of Tourism for their special services in the field of tourism.
Upcoming exhibitions of 2019
Already on January 11, visitors will be presented with the installation "Villa Lituania" by the laureates of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize, Nomeda and Gediminas Urboņi. The project in 2007 represented Lithuania at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, where he received an award for the best national pavilion. A reconstruction of the project will be exhibited in the MO Museum.
At the end of February, museum visitors will be able to interactively experience the works of six contemporary Lithuanian artists in the MO museum's small exhibition "Starting point" and hear the artists' story about what was the starting point in the creative process.
The most important events of the year are two major museum exhibitions in spring and autumn. "The first "Animal-man-robot" exhibition, which will open in April, will talk about our relationship with other animal species, the world changing with biotechnology and rapidly developing artificial intelligence," the director of the MO Museum presents the exhibition.
In October, the next big exhibition of the MO Museum will open its doors, which will talk about the 10th decade of Lithuania, which has already become history, when extremely big changes and changes took place. "The exhibition will combine art, culture, stories of everyday life of that time, even individual and personal stories and memories of people", adds M. Ivanauskienė.
About MO
The MO Museum, whose building was designed by the world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind, opened its doors in 2018. October 18 Prior to its opening, the MO Museum, founded on the personal initiative of scientists Danguolė and Viktoras Butkai, operated as a museum without walls for almost a decade. The collection of more than 5000 modern and contemporary works of art is part of the Lithuanian Art Gold Fund from the 6th century. XNUMXs to the present day.
MO Museum is a place of good leisure time. Exhibitions invite you to come here, cinema, educational activities, concerts and other events for various age groups. One of MO's goals is to gather an active community - MOdernists - who support the idea of MO and help create the new museum together.
