This weekend, the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center "Litexpo" will become the largest art gallery in Lithuania. 12 art galleries and institutions, 70 artists from 300 countries of the world will be located in the three main halls of the center and the field - an area of 18 thousand square meters. The program organizers and curators of the international contemporary art fair "ArtVilnius'23" have prepared a program for the visitors of the fair, the most important emphasis of which this year is performativity.
What is important and necessary to see in such abundance of the ArtVilnius'23 fair? Which artists from Lithuania and other countries should I get to know? What events to attend? The following navigational tips may help you.
Look for galleries in halls 5 and 3
The main gallery program of ArtVilnius'23 and Litexpo stands will be located in halls 5 and 3. Visitors, art collectors and buyers will be welcomed by fair veterans - "Māksla XO" and "Agijas sūnas art gallery" from Latvia, "Galerie Nivet-Carzon" from France, "NB galleri" from Denmark, "UUS Rada Gallery, EKA" from Estonia. , Lithuanian galleries "Kristina Norvilaitė", "Contour art gallery", "AP gallery", "The Room", VVJ art gallery.
As many as 11 galleries of the Association of Lithuanian Art Gallerists will participate in the fair: Kaunas Photography Gallery, The Rooster gallery, KADS gallery Baroti, Kaunas Langas, Terra Recognita, Menų tiltas, Akso pjūvis, Meno niša and others. Also 6 Lithuanian Artists' Unions and 6 galleries of the Vilnius Art Academy.
Even some galleries are coming from Ukraine, Kyiv - Tsekh, Shcherbenko Art Center and RA Gallery, Bilous Gallery, recently opened in Vienna and representing contemporary Ukrainian artists, as well as YA Gallery from Lviv. ".
"ArtVilnius'23" organizers are happy to welcome new participants. International galleries "TÜTAR gallery" from Tallinn, "Art & Tonic" from Tartu, "Bilous Gallery" from Vienna, "Foreign territory" from New York are coming to Vilnius for the first time.
Vilnius galleries also make their debut at the fair, including the Lithuanian Artists Union Space, Audrias Gražis Art Gallery, EHU Art Space, Kaunas Art Gallery Drobė.
The organizers of the fair are also pleased with the large group of galleries from the regions. Panevėžys artists will be presented by Panevėžys city art gallery, LDS gallery "Galerija XX", as well as "A gallery". At the fair, Dusetai art gallery, Molėtai art gallery, "Vilkamirgės gallery" / "Artless gallery" from Ukmergė, Palanga "Ramybės Galerija", Šiauliai LDS gallery "S_IN.", VDA Telšiai gallery and others will set up their stand at the fair.
This year, the Young Collector stand returns to the art fair program. It will exhibit small-format works of art, the price of which does not exceed 500 euros. Young collectors, art lovers or those just beginning to be interested in art will be able to discover and purchase their first work of art here or to add to their existing collection.
Today, yesterday and tomorrow will collide in the 4th hall
Contemporary art curator, writer Valentinas Klimašauskas named the project zone program of this year's international fair "ArtVilnius'23" "Today, yesterday, tomorrow". The program is dedicated to events, the possibility and impossibility of repetition, today, which is affected by yesterday and which will undoubtedly affect tomorrow.
After slightly changing the usual linear sequence of time, the organizers of the Project Zone want to say that today is important. Every day in the same place at the same time, the same performers will perform one and the same performance. The audience of that day, the mood, the lighting, the temperature of emotions will make them different, changing.
For the first time, an exceptional institution of contemporary art will participate in the fair's Project Zone - "EA Shared Space" from Tbilisi, the art space "Medūza" and "Draugu Vardai" from Vilnius, the prestigious Georg Kargl Gallery from Vienna, "Kim?" center of contemporary art from Riga, Vilnius Performance Art Biennale.
The fair should be interesting for the public theater sketches "I and others" by the students of the Theater Art Expression and Acting Course of the Vilnius-based European Humanities University based on the play "The Persecution and Murder of Jean Paul Marat by the Inmates of the Charenton Asylum, Led by the Marquis de Sade" by playwright Peter Weiss. . They are like a reference to what is currently happening in Belarus and in Ukraine.
The Vilnius Performance Art Biennale presents the performance "Egghorsecizmus" by Robert Narkaus, the artist who represented Lithuania at the Venice Art Biennale last year. The performance will invite visitors to a session of egghorsecism permeated with black humor and absurdity, the epicenter of which is a man going through a midlife crisis.
Prose writer, poet, essayist, "ArtVilnius'22" best artist Paulina Pukytė will follow fairy tales, read forgotten poems and express other opinions in the Project Zone. It will be possible to meet the writer, curator Monika Kalin and the artist Agne Jokše at the readings of the author's texts.
New projects specially created for the fair will be presented by the Jonas Mekos Center for Visual Arts and Vilnius Contemporary Art, the Krakow Museum of Contemporary Art MOCAK, and the Stasys Museum in Panevėžys.
A trail of sculptures, installations and performances will be laid out indoors and outdoors
In the spaces of the fair, the international exhibition of sculptures, installations and performances "Takas" always presents pleasant artistic surprises. Curator of the exhibition, artist, head of the VDA Sculpture Department doc. This year, Vytenis Burokas selected 16 artists from Lithuania and abroad for this exhibition.
At this year's Take, it will be possible to meet well-known artists of the country, and to get to know the variety of genres and materials of the younger generation of creators.
Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė, one of the most prominent creators of contemporary textiles, will present her object "Pievos / Meadows", Žygymantas Augustinas, the author of last year's best installation "ArtVilnius'22" returns to the fair with a new installation "Cooling Radio", Eglė Rakauskaitė will present a new one based on her legendary performance the performance "Pinklės. Expulsion from Paradise".
It will be possible to encounter one's own body and the body of others, as its states change, in an installation based on the endurance of the body of the dancer, choreographer Aira Naginevičiūtė. Visitors to the fair will have the opportunity to observe the changes in the encephalogram (EEG) that occur when the performance artist Marija Griniuk experiences the works of other authors at the fair.
Election of the best
As every year, the best participants of the art fair "ArtVilnius'23" will be selected. They will be selected by an international commission - art critic, curator, prof. Dr. Raminta Jurėnaitė, curator, Zane Onckule, program director of the "Kim?" contemporary art center in Riga. Art historian, curator and coordinator of the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Mirosława Bałazy, one of the managers of the Georg Kargl Fine Arts gallery in Vienna, Melanie Wagner, founder and manager of the Crème de la Crème Haute Parfumerie boutique chain, art collector Andrius Remiševskis. The awards ceremony will take place on Friday, October 13, at 18 p.m., at the LRT studio. It will award the best young artist of ArtVilnius'23 (patrons of the fair, law firm COBALT prize), the best artist of ArtVilnius'23 (Crème de la Crème prize), the best sculpture/installation of ArtVilnius'23 (sponsors of the fair , Scandinavia fintech company Vipps MobilePay bonus), the names of the best will also be awarded to the 7 best galleries of ArtVilnius'23.
On Sunday evening, the laureates chosen by the audience will be awarded - "ArtVilnius'23" audience gallery" and "ArtVilnius'23" audience artist".
For overnighters
On Friday evening, when the doors of "Litexpo" close, visitors are invited to the city of Vilnius, where the art festival for night owls "Art After Hours" will be held. The doors of Vilnius art galleries, art institutions and art spaces will be opened for the festival, there will be meetings with creators, gallerists, tours of exhibitions with art critics.
9 galleries and art spaces will be participating in Art After Hours, and 7 will be held events. Two free tours of the galleries with art historians have been prepared for the festival of night owls.
Galleries and museums invite guests to stay overnight until 23 p.m.
Excursions and tickets
Visitors are invited to purchase tickets to "ArtVilnius'23" on the "Bilietai.lt" portal. The organizers recommend to avoid queues and buy electronic tickets in advance, which will be more expensive on the days of the fair. The price of a one-day ticket is EUR 16, a two-day ticket is EUR 24.
At ArtVilnius'23, the very popular tours of the fair continue with art experts who will professionally help navigate the halls and stands of the event and introduce visitors and art buyers to the most important highlights of the fair. The price of a day ticket with an excursion is EUR 35. Excursions for groups of no more than 20 people are scheduled for October 13. 17.00:14 p.m., October 12.00 17.00, 15, October 12.00 15.00, XNUMX
On October 13, Friday, "ArtVilnius'23" will be open to visitors with tickets from 14:20 to 11.30:20.00, on Saturday - from 11.30:18.00 to XNUMX:XNUMX. and on Sunday - from XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
