yr. 2017

2016 12 30- 2017 02 12. The Dekonstrukcijos/Deconstructions series is based on this rejection or “double destruction” tactic, where Vaičekauskas chooses the works of various Lithuanian photographers, classicists and non-classicists and “destroys” them by shredding them into horizontal pieces. In this way, a colleague’s creation or a certain iconic (re)presentation (not the original, but a digital copy?) is symbolically destroyed and, at the same time, the artist escapes his aura of being exceptional. So, it is as if the act of “destruction” represents the history of Lithuanian photography and its hierarchy. However, “destruction” is only the initial intent because Vaičekauskas’ deconstruction leads to a new meaning or an interception into the existing system.

2017 02 23 – 04 08. A solo exhibition of the works of Andrius Kviliunas opened on February 23, 2017 at the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius, Lithuania. The World Upside Down or Naivete, False Pride, Repentance and Enlightenment. The leitmotif of the exhibition revolves around (non)belief (religion), life and death – forming an existential triangle. Life is always closely connected to death, one passes into the other in a natural or brutal way and (non)belief is often entangled in the ties between them, in one way or another explaining or denying life, death, their (non)relationship. All three of these leitmotifs are connected to each other and are intertwined. 

2017 05 04 – 06 03. Danas Aleksa “43 H”. 43H is my seat on the plane. On the one hand, it’s a very concrete coordinate that notes my place in the cabin. However, after the plane rises to the highest point in its trajectory, the perception of space changes. The endless space hovering beyond the window does not have a concrete point of reference that allows consciousness to create its own system  of coordinates. Under those circumstances, distance becomes an abstract concept. 43H as a coordinate loses its X, Y, Z axes.

2017 06 08 – 06 11 . ART VILNIUS’17 .The Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center presents Outtakes From the Life of a Happy Man by Jonas Mekas, the godfather of avant garde cinema, on the occasion of the celebration of his 95th birthday this year.

2017 06 10 – 09 17 . ATLAS OF RUSSIAN HISTORY BY GEORGE MACIUNAS AT THE INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTA 14 EXHIBITION IN KASSEL. Every five years, the contemporary art exhibition documenta presents works by highly influential artists. In 2017, documenta 14 took place in Kassel, Germany and Athens, Greece. Works by 160 artists from around the world were shown. Among the works exhibited were thirty-seven by the artist George Maciunas and Jonas Mekas’ films and photos.

2017 06 21 – 07 31. The ARTRONIC CONTEXTUALIZOR OF THE AURA OF ARTWORK was first tried out in 2015 during the Art Vilnius 2015 art fair. The ACAA system exactly determined the contextual aura of the (art) work itself or that of its holder/creator, taking into account a variety of factors. The experiment lasted four days and was tested on over a thousand (art) works and their auras. It became clear that the ACAA system is capable of separating out the aura of a work of art, the aura of its holder/creator and is even able to determine the contextual fluctuations and subtleties of instances of “borderline” auras.

2017 09 07 – 10 21. Jay Gard’s exhibition It’s the Frame Not the Painting will be on display at the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius, Lithuania from September 7 until October 21, 2017. The exhibition will feature Jay Gard’s latest series of sculptural objects. The center of attention becomes not the artwork itself, but its ancillary piece, i.e. the frame. Store bought frames separate the work from the world that surrounds it. J. Gard cuts out a piece, magnifies it until it is five meters in length and in this way creates a new manner of being for the frame itself. It’s the Frame Not the Painting transforms the way one views things as well the meaning of the production of art and its dissemination.

2017 11 08 – 12 16. The Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center presents artist Benas Šarka and his exhibition Paradise Cerebral Cortex Landscapes. The exhibition presents a small, albeit more “tangible” or even “object-oriented” part of the work of Benas Šarka – photographs of activities, sketches, objects, video creations. The compact retrospective covers the last 20 years of his (non)creative work. All of the works have been “pulled out” from Šarka’s performances and shows – they are documents of performability in general. Some are being exhibited for the first time. Some “theatrical” creations were formed from interesting things thrown out onto shore from the sea. Everything exhibited is a composite of the elements of a spiritual whole, a process that has neither a beginning, nor an end.

2017 12 02 – 12 24 .The Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center will take part in the celebration of the 95th birthday of Jonas Mekas at the Jurgis Bielinis Public Library in Biržai, Lithuania. The JMVAC will exhibit Jonas Mekas‘ video diary: 365 Days.

2017 12 27- 02 17. GINTARAS ZNAMIEROWSKI: ART CRITICISM: THEORIES, METHODS, PRACTICE/PEOPLE, EXPRESSION, OBJECTS. We are used to the idea that art criticism and research “examine artists and art practices”. But, can’t it be the reverse? Can art examine art criticism and research? Artist Gintaras Znamierowki throws down this gauntlet and proves that this can be done! This exhibition is composed as a museum-like exposition-installation that has a cultural anthropological narrative. Lithuanian art research and criticism are both perceived as local “ethnographic” phenomena that are defined as a particular group’s material, physical and spiritual culture. Art research and art criticism are regarded as quickly dying primitive local (sub)cultures that need to be thoroughly researched, classified and at least symbolically preserved for future generations. 

2017 12 11-17.  Happy birthday Jonas Mekas .