The 4th Annual Vilnius Gallery Weekend Will Explore How Exhibition Spaces Are Changing

Vilnius Gallery Weekend will be taking place for the 4th time on 5-8 September. This year, the organisers have created a route that will take visitors through 25 galleries and exhibition spaces located not only in the city centre but also in more remote districts and even outside the city itself.

The four-day programme includes 12 exhibition openings, a performance by one of the Golden Lion laureates, a discussion on the ecosystem of Vilnius exhibition spaces and many other events. The event, held by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association (LIAA), is welcoming visitors to explore various art spaces throughout the city, as well as to present new initiatives and develop a lasting habit of visiting galleries. Over time, the event has become a part of not only the cultural life in the capital but also an international tradition, since similar events have been taking place in various cities throughout Europe and the whole world for over a decade.

The Gallery Weekend, which has been taking place in early September each year since 2016, now serves as an occasion to begin the new season of contemporary art exhibitions. “Even though seasons seem insignificant to the contemporary art scene, as most galleries hold exhibitions year-round, they still affect the city itself. The number of people increases with the very first days of autumn, as new residents move in, and it is particularly important to present them with a rich panorama of contemporary art,” said Gabrielė Radzevičiūtė, the young art theorist and curator who created the programme for this year’s event.

The event begins on Thursday, 5 September with a discussion on the ecosystem of Vilnius exhibition spaces. It will seek to ascertain how new players change the art sphere and what happens when older institutions close down. The conversation will symbolically take place at the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), which is due to close for reconstruction later this autumn, and has prepared a rich programme for Vilnius Gallery Weekend. It will offer two exhibition openings as well as guided tours, an educational programme for children, a concert and a give-away of duplicate copies of publications from its reading room collection.

The Gallery Weekend route will include not only well-established exhibition spaces such as the CAC, National Gallery of Art (NDG), Rupert centre for education, residences and exhibitions, Vartai, AV17 and Vilnius Academy of Arts galleries, but also a number of newcomers. Friday will see the opening of Atletika gallery, the first exhibition space on the developing SODAS 2123 culture complex on the historic hill of the former Heaven’s Gardens on Vitebsko street. The space, which is curated by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Union, will host exhibition openings, concerts and presentations of new initiatives and books.

If you are looking for a quick weekend getaway outside the city, the programme creators suggest getting on a train to Lentvaris. You might witness a performance by Arturas Bumšteinas, who will be spending his Saturday afternoon at the Lokomotif meeting place, which opened this spring at the historic railway station in Lentvaris. On Sunday, Lentvaris railway depot will host a performance by the artist Lina Lapelytė, co-author of the Sun & Sea (Marina) opera-performance, which won the Golden Leon at the Venice Biennial.

All Vilnius Gallery Weekend events are free of charge.

For the full programme of the Vilnius Gallery Weekend, see: https://vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt/