The international contemporary art fair ArtVilnius’23 will take place between October 13–15. This year, the fourteenth edition will inhabit the three main halls and outdoor areas of the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre LITEXPO, covering 12,000 square meters in total and consisting of 70 art galleries/institutions and 300 artists from 18 countries.
Evelina Paukštytė. Blue Wimbledon HELSINKI. 2021. Akrilas ir drobė. 45x60x2 cm. GODÒ GALERIJA (Vilnius) ©
“There is no such thing as quick success. ArtVilnius has had to travel a decade-long journey, to find its audiences, its artists, and collectors before we can finally see the results. Every year, as soon as we close the fair’s doors to visitors, we open them to ourselves again. We start considering the idea of each fair from the content. This year, we want to talk about performativity in the broadest sense – not only in art but also in the art environment and the decisions of the cultural community. I hope that the debate about this will be very heated at our fair and that its context will allow us to look at the concept of performativity in an open and creative way,” says Diana Stomienė, the director, inspirer, and organizer of ArtVilnius’23.
Gallery Programme
In ArtVilnius’23 will participate 70 art galleries/institutions and 300 artists from 18 countries. Visitors of ArtVilnius’23 will see some familiar favourites galleries, such as Māksla XO (Latvia), Nivet Carzon (France), Eka gallery (Estonia), TSEKH (Ukraine/Lithuania) and from Lithuania, The Rooster Gallery, Baroti, Terra Recognita, AP Gallery, Contour Art Gallery, The Room, Titanikas and others. Joining us for the first time will be TUTAR Gallery (Tallinn), TEMA Projects (Vilnius), DRIFTS (Vilnius), Galerija T.2 (Vilnius), Lithuanian Artists’ Association project space PE (Vilnius), Drobė Art Gallery, Audrius Gražys’ Art Gallery (Vilnius), BILOUS gallery (Vienna), EHU Art Space (Vilnius) and Foreign Territory (New York).
Dora Maurer. What Can One Do with a Cobble Stone 1971 ©
Sandra Strele. Melancholy IX. 2018. Tapyba. 270x270x2 cm. THE ROOSTER GALLERY ©
Project Zone
For the second year in a row, the ArtVilnius Project Zone has been handed over to Valentinas Klimašauskas, a renowned curator of contemporary art and writer. The three-day programme——Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow—related to different interpretations of performativity, will present a diverse line-up of institutional and guest contributors.
The Project Zone will be composed of exceptional contemporary art institutions such as E. A. Shared Space (Tbilisi), European Humanities University Theatre (Vilnius), Georg Kargl Gallery (Vienna), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (Riga), Medūza and Draugų Vardai (Vilnius), Vilnius Performance Art Biennial (Vilnius) and the well-known Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Centre (Vilnius), MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art (Krakow), Contemporary Art Centre (Vilnius) and Stasys Eidrigevičius Arts Centre (Panevėžys), who will be offering the festival their new, specially created projects.
Over three days, the European Humanities University Theatre will invite participants to join in public sketches based on a play by Peter Weiss. Konstantin Bogdan will share his stand-up comedy, Paulina Pukytė will tell tales and forgotten poems, and Agnė Jokšė, Monika Kalin and others will share readings of their original texts.
Maciej Gąbka. Soft touch I. 2020. Skulptūra. 25x145x95 cm. TAKAS ©
Exhibition The Path
The Path will be an international exhibition of sculptures, installations and performances, curated for the third time by Vytenis Burokas, artist, curator and head of the Sculpture Department of the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VAA). The exhibition will present 16 individual projects from AIROS, Andrius Erminas, Audrius Janušonis, Barbora Matonytė, Dainius Trumpis, Eglė Rakauskaitė, Gediminas Pašvenskas, Julija Pociūtė, Maciej Gąbka, Mari Manna, Marija Griniuk, Monika Žaltkauskaitė-Grašienė, Rokas Janušonis, Rokas Pralgauskas, Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė, and Žygimantas Augustinas.
Mihaela Mindru. Covor cu doi cocoși (Carpet with two roosters). 2022. Piešinys. 47×26 cm. Galerie Nivet-Carzon ©
Plenty of additional events
This year, the art fair’s programme welcomes the participation of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the European Film Forum Scanorama, as well as welcoming back the popular Young Collector’s stand. Publishing institutions important for the art market will also showcase themselves. The interactive LRT studio will host live discussions, lectures and presentations on various art topics.
During ArtVilnius’23, an international jury of art professionals and visitors will select the best galleries, artists and works of art. The best young artist of the fair will be awarded by the fair’s generous Maecenas, the law firm COBALT. A new award for the best artist of the fair has been created by the fair’s partner Crème de la Crème. The prize will be awarded to the best sculpture/installation of ArtVilnius’23 by the fair’s sponsor, Scandinavian fintech company Vipps MobilePay. Special awards have also been established for the ArtVilnius’23 Audience Select Artist and Gallery – for three days of the fair, the public will vote for their favourite artists and galleries.
In parallel with ArtVilnius’23, on Friday, October 13, Vilnius residents and visitors will be invited to spend the night in selected galleries and institutions during the Art After Hours festival.
Eglė Rakauskaitė. Pinklės. Išvarymas iš Rojaus. 2023. Video performansas, 4K video. TAKAS ©
ArtVilnius’23 is organized by the Association of Lithuanian Art Gallerists, headed by Diana Stomienė with artistic director Sonata Baliuckaitė. ArtVilnius’23 is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, the patron is Vilnius City Municipality, and Maecenas is the law firm Cobalt. The main partner of ArtVilnius’23 is Litexpo.
