Sandra

Interview with Jon Hendricks, curator of Yoko Ono’s installation Ex It

Jon Hendricks is one of the originators, researchers, and curators in the history of the Fluxus movement. He is the curator of the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Fluxus Collection. This essential collection of the Fluxus art movement began to be compiled in 1977 and was later donated to MoMA in 2008, where it is currently housed. A small part of the collection is exhibited in the George Maciunas Fluxus Cabinet at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius. Hendricks organized a host of major important Fluxus exhibitions and produced pioneering scholarly publications on the movement.

Jon Hendricks is also the curator of Yoko Ono’s retrospective exhibition The Learning Garden of Freedom, opening in Kaunas this year in September.

The Fluxus art movement was crucial to the radical shift in the understanding of art in different parts of the world starting in the sixties. Fluxus manifestos, numerous artworks, and instructions on how to make them circulated intensely for many years among artists in the United States, Europe and Japan, in a network coordinated largely by the founder of the movement, architect and designer George Maciunas (Jurgis Mačiūnas), a Lithuanian émigré. Having originated in New York, the movement was directed against the rigid, elitist and ‘overly self-important’ artistic system of art schools, museums, and concerts of “serious” music, which refused any kind of levity, spontaneity and play. Yoko Ono began her artistic journey together with the Fluxus artists. You started your career as an artist.

You learned about Fluxus at the very beginning of the movement and eventually got involved as a curator and researcher, still having close links with it to this day. How did it all start and what attracted you to Fluxus?

It was a radical movement, and it was precisely its radicalism that got me fascinated. I found out about Fluxus quite early. By the way, my brother Geoffrey Hendricks was one of the Fluxus artists. At that time, I already knew other artists from the movement. But my deeper interest in it began in 1976, when Barbara Moore and I opened the Backworks bookshop. I didn’t have a job back then and the bookstore first opened in my house. We were selling contemporary artists’ books, publications and Fluxus works.

We ran the bookshop ourselves, but as you can guess, it didn’t bring much profit. Barbara and her husband Peter Moore were well acquainted with Fluxus. Peter was an important photographer and was also capturing Fluxus performances. They knew George Maciunas, who agreed to sell his Fluxus works, and we helped him. Thus, I became friends with George as well. Around the same time, Gilbert Silverman invited me to curate his and his wife Lila’s Fluxus collection. I was afraid that working in a bookshop and curating a private collection at the same time might cause some conflict, so I chose working on the collection. Gilbert was a very progressive and adventurous collector. Together we assembled a very large Fluxus collection, which is now housed in MoMA. For multiple reasons, this collection is now considered the most important Fluxus collection of all. That was the beginning of my involvement with Fluxus.

You collaborate with Yoko Ono (b. 1933) and curate her exhibitions to this day. Tell us about your experience of working with her.

I met Yoko Ono a very long time ago, maybe in 1965 or 1966. I curated an exhibition of hers, titled The Stone, when I was working at the Judson Gallery located in a functional church of the same name. Later Yoko left for Europe, and I didn’t see her for quite a while, but when she came back our friendship continued. Working with Yoko is an incredibly wonderful experience. She is very ingenious and has a very special way of thinking. She would come up with new ideas in a flash. For instance, she was invited to participate in an exhibition in Finland related to snow and during dinner she immediately had an idea for an artwork: ICE PRISON. Melting ice liberates. She is very quick to have great ideas.

Yoko Ono’s work, related to social and political activism, touches on freedom, equality, women’s rights, and other topics that were used to promote society’s awareness. How do you see her work is presented to society today? Why is it important to get to know Yoko Ono’s work today?

It’s really a pity, but nothing has changed since her works were created and presented for the first time. Of course, there has been some progress in terms of women’s rights. But we still have a very long way ahead of us. And we can even feel it in our daily lives. When women walk down the street, they hear men whistling at them, not to mention the violence that women experience every day. One example is Yoko Ono’s piece ARISING which she first presented in Venice, with a bonfire made from a moulage of women’s bodies later lit in the centre of the piece, displayed together with a collection of real testimonials of violence and abuse experienced by women. I think this work is very powerful and we have shown it many times, continuing to collect further testimonials. This piece is no less relevant today.

The artist’s installation Ex It, now presented in Kaunas, features 100 coffins of different sizes with pine and birch trees growing out of them. Why are you starting the presentation of the artist’s work with this particular piece?

The installation Ex It illustrates a great disaster, but there is also hope here. Maybe not in this lifetime yet, but there is hope. Everybody dies, we just don’t know when I’m going to die, or when you’re going to die. Some deaths are inevitable, such as the ones that have been taken by the recent tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption. But others are avoidable. For instance, deaths caused by wars. This installation will still be important for a long time to come. Maybe people will associate it with the tsunami I mentioned, maybe with other natural disasters, maybe with the current state of the world, maybe with wars. Yoko doesn’t want to explicitly state and dictate what people should see in this installation, what kind of disaster it implies. As in all of her works, there is a lot of space for the viewer’s imagination.

How did you decide to exhibit this installation in the premises of a bank? The actually functioning bank and the banking operations happening in the same space as the installation create a strong additional field of associations and meanings for the piece.

This space was suggested by CAC director Kęstutis Kuizinas, although the initial idea was to place it elsewhere. It is usually exhibited in gallery spaces, but we have also presented it in a church and outside a cemetery. The bank space adds even more different meanings. I think this space is very suitable for the installation. Equally important is the beautiful architecture of the building. But at the same time, I believe that any space can be fitting to present this installation. And all spaces would bring their own meanings because all spaces are charged with different symbols. The installation will change a little bit soon when the trees start leafing out. And after the installation closes, it will continue living, as the trees spread across the city. We will plant them ourselves or invite people to plant them in their parks and gardens.

Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė

by Sandra

“The Confusion”: Kaunas Became the Cultural Heart of Europe

“Maybe not the impressive figures and other facts, but the fire in the eyes of each and everyone is proof that the vision, which we spent five years on, has come to life, and that Kaunas has been inspired to move forward,” Virginija Vitkienė, the head of the project “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022”, said after the last bars of the “The Confusion”, Act I of The Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy. During the ovation, she invited everyone to continue the celebration on the evening of 22 January and throughout the whole year and the whole life to come.

With thousands of spectators in the centre of Kaunas – residents of the city, Kaunas district communities, guests from other Lithuanian cities and abroad – watching, Žalgirio Arena, the largest in the Baltic States, was transformed into a screen of unprecedented size. Before the big kick-off, the most important persons of our country and the continent addressed greetings to Kaunas and Kaunas District.

In her video message, President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen looked back to interwar modernism, which stood more for more than an artistic style – it represented a new vision for Lithuania and its people, built on pragmatism, progress and independence. The politician stressed that, 100 years later, we are again at a crossroad – and we can only succeed if we use all our talents from all and culture to technology and innovation: “Our European capitals of culture can lead this change, especially with the support of young people. And this is why I decided to make 2022 the European Year of Youth – to promote youth engagement at all levels, like with the “Emerging Kaunas”, your city’s youth program.”

“It was here in Kaunas 100 years ago that a young nation reimagined its identity through modernism. Again, today, Europe is reimagining its future through sustainability. And once again, art mirrors this transformation in a free and united Europe,” concluded President of the European Commission and expressed a wish to visit Kaunas soon.

President of the European Council, Charles Michel, also conveyed his warm greetings by video message. “Just as no man or woman is an island, alone, in a vacuum, we are all much bigger than ourselves. Because we are part of our community. We are part of our country, our continent. A part of humanity,” said the politician. He added that, in the European Union, there is no centre and periphery, and today, Kaunas is more than ever the beating heart of Europe.

“Communities thrive, come together and share experiences through collective artistic endeavours. Their people share stories, histories, and share a common living memory that will outlive them and pass them on to future generations. This is how traditions are forged and propagated. This is how culture is created. And each of these cultural exchanges – no matter how big or small – helps us better understand each other and brings us closer together as Lithuanians, as Europeans,” Charles Michel thanked Kaunas and Lithuania for their passion.

Thanking the people of Kaunas and the team that spent five years working towards the goal, the Mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis, assured that the growing city of Kaunas is thrilled to take over this honourable title.

“Our trilogy and any other -logy only gives when you want to take something – in other words, the European Capital of Culture project is based on the concept that everybody walks their own part of the way, and we meet in the centre. We, thousands of us, are invited to reflect on what myth, Europe, and European values mean to us and to ask ourselves what message this endless team of creators wants to convey to us,” said Rytis Zemkauskas, one of the core members of Kaunas 2022.

The action of “The Confusion”, intertwining music, image, animation, movement and other forms of artistic expression, told the story of the transformation while migrating in the space surrounding the arena. Here, dancers moved, interpreting modernist architecture, and Merūnas Vitulskis and Joana Gedmintaitė performed solo parts of the symphony “Šaipėrantas” by Antanas Jasenka, performed by Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the Vilnius Choir conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas.

Chris Baldwin, the author of the unique directorial solution, expressed that it was essential for him to turn the city itself into a stage when creating “The Confusion” – not to hide what Kaunas really is and to use every single detail of it for creative solutions. Thus, the symbolic act of collapse became a crucial part of the show. For two days, a 22-metre-high cardboard version of an unfinished hotel created by French artist Olivier Grossetête was built by him and hundreds of volunteers, only to be destroyed to mark the beginning of a new phase of Kaunas.

At 08:22 pm, with the bells of all Kaunas churches ringing, the participants of “The Confusion” continued their explorations of Kaunas myth other cultural endeavours. Thousands searched for symbols with maps in their hands and deciphered the mystery of the Beast of Kaunas, while others huddled in the ice sculpture-laden Independence Square, with electronic music pounding from the speakers.

The lucky ones could hear excerpts of the “Kaunas Cantata”, which will premier in September, in the windows of the cafés on Laisvės Alėja. In other shop windows, spread all along the pedestrian boulevard, artefacts of Lithuanian design history shone, making more than one curious visitor stop.

The William Kentridge exhibition at the National M.K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art and the Kaunas Central Post Office, which has become a mecca of modernist architecture, were particularly popular among exhibition-goers, as well as “Ex It”, an installation by Yoko Ono, that drew crowds to the Palace of the Bank of Lithuania.

With the rhythms of drums playing in the Vienybės Square, the Beast’s voice invited everyone to climb the stairs leading to Žaliakalnis, to meet again at the top, where the Christ’s Resurrection Basilica was transformed into a spectacular installation of light and sound. The audiovisual performance “Tabalai” reminded us to awaken the cultural Beast within us with the musical instruments created especially for this event.

The opening events of the European Capital of Culture year in Kaunas and Kaunas district took place on 19-23 January. Many of the exhibitions and other initiatives presented this weekend will continue to run, so it’s always a good time to visit Kaunas and the Kaunas district, which has become one big stage for Europe.

Act II of The Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy, “The Confluence”, will take place on 20-22 May, coinciding with Kaunas’ birthday, while the 25-27 November event “The Contract” will finalize the transformation “From temporary to the contemporary”.

by Sandra

After the meeting with the jury of the European Commission, “Kaunas 2022” is to receive a significant Melina Mercouri Prize

Together with the last conclusion of the European Commission, the team of “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture” has heard great news. After assessing the readiness and fulfilment of the commitments made back in 2017, the jury recommended that the city be awarded the Melina Mercouri Prize of 1.5 million euros. This prize is awarded to European capitals of culture if the plans listed in the project application are successfully implemented and the quality of project management is ensured, the obligations of the funders are fulfilled (the project is funded by Kaunas City Municipality, Kaunas District Municipality and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania). 
The two meetings of the teams of European Commission for monitoring and “Kaunas 2022” consistently analysed the progress of preparation for 2022, development of partnerships, contribution to the implementation of the Strategy of Culture of Kaunas City, communication plans and actions. From the very beginning of the project, the involvement of communities and society in the preparation for the programme of European Capital of Culture, the actions of cultural decentralization in the neighbourhoods of Kaunas city and Kaunas District settlements have been highly valued. At the third meeting in October 2021, the members of the jury mostly focused on the plan of continuity of “Kaunas 2022” project. This prize is dedicated to consolidating the Changes of Culture.
“The Melina Mercouri Prize is awarded to nearly all the cities that are European capitals of culture. It represents a relatively small part of the budget for this long-standing, culturally transformative project. It is important that project stakeholders who have devoted so much energy and resources to this Olympic-level event use this badge of appreciation to ensure the continuity of emerging artistic and cultural phenomena. What seems more significant to me in this report is the qualitative assessment and appreciation that, even in the context of COVID, we have been able to reach and involve so many people, mobilize partners, win international awards for integrated communication and marketing campaigns. And, most importantly, to create a top-level programme for art for 2022 that, based on local identity and uniqueness, enriches the overall European culture,” Director of “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture” said.  
Both during the meeting and in the conclusion, the development and application of co-creation methodologies and the preparation of methodological material in English were identified as significant factors by the jury. It also expressed its wish for the continuation of sharing the best practice of Kaunas and Kaunas District both through the continuation of the Forum of European Capital of Culture in Kaunas, and by promoting the methodological material and by sharing the best practice with other cities and regions. 
“European Capital of Culture is the most significant cultural project of the European Union that allows the designated cities to look at themselves from the outside and, by employing creativity, to create a new local narrative, network at national and European level. Probably the most important thing we will take with us from this experience is a change in quality and quantity. Having started on the road seven years ago with just a few of us, now together with over 70 Lithuanian and several hundred of European cultural organizations and over 500 cultural professionals, we can change our place so that it is interesting for the entire Europe and the world,” Virginija Vitkienė says.  
The third report of “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” and the conclusion of the jury commission can be found here: https://kaunas2022.eu/planai-ir-ataskaitos/ 
Programme of “Kaunas 2022”: www.kaunas2022.eu 

by Sandra

The contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy – a journey to a new city identity

In 2022, Kaunas will be reborn – the myth of the contemporary capital, which the Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 team has been creating for three years, will materialise itself in an impressive programme. The main highlights of the programme are the Myth of Kaunas Trilogy events, which will take place over the three weekends: The Confusion (January 19–23), The Confluence (May 20–22) and The Contract (November 25–27).
For the opening weekend of Kaunas European Capital of Culture, more than 100 events are planned, several hundred professional and non-professional performers will be on the stage. In the impressive opening show, we will see world-famous creators and performers from Lithuania and around the world.
“The Myth of Kaunas Trilogy events, with which we will open the year of Kaunas European Capital of Culture in January, continue in May and close in November is the axis of the programme. We will involve thousands of locals into these events so that they become active participants, characters, extras in crowd scenes, choir performers, and not mere spectators,” says Virginija Vitkienė, the initiator and CEO of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022.
The creative output of the Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 project is being created by 64 organisations, which currently employ almost 300 professionals. About 15 more organisations will join the main events; a total of about 80 partners will implement the European Capital of Culture year program. According to Vitkienė, there will be no free weekend in the year.
“The Myth of Kaunas Trilogy is a journey through the three main events of the European Capital of Culture – a journey much like the three stages of a person’s life: coming to understand who we are, accepting who we are, and coexisting with ourselves – as we are,” says Rytis Zemkauskas, the author of the idea and the script writer for the Trilogy.
The myth of the city, created by all its inhabitants, is united by the metaphor of the Beast. According to Zemkauskas, the Beast is the body of the city, it is as alive as we are. The mythical Kaunas Beast will be awakened in January, we will make better acquaintance with it in May, and will agree to live happily and in harmony at the closing event of the Capital of Culture at the end of November.
The trilogy of Contemporary Kaunas Myth will be told in dozens of books and stories, it will be shaped by exhibitions and performances of Lithuanian and international artists, it will sound in concerts taking place in various places in Kaunas, and will be lit by installations from all over Europe.
Opening of the European Capital of Culture in Kaunas on January 22
Whatever are your plans for the beginning of the next year, arrange your schedule so that you are in Kaunas on January 22. Although the detailed programme of the opening show, which will take place at the Žalgiris Arena at 19.30 pm, is kept secret until the last minute, the organisers reveal that it is being created by hundreds of Kaunas, Lithuanian and international artists.
“The ambitious Kaunas European Capital of Culture programme is based on a unique, sincere, community-involving vision of the Contemporary Capital. The contemporary capital is a city where culture is not just a Sunday theatre but it is a way to act, learn, create innovations, build a community,” says Ana Kočegarova-Maj, Kaunas 2022 Programme Director. 
She reminds that thanks to all the creators of the programme, Kaunas will host exhibitions of the world’s most famous artists, such as Marina Abramović, Yoko Ono or William Kentridge, will invite its citizens and city guests to the festivals of a unique scale and artistic quality. 

At the opening event of Kaunas – the European Capital of Culture 2022, a synthesis of contemporary music, giant video projections and slam poetry will tell the story of the city as a living miracle, which constantly renews itself. The goal of the programme is to involve everyone in the city’s creative uprising. Kaunas invites the audience around the word to watch the opening broadcast live.
The opening event is being created by British director Chris Baldwin, who has contributed to the key events of the European Capitals of Culture in Wroclaw (Poland), Galway (Ireland) and London Olympics. The music for the event is composed by the Golden Cross of the Stage multiple awardee Antanas Jasenka. The music will be performed by the National Symphony Orchestra and Vilnius Choir, conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas, the winner of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize.
A team of several producers coordinates an impressive opening show, where the Aura Dance Theatre, the authors of experiential video installations OKTA Studio and the masters of world-famous installations and performances, whose names are not yet revealed by the organisers, will provide an unforgettable experience to the city’s residents, guests and the spectators around the world. The costumes of the event are created by Aleksandra Jacovskytė, Julija Skuratova, Sandra Straukaitė.
100 events over the weekend
There are more than 100 events scheduled for The Confusion weekend, which will start on the outskirts of Kaunas on January 19, and will move towards the city centre, congesting residents for the opening. It is estimated that several hundred professional and non-professional performers will appear on stage over the weekend.

On the eve of the opening, January 21 the most important 2022 visual arts exhibitions will open. William Kentrige’s solo exhibition What We Don’t Remember at the M.K. Čiurlionis Museum will introduce the works of this world-famous South African artist of Lithuanian-Jewish heritage to Kaunas residents and the city guests. Also, on that weekend, the four-month exhibition Modernism for the Future 360/365 dedicated to the architecture of Kaunas and European modernism will open at Kaunas Central Post Office. The exhibition will feature projects from 17 artists created during the art residencies over the last year. In addition, the exhibitions of artists from the Capitals of Culture 2022, Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg) and Novi Sad (Serbia), will open.
The opening of the installation “Exit it” by the peace activist multimedia artist Yoko Ono is also scheduled for January 22. The installation will run until September 2022.

Dozens of cultural institutions of Kaunas and Kaunas district are creating a special programme for the first Myth of Kaunas Trilogy weekend. The Confusion programme includes concerts, dance performances and plays, excursions and creative workshops. According to the organisers, one will not be able to escape culture. 
The mythical beast of Kaunas will budge in his sleep and… wake up.
Kaunas birthday will be celebrated next to rivers
Kaunas is located in an exceptional place, at the confluence of two major Lithuanian rivers – the Nemunas and the Neris. In addition, in Kaunas, on the way to Raudondvaris, another confluence – of the Nemunas and the Nevėžis – is located, surrounded by a beautiful natural park. Although riverfront in a town usually serves as a natural attraction, Kaunas residents have only relatively recently discovered these beautiful spots and started to spend their free time there.
The Confluence event, which will take place on May 20–22, will fulfil the dream of Kaunas people to return to the rivers and to immerse into the flow of creativity. Saturday evening event will be held in one of the most beautiful places in Lithuania – the Nemunas and Neris confluence. The event will end with a show on water of an unprecedented scale in Lithuania, directed by Chris Baldwin.

Kaunas birthday weekend was chosen for the Confluence, the second part in the Myth of Contemporary Kaunas Trilogy. Moreover, on the same date, the largest international kite festival “Between Earth and Sky” is taking place in Kaunas district. For three days, Kaunas residents and guests will be entertained by performances of acrobats, modern circus, musical picnics in the Kaunas district settlements located by the rivers – the action will take place on the shores, in the water and in the sky. If conditions allow, we will receive guests from other European Capitals of Culture and Alytus, which will be the Lithuanian Capital of Culture in 2022.
People say that in this weekend we will definitely see the beast of Kaunas ...
Closing event: contemporary opera in Raudondvaris Manor
The official closing of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 will take place on the last weekend of November, on 25–27. According to the organisers, the Contract part of the Trilogy is dedicated to making agreement with the city, to pledge to live together in harmony.
“When we started preparing the application for the project several years ago, we “diagnosed” Kaunas as grey, very complex, we saw it as a teenager who is not loved and does not love himself. Today, inviting people to the European Capital of Culture 2022 events, we look forward to welcoming visitors in an already changed, more hospitable, more sociable, more youthful, more stylish, more empathetic, more sustainable city, open to their own and European history and present. Kaunas is no longer afraid of the ghosts of the past and does not have complexes due to real or imaginary insignificance. We are looking forward to welcoming you in a European city of happy people”, says Vitkienė.
The central event of the Contract weekend is created by the Lithuanian National Prize winner composer Zita Bružaitė, director Gediminas Šeduikis, the playwright Daiva Čepauskaitė, the winner of the Golden Stage Cross. Together with hundreds of the most talented Lithuanian performers, the contemporary opera will consolidate the agreement of Kaunas residents with their city, will sound the promise of living long and happily. An impressive audiovisual show, which will close the year of the European Capital of Culture in Kaunas, will take place at Raudondvaris Manor on Sunday evening.
A special exhibition commemorating 2022 will also be opened in Raudondvaris, and on the closing weekend Kaunas will be adorned with modern light installations from other European cities and other European capitals. Although then Kaunas will officially pass over the title of European Capital of Culture to other cities, it will forever remain a city of contemporary culture.
Kaunas Beast, actively involved in the process of creating a contemporary urban myth, will remain in the city and watch over the contract signed by the residents of the city.

by Sandra