All Eyes on Kaunas: Lithuanian City Revealed the European Capital of Culture 2022 Programme
After twelve years of anticipation, the official title of European Capital of Culture is back in Lithuania. The country’s second-largest city Kaunas and the surrounding Kaunas district are ready to become one big European stage next year – the grand opening is scheduled for January 22, 2022.
The immersive formula for the big year includes at least 40 festivals, over 60 exhibitions, more than 250 stage events (50+ world premieres!), and a number of concerts exceeding 250. A press conference revealed key events, the most important names and many more exciting details for the whole continent to follow. Held in Kaunas, the event was accompanied by teams of Esch in Luxembourg and Novi Sad (Serbia), the other two European Capitals of Culture ready to shine in 2022.
Culture Beyond City Limits
It has been five years since the city of Kaunas and the surrounding Kaunas district have started preparing for 2022. The truth is, the ambitious international project has already proven its success. The change has taken place, and the communities that make up the face, body and soul of Kaunas have activated. Much of the European Capital of Culture program aims to celebrate the awakening and write a new chapter of the history of the area.
Dozens of unique small towns surrounding Kaunas, as well as lush nature and rich traditions that go back hundreds of years, are what complement the urban network within the city limits. At the same time, the international title has helped the rural communities meet international artists and discover new ways to express their identity.
A Community Project Above Everything Else
The theme of Kaunas 2022 is a grand yet unified dama that gives meaning to the road to the awakening of the city and its people. It’s the biggest co-creation festival of all since day one – the majority of the time, ideas and finances is dedicated to bringing as many people closer to culture as possible. It’s also an educational project, as hundreds of culture professionals and enthusiasts and representatives of the young generation have already gained new skills, guaranteeing the project’s continuity and quality future for Kaunas and Kaunas District.
What also makes Kaunas 2022 unique is creating a new myth for the city to help it change its path. The Mythical Beast of Kaunas – a project designed to create a unifying narrative for the city – will unfold in next year’s great mythical trilogy comprised of the Uprising (January 22), Confluence (May 20), and Treaty (November 25–27).
The three main events are co-created by artists from Lithuania and abroad; they incorporate the ideas of historical personalities from Kaunas into the new work – names like George Maciunas and Emmanuel Levinas. Among the programme participants are Philip Miller, William Kentridge, Marina Abramović, Yoko Ono, Jenny Kagan, Robert Wilson, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Antony Polonsky, Modestas Pitrėnas, Edgaras Montvidas and many others. It’s important to stress each branch of Kaunas 2022 has its own superstars, some of whom are still on their way to international fame – Kaunas and Kaunas District, as one big European stage, will become their trampoline.
Highlights of the Programme
Annual festivals already launched by Kaunas 2022 will reach their culmination, such as the International Day of Happiness (March), the European Capital of Culture Forum (May), Contemporary Neighbourhoods (all summer long in the towns of Kaunas district), the European Youth Festival (July), the international performing arts festival ConTempo (August), Fluxus Festival (September), landscape design festival Magenta (autumn), the CityTelling Festival, which reconsiders the multiethnic memory of Kaunas and the people who built it every October, and the Kaunas Design Event in celebration of its title as a UNESCO Creative City of Design (October). Talking about UNESCO, the Kaunas 2022 program called Modernism for the Future invites the residents and guests of the city to embrace the rich modernist architecture network and support its path to the World Heritage List.
Among the highlights of the event schedule in 2022 are the international exhibition of up-and-coming contemporary artists “MagiC Carpets Landed”, the 13th Kaunas Biennial “Once Upon Another Time”, an exhibition by William Kentridge, one of the most influential and most wanted international artists of today, a retrospective by the cult figure of New York art scene Yoko Ono, a show by the global superstar Marina Abramović, as well as works and performances by other fantastic names, often cooperating with each other and local artists or communities. New and very much anticipated events such as World Litvak Forum are also confirmed for 2022.
Cultural Bridges to the World
Artistic interventions, including two premieres, spiced up the mood of the press conference. Kaunas dance theatre ‘Aura’ presented an excerpt of ‘Pluto’, a new show depicting a journey through one’s identity by Matthew Dane Livingston.
Another premiere that received much attention was a new song ‘City Sisters’ by Lithuanian singer and Kaunas 2022 ambassador Jurga Šeduikytė and South African songwriter Kgomotso Le Roux. ‘City Sisters’ tells a story about two women in two countries – and Le Roux is singing her part in the Zulu language.
The cultural bridges built by the project of Kaunas 2022 helped even more creative ideas connecting Lithuania and SA to be born. The list includes an exhibition by William Kentridge, one of the most prominent contemporary artists whose roots are in Lithuania, coming to Kaunas next year. The South African artist explores the topics of violence, empathy and racism in his works – similar themes are reflected in the song ’City Sisters’, which will become a soundtrack to the exhibition. The premiere of the song’s music video will be held in both Kaunas and Johannesburg.
European Capital of Culture Forum for Extended Talks
The press conference in Kaunas is followed by the European Capital of Culture forum on September 23–24. Both live and online, the fourth international forum is dedicated to in-depth discussions and evaluation of the programme for next year. Curators and partners of the six main branches of Kaunas 2022 will present the vision for the city and the results of their five-year work, including the most significant achievements and the most important lessons that all influenced the final programme. Of course, it will be time to talk more about the key events in next year’s calendar.
The timetable of the forum: https://forumas.kaunas2022.eu/
Watch it live: https://www.youtube.com/c/Kaunas2022, https://forumas.kaunas2022.eu/ ir https://www.facebook.com/kaunas2022.
https://kaunas2022.eu/
Reverse mountain climbing? At the Fluxus Festival, it's also possible!
The largest and probably the most colorful community festival of Fluxus will happen in Kaunas on September 11th. This year's event will invite you to participate in discussions and immerse you into a co-creation full of fantasy - the festival participants will create and decorate their own costumes and the most unexpected vehicles to climb Parodos Hill in a Fluxus way.
Awakening the city in a Fluxus way since 2018, this year's event reflects the trailer of the year 2022, when Kaunas will become the European Capital of Culture and thus, the communities of Kaunas and Kaunas district invite you to celebrate all the holidays of the year. As for the culmination of the Fluxus Festival - the climb to the Parodos Hill - its organizers call for an inventive look - everything that the participants' imagination allows is possible. "You can climb walking backward or in a handstand, carrying an uncle or a goldfish, with rollerblades or a surfboard, or maybe just wearing a Santa Claus costume," said Simona Savickaitė, coordinator of the "Fluxus Labs! "program of Kaunas - European Capital of Culture 2022.
Due to the last year's pandemic, the Fluxus Festival didn't go as planned, but this year the communities will interact live, which, according to the organizers of the event, is a celebration in and of itself. "I am delighted that this community event is being created by more than 200 people from different social groups and beliefs, from students to seniors. This is the real Fluxus - after overcoming our fears, we are doing things that we may have never done before, we go on adventures," said S. Savickaitė. According to her, an event that would be more communal is probably unimaginable - all activities are created by the residents of Kaunas city and Kaunas district, and each of the activities invites the event participants to participate in co-creation. Simona is convinced "costumes of the festival liberate - by communicating, people start to form a unity."
The festival participants will meet in the square of the pioneer of the Fluxus movement - Jurgis Mačiūnas, and after climbing the mountain, get involved in the (un)expected and (extra)ordinary artistic action of Kaunas city and district communities. "It's all just a part of the Fluxus Festival. "Kaunas 2022 "community program "Fluxus Labs!" will invite you to celebrate the community spirit and turn this day into a real holiday of unity and friendship of all Kaunas and Kaunas district residents" said S. Savickaitė.
Get to know the entire Fluxus festival program:
2 PM - 4 PM Discussion about communities and their activities "Creativity and dialogue: changes in communities" ("Kodėl me?", Perkūno al. 4, Kaunas). The final lectures and discussions of the cycle "Creativity and Dialogue: Changes in Communities" organized by Kaunas 2022 community program "Fluxus Labs!".
5–9:30 PM Fluxus costume workshop - preparation for climbing the Parodos Hill (Kaunas Picture Gallery courtyard, K. Donelaičio str. 16, Kaunas). The organizers invite you to make a Fluxus costume. The necessary tools will be taken care of, but you can also bring your own.
5–9:30 PM Fluxus makeup and hairdressing workshop - preparation for climbing the Parodos Hill (Children's Literature Museum, K. Donelaičio str. 13, Kaunas). The organizers invite you to create Fluxus hairstyles and makeup. The necessary tools will be taken care of, but you can also bring your own.
5–9:30 PM Decoration workshop for Fluxus vehicles (scooters, bicycles, skateboards, etc.) - preparation for climbing the Parodos Hill (KTU University yard, K. Donelaičio 20, Kaunas). Organizers invite you to decorate your vehicles. Decorating tools will be taken care of, but you can also bring your own.
9:45 PM to 12:00 AM "Fluxus Festival" - climbing the Parodos Hill (J. Mačiūnas Square, K. Donelaičio St. 2, Kaunas).
"Fluxus Labs!" is part of the "Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022" program. In the European Capital of Culture year, events in Kaunas and Kaunas district are planned for more than a year: more than 40 festivals, over 60 exhibitions, more than 250 performing arts events, of which more than 50 premieres and more than 250 concerts.
Waiting for Kaunas2022, interview to the CEO Virginija Vitkienė
There are still a few months to Kaunas 2022, the great event that will see the second city of Lithuania take on the role of European Capital of Culture. The city has been preparing since 2017, when the candidacy was accepted. We met the CEO of the organization, Virginija Vitkienė.
In our interview she talks us about the program which is based on several interesting topics: from Modernist architecture, of which Kaunas is one of the main protagonists in Europe, to Memory, remembering the past and looking to the future, from Fluxus Labs which sees local communities personally involved in the various artistic events. Important to underline: each activity is studied and designed with local communities, especially with people who live in neighborhoods.
Watch the video:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-mtwGZ2asw[/embedyt]
Interview by: Marina Macrì, a journalist of "Lithuanian stories"
Photo by: M. Plepys