Trilogy. Act 3: The Contract
The Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy is a journey through the three major events of the European Capital of Culture, observing the city’s transformation from a temporary capital to a contemporary one. It is a symbolic journey through the three stages of human life: understanding who I am, accepting myself as I am, and enjoying happily being with myself. The trilogy began with “The Confusion”, which shattered our old ways of thinking; the city welcomed spring with “The Confluence”, the most breathtaking weekend in the city’s history, and the European Capital of Culture programme will come to conclusion with the events of “The Contract”.
Last weekend at Kaunas 2022
2022 11 24–27
On 24–27 November, the last adventure of the European Capital of Culture will take place, with exhibitions, concerts and a wide range of immersive performances. The programme invites you to make a pact with yourself and your city, and to make a promise that, from now on, we will live happily ever after.
November 26, 19:00–20:15
The grand closing event of “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022”, the CONTRACT
Kaunas “Žalgiris” arena
“The Contract”, the third event of the “Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy”, is the most anticipated event of the programme. The grand closing performance will blend classical and electronic music, dance and unique scenography inspired by the works of M. K. Čiurlionis. More than 150 Lithuanian performers will appear on stage and their spectacular show will culminate with the signing of a mysterious contract.
Composer and concept author: Zita Bružaitė
Libretto author: Daiva Čepauskaitė
Director: Gediminas Šeduikis
Scenographer: Sigita Šimkūnaitė
Costume designer: Sandra Straukaitė
Choreographer: Agnija Šeiko
Choir’s artistic director: Danguolė Beinarytė
Lighting designer: Andrius Stasiulis
Conductor: Dirigentas Ričardas Šumila
Assistant choreographers: Gintarė Marija Ūsė and Mantas Ūsas
Monika Pleškytė (soprano)
Jeronimas Milius (tenor)
Petras Lisauskas (dancer)
Ensembles from the “Kauno Santaka” Concert Institution (Director: Vaidas Andriuškevičius)
Kaunas Big Band (chief conductor: Jievaras Jasinskis)
Kaunas “Ąžuolynas” Wind Orchestra (chief conductor: Giedrius Vaznys)
Kaunas “Ainiai” Music Ensemble (concertmaster: Narimantas Murauskas)
KTU “Jaunystė” Academic Choir (artistic director and conductor: Danguolė Beinarytė)
Šeiko Dance Company’s choreographic troupe (artistic director: Agnija Šeiko)
Dance company „Nuepiko“ (director: Marius Pinigis)
Dance company „Ulna“ (artistic director: Indrė Puišytė-Šidlauskienė)
Students of Kaunas Mikas Petrauskas School of Performing Arts, Dance Department (director: Lina Kaubrienė Stunžėnienė, Dance Department manager: Aistė Kavolienė)
Giunter Percussion (director: Pavel Giunter)
Kaunas String Quartet (artistic director: Saulius Bartulis)
Joana Daunytė (harpist)
In the Kaunas district, “The Contract”, the Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy’s third part, starts on 25 November at 7 pm at Raudondvaris Manor with a free spectacular open-air audiovisual concert by the world star Ten Walls. Open to the public, this event will also feature performances by international electronic music guests Merimell (Estonia, Tartu 2024) and Bulp (Slovakia, Trenčín 2026), a light show and a photo-installation exhibition showcasing the outcomes of the Kaunas 2022 programme across Kaunas district.
November 25, 19:00–23:00
Grand closing event in Kaunas district and the “Ten Walls” concert
Raudondvaris Manor (Pilies tak. 1, Raudondvaris)
FREE
November 25, all day
Photo installation reviewing the year of “Kaunas 2022”
Raudondvaris Manor territory
FREE
World-renowned electronic music composer and live performer Marijus Adomaitis, known worldwide as Ten Walls, is coming to Kaunas to close the Kaunas2022 programme with a highly sophisticated and emotive soundtrack. Undoubtedly one of the best-known Lithuanians on the world music scene, also author of the track “Walking with Elephants”, which has millions of views. He is characterized by his attention to every visual and audio detail, his ability to achieve the maximum and do it in his own way. The pace, rhythms and goosebumps running through your body – experience it live at Raudondvaris Manor on 24th of November!
Bulp is the pseudonym of young electronic music producer Sam Štefanec. Bulp, who broke into the radio charts 7 years ago and has won national music awards, has become an unquestionably prominent presence on the electronic music scene. Weaving dynamic rhythms and melodic lines, Bulp’s work focuses on enchanting atmospheres, subtly fuses contemporary dance music with cinematic soundscapes, taking the listener on a journey off the dancefloor and back. His style is a diverse blend of electronic sounds and musical instruments, sometimes incorporating his own singing in collaboration with his sister – vocalist, Jana Salvi.
Merimell can be called the first Estonian techno lady. She first came to notice when she won a local DJ competition, which was followed by numerous bookings in Estonia and abroad. All this led her to create her own music and release it on labels as diverse as Desolat, Unknown to the Unknown, Ismus, Killekill and Moments in Time. Merimell is currently focusing on creating new music, promoting and developing radio show as well as event series “Machine Nation”. Like her productions, Merimell’s latest DJ sets have a dark sound and a dose of powerful energy.
The third part of the “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” Trilogy will culminate in a mystical Contract Signing Ceremony. Here, the Beast himself will put down his signature. Take part in the weekend’s events and become a co-creator of a unique event, where an artefact created by the citizens of Kaunas will remain in Kaunas for a long time to come.
How to participate?
1. Study the map and the events list.
2. Come to the events on time and look for the member of Kaunas Mythical Beast Society in hiding.
3. Open the signature page – they will stamp it.
4. Once you have collected 3 stamps, go to the designated signing place of the Contract.
On 24–27 November, art and culture lovers’ routes will meander through the whole city and Kaunas district. Concerts will invite you to delve into the world of sound. Installations, cinema, theatre and photography experiences will take place in unexpected spaces. And world-renowned artists’ exhibitions will be on show in galleries. Immerse yourself in the last journey of the European Capital of Culture programme!
Full program
November 24
15:30 – „UKRAINE! UNMUTED“ discussion „Voices from the Underground: Artists Behind the Iron Curtain“
One might think that the term “underground” was on its way to art history, but in 2022 it gets a new meaning. Concerts and festivals in the basements and metro stations in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and even Lviv are also a good reason to look a couple of decades back: did the artists of the past get proper credit after the end of the Cold War? What does their legacy mean today for our part of the world? Our speakers may help to outline the frame of numerous discussions we have ahead of us: on freedom, resistance, and Iron Curtains of the future.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, Cultural Strategy Institute, NGO Institute of Actual Art and Virmenska 35
Place: VDU Leonidas Donskis Library, V. Putvinskio str. 23, I floor
FREE
Registration is needed: https://forms.gle/euAMmNLG9Xm344j26
The seaside duo TYKUMOS (Donatas Bielkauskas and Kristijonas Lučinskas) will present a unique and exclusive project – a visual acoustic musical story about water, flow and depths. In the special water reservoir of the city of Kaunas, a duet from Klaipėda and the mixed choir “Kamertonas” (artistic director and conductor K. Jakeliūnas) will remind us of the historical links with the first Lithuanian song festivals that took place here.
We are all part of the past, present and future. The light installation “Process” is a meeting at the intersection of different time flows, in a differently known space, with people similar to and different from us. It is being here and now, creating new footprints in history.
Author of the installation: Kotryna Čalkaitė
Music author: Dominykas Digimas
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Nepriklausomybės square 12
FREE
Three new publications are presented to the public at The Historical Presidential Palace in Kaunas – the comic books “Stories of Palace” published in Lithuanian and English and a tactile book of the same name.
Organizers: Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania in Kaunas
Place: Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania in Kaunas (Vilnius str. 33)
FREE
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Facade of M. Žilinskas Art Gallery
FREE
In the last part of the “Arteries” project, the authors will invite visitors to actively get involved and experience art in a different, unconventional way.
Organizer: Vilnius Academy of Arts, Faculty of Kaunas
Place: V. Kuzmos str.
FREE
A fragment of ‘The Family of Man’ – one of the most famous photography exhibitions (1955, MoMA) in the history of art – comes to Kaunas. After travelling to dozens of countries and breaking all-time attendance records, the exhibition is presented in Lithuania for the first time.
Organizer: Kaunas Photography Gallery
Place: Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilnius str. 2)
FREE
The Lithuanian Aviation Museum and Kaunas 2022 present an exhibition dedicated to aviation history and modern ANBO planes. The exhibition tells a story about Lithuania during the period of Antanas Gustaitis – an officer in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Famous personalities, industrial growth, health and education reforms, solutions that improved communication and other avant-garde aspects of that time will be presented in the exposition.
Organizer: Lithuanian Aviation Museum
Place: Lithuanian Aviation Museum (Veiverių str. 132)
FREE
More about exhibition
Multifunctional, spatial sculpture K-TOTEM has become a space for self-expression by local graphic designers and illustrators. This idea came about during the cultural collaboration between two K’s – Kortrijk (Belgium) and Kaunas – both members of the UNESCO Cities of Design network. Letter K sculpture is decorated with constantly changing visual designs.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Steigiamojo Seimo square (Šv. Gertrūdos str. 19)
FREE
November 25
Photo art festival KAUNAS PHOTO 2021 organized an artistic residency during which the artist from New Zealand, Chirag Jindal, took a new look at the iconic buildings of Kaunas modernism. The artist combined both their visible part and the dungeons into one image. The exhibition is displayed in light boxes.
Organizer: „Šviesos raštas“
Place: Vienybės square
FREE
The geopolitical, international, cultural, and mental changes of the recent decades make it a pressing issue to ask again, what do we mean when we say ‘Europe’. European and world intellectuals, scientists, artists and politicians will meet at the two-day event. The presidents of Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Latvia will participate in the symposium. The symposium is under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.
Organizers: VDU
Place: VDU Great Hall (S. Daukanto str. 28)
FREE
Registration is needed : https://ideaofeurope.org
The Lithuanian Aviation Museum and Kaunas 2022 present an exhibition dedicated to aviation history and modern ANBO planes. The exhibition tells a story about Lithuania during the period of Antanas Gustaitis – an officer in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Famous personalities, industrial growth, health and education reforms, solutions that improved communication and other avant-garde aspects of that time will be presented in the exposition.
Organizer: Lithuanian Aviation Museum
Place: Lithuanian Aviation Museum (Veiverių str. 132)
FREE
More about exhibition
“The Learning Garden of Freedom” is a retrospective exhibition of Yoko Ono’s work, organized in collaboration with “Studio One” founded by the artist in New York, the Contemporary Art Center and the Kaunas Picture Gallery. The exhibition features conceptual artworks, installations, objects, experimental films, performances, sound and text works.
Organizers: Contemporary Art Centre,Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art , Yoko Ono’s studio “Studio One”, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art
Curator: Jon Hendricks
Place: Kaunas Picture Gallery
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
Freedom, power, money, human rights – these are the universal themes explored by the first Work Museum in Luxembourg (MUAR/ Musée vun der Aarbecht).
In a rather contemporary way, the exhibition “Working Class Heroes” presents three working class heroes Jean-Pierre Bausch (1891–1935), Léon Weirich (1878–1942) and Jean Schortgen (1880–1918). The interactive show reveals the daily life of the industrial southern region of Luxembourg – the work, the dreams and hopes, the intense struggle for workers’ rights. Personal stories of the people who created Luxembourg, a small country in the middle of Europe, raise relevant questions anew: who created your country, who represents your rights today, how far have we progressed in the field of labour law?
Organizers: MUAR, “Kaunas 2022”, “Esch 2022”, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art
Curator: Marie–Paule Jungblut
Place: Kaunas Picture Gallery
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
William Kentridge is one of the most impressive artists of our time. The exhibition That Which We Do Not Remember will compel you to forget stereotypes. In this exhibition, Kentridge addresses humanity’s selective memory. We all choose what we wish to remember and what to expel from our memories. Kentridge hopes to fill these gaps in our memory and speak with us about what we deliberately, or unconsciously, no longer remember.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art
Curator: Virginija Vitkienė
Place: National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art (V. Putvinskio str. 55)
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
Contemporary Ukrainian art triennial “Ukrainian Cross-Section 2022. UKRAINE! UNMUTED” presents contemporary artworks by Ukrainian artists from Dnipro, Kherson, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa and Donetsk. The exposition invites visitors to discover 17 artworks: video works, installations and objects, paintings, graphics and photography. It has a particular focus on the context of colonialism and the reinterpretation and actualization of some special Ukrainian artistic phenomena of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, Cultural Strategy Institute, NGO Institute of Actual Art and Virmenska 35
Curators: Volodymyr Kaufman, Serhiy Petlyuk
Place: Kaunas Central Post Office
PAID
The Kaunas Mythical Beast carpet is a unique textile work. November 25, at 4 p.m. it will be possible to meet the creators of the carpet, ask about the textile techniques used or enjoy the result of beautifully twisted threads together.
Organizer: Kaunas Culture Center
Place: Kaunas Culture Center 2nd floor exhibition hall (Vytauto avenue 79)
FREE
A fragment of ‘The Family of Man’ – one of the most famous photography exhibitions (1955, MoMA) in the history of art – comes to Kaunas. After travelling to dozens of countries and breaking all-time attendance records, the exhibition is presented in Lithuania for the first time.
Organizer: Kaunas Photography Gallery
Place: Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilnius str. 2)
PAID
Luxembourg artist Filip Markiewicz is coming to Kaunas with the interdisciplinary project “Ultrasocial Pop”, which was awarded the prestigious “Art Prize Bourse Bert-Theis” prize in 2019. The idea behind the installation project is an analysis of the history and current development of society through the composition and deconstruction of the words “Ultra”, “Social” and “Pop”. Ultrasocial Pop is a type of bogus political campaign strategy that uses slogans, logos, and images. The main aim, however, is to shed light on how these contemporary propaganda systems work.
Organizer: Gallery “Meno parkas”
Place: Gallery “Meno parkas” (Rotušės square. 27)
FREE
The seaside duo TYKUMOS (Donatas Bielkauskas and Kristijonas Lučinskas) will present a unique and exclusive project – a visual acoustic musical story about water, flow and depths. In the special water reservoir of the city of Kaunas, a duet from Klaipėda and the mixed choir “Kamertonas” (artistic director and conductor K. Jakeliūnas) will remind us of the historical links with the first Lithuanian song festivals that took place here.
Attention: live concert will take place only on November 24.
Organizers: Landscape design festival MAGENTA,“Kaunas 2022”
Place: “Kauno vandenys” reservoir (Aukštaičių str. 43)
FREE
We are all part of the past, present and future. The light installation “Process” is a meeting at the intersection of different time flows, in a differently known space, with people similar to and different from us. It is being here and now, creating new footprints in history.
Author of the installation: Kotryna Čalkaitė
Music author: Dominykas Digimas
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Nepriklausomybės square 12
FREE
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Facade of M. Žilinskas Art Gallery
FREE
Christmas is getting closer! November 25 Kaunas will light up its Christmas tree for the upcoming holidays.
Organizer: Kaunas City Municipality
Place: Town Hall Square
FREE
Performance The Assembly Kaunas is a joint creative project of the Kaunas National Drama Theatre and the documentary theatre Porte Parole (Canada). By using theatrical means, the project aims at creating a democratic dialogue on topics greatly dividing our society. During the creative process of the performance, the creative team invited 4 strangers with different ideological views to a dinner throughout which they discussed the topics greatly polarising our society. Their conversation was recorded. In the performance, you will see the re-enacted discussion: the actors will play real people, who have participated; their language will be authentic and not edited. The audience will be given an opportunity to continue the initiated discussion.
Organizer: National Kaunas Drama Theatre
Place: National Kaunas Drama Theatre, Rūtos Hall (Laisvės avenue. 71)
PAID
“Videocollective gives everyone the opportunity to share their unique perspective on their city, to join an international group of artists, creators, students and the general public and to share their creative expression through video art. “Videocollective has been running for more than 38 years. It is an international video art project founded by interdisciplinary artist Natan Karczmar in 1984. It is now organised in collaboration with the video art festival VIDEOFOMES in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Service Universite Culture (SUC).
Concept and production – Natan Karczmar. In collaboration with Monika Andrijauskaité, Gleb Divov and VIDEOFORMES.
Organizer: Natan Karczmar
Place: „Kaunas 2022” office (Laisvės ave. 36)
FREE
The main idea of the works of art presented in the exhibition of Lukas Kolmogorcevas is connected with personal experiences of the flow of time and temporality. Collecting and composing the forms of objects and their symbolic contents, the artist distinguishes three main themes – medicine, nature, man.
Organizer: Kaunas Artists’ House
Place: Kaunas Artists’ House (V. Putvinskio str. 56)
FREE
In Kaunas district, “The Contract”, the Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy’s third part, starts on 25 November at 7pm at Raudondvaris Manor with a free open-air audiovisual concert by the global star Ten Walls. The grounds of Raudondvaris Manor will also be transformed into a large dance floor by electronic music performers Merimell (Estonia, Tartu – European Capital of Culture 2024) and Bulp (Slovakia, Trenčín – European Capital of Culture 2026), while the park will be adorned with a light show and a photo-installation exhibition showcasing the outcomes of the Kaunas 2022 programme across Kaunas district.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Raudondvaris Manor (Pilies tak. 1, Raudondvaris)
FREE
Organizer: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress
Place: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress (Šiltnamių str., Noreikiškės)
FREE
Multifunctional, spatial sculpture K-TOTEM has become a space for self-expression by local graphic designers and illustrators. This idea came about during the cultural collaboration between two K’s – Kortrijk (Belgium) and Kaunas – both members of the UNESCO Cities of Design network. Letter K sculpture is decorated with constantly changing visual designs.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Steigiamojo Seimo square (Šv. Gertrūdos str. 19)
FREE
In the last part of the “Arteries” project, the authors will invite visitors to actively get involved and experience art in a different, unconventional way.
Organizer: Vilnius Academy of Arts, Faculty of Kaunas
Place: V. Kuzmos str.
FREE
November 26
Photo art festival KAUNAS PHOTO 2021 organized an artistic residency during which the artist from New Zealand, Chirag Jindal, took a new look at the iconic buildings of Kaunas modernism. The artist combined both their visible part and the dungeons into one image. The exhibition is displayed in light boxes.
Organizer: „Šviesos raštas“
Place: Vienybės square
FREE
In the green city we discover ourselves – our identity, social circle, inspirations and sentiments. This message has inspired the installation “Journey to yourself through the city” created by florists.
Organizer: Karalius Mindaugas Vocational Training Centre
Place: Griunvaldo str. 20
FREE
The Lithuanian Aviation Museum and Kaunas 2022 present an exhibition dedicated to aviation history and modern ANBO planes. The exhibition tells a story about Lithuania during the period of Antanas Gustaitis – an officer in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Famous personalities, industrial growth, health and education reforms, solutions that improved communication and other avant-garde aspects of that time will be presented in the exposition.
Organizer: Lithuanian Aviation Museum
Place: Lithuanian Aviation Museum (Veiverių str. 132)
FREE
More about exhibition
“The Learning Garden of Freedom” is a retrospective exhibition of Yoko Ono’s work, organized in collaboration with “Studio One” founded by the artist in New York, the Contemporary Art Center and the Kaunas Picture Gallery. The exhibition features conceptual artworks, installations, objects, experimental films, performances, sound and text works.
Organizers: Contemporary Art Centre,Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art , Yoko Ono’s studio “Studio One”, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art
Curator: Jon Hendricks
Place: Kaunas Picture Gallery
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
Freedom, power, money, human rights – these are the universal themes explored by the first Work Museum in Luxembourg (MUAR/ Musée vun der Aarbecht).
In a rather contemporary way, the exhibition “Working Class Heroes” presents three working class heroes Jean-Pierre Bausch (1891–1935), Léon Weirich (1878–1942) and Jean Schortgen (1880–1918). The interactive show reveals the daily life of the industrial southern region of Luxembourg – the work, the dreams and hopes, the intense struggle for workers’ rights. Personal stories of the people who created Luxembourg, a small country in the middle of Europe, raise relevant questions anew: who created your country, who represents your rights today, how far have we progressed in the field of labour law?
Organizers: MUAR, “Kaunas 2022”, “Esch 2022”, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art
Curator: Marie–Paule Jungblut
Place: Kaunas Picture Gallery
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
William Kentridge is one of the most impressive artists of our time. The exhibition That Which We Do Not Remember will compel you to forget stereotypes. In this exhibition, Kentridge addresses humanity’s selective memory. We all choose what we wish to remember and what to expel from our memories. Kentridge hopes to fill these gaps in our memory and speak with us about what we deliberately, or unconsciously, no longer remember.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art
Curator: Virginija Vitkienė
Place: National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art (V. Putvinskio str. 55)
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
Contemporary Ukrainian art triennial “Ukrainian Cross-Section 2022. UKRAINE! UNMUTED” presents contemporary artworks by Ukrainian artists from Dnipro, Kherson, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa and Donetsk. The exposition invites visitors to discover 17 artworks: video works, installations and objects, paintings, graphics and photography. It has a particular focus on the context of colonialism and the reinterpretation and actualization of some special Ukrainian artistic phenomena of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, Cultural Strategy Institute, NGO Institute of Actual Art and Virmenska 35
Curators: Volodymyr Kaufman, Serhiy Petlyuk
Place: Kaunas Central Post Office
PAID
The Kaunas Mythical Beast carpet is a unique textile work. November 25, at 4 p.m. it will be possible to meet the creators of the carpet, ask about the textile techniques used or enjoy the result of beautifully twisted threads together.
Organizer: Kaunas Culture Center
Place: Kaunas Culture Center 2nd floor exhibition hall (Vytauto avenue 79)
FREE
Pianists Monika Lozinskienė and Anna Szalucka invite listeners to a morning sound meditation, during which you will enjoy M. Ravel, C. Debussy and M.K. Čiurlionis’ music.
Organizers: “Piano fest” and Kaunas Culture Center
Place: The main hall of the Kaunas Cultural Center (Vytauto avenue 79)
FREE
Registration is needed: https://bit.ly/3hzWlKJ https://bit.ly/3UCEHEI
The characters of the play invite you to get acquainted with the mysterious Kaunas Mythical Beast that has been sleeping in the dungeons of the old town for hundreds of years. However, the Beast likes to play hide and seek and seeing him will not be very easy – you will need to smell, hear, track, see, touch and, if you are very lucky, catch him.
Organizer: Kaunas State Puppet Theatre
Place: Kaunas State Puppet Theatre (Laisvės avenue 87A))
PAID
A fragment of ‘The Family of Man’ – one of the most famous photography exhibitions (1955, MoMA) in the history of art – comes to Kaunas. After travelling to dozens of countries and breaking all-time attendance records, the exhibition is presented in Lithuania for the first time.
Organizer: Kaunas Photography Gallery
Place: Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilnius str. 2)
PAID
Luxembourg artist Filip Markiewicz is coming to Kaunas with the interdisciplinary project “Ultrasocial Pop”, which was awarded the prestigious “Art Prize Bourse Bert-Theis” prize in 2019. The idea behind the installation project is an analysis of the history and current development of society through the composition and deconstruction of the words “Ultra”, “Social” and “Pop”. Ultrasocial Pop is a type of bogus political campaign strategy that uses slogans, logos, and images. The main aim, however, is to shed light on how these contemporary propaganda systems work.
Organizer: Gallery “Meno parkas”
Place: Gallery “Meno parkas” (Rotušės square. 27)
FREE
“Videocollective gives everyone the opportunity to share their unique perspective on their city, to join an international group of artists, creators, students and the general public and to share their creative expression through video art. “Videocollective has been running for more than 38 years. It is an international video art project founded by interdisciplinary artist Natan Karczmar in 1984. It is now organised in collaboration with the video art festival VIDEOFOMES in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Service Universite Culture (SUC).
Concept and production – Natan Karczmar. In collaboration with Monika Andrijauskaité, Gleb Divov and VIDEOFORMES.
Organizer: Natan Karczmar
Place: „Kaunas 2022” office (Laisvės ave. 36)
FREE
The installation “Emerald Road” is a photo exhibition reviewing the results of the work of local communities and leaders, cultural centers and creators, “Kaunas 2022” and partners.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Square in front of Kaunas district municipality (Savanorių avenue 371)
FREE
One may say that all cultures are equal, but who would say that all cultures are equally perceived, known, and admired? How to be interesting if your culture missed (partly or totally) the 19th century race for being a part of the cultural canon? Two speakers are on a mission to show their cultures to the world where cultural hierarchies are being reproduced faster than being undermined, and attention is the new scarce resource.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, Cultural Strategy Institute, NGO Institute of Actual Art and Virmenska 35
Place: Kaunas Central Post Office
FREE
Registration is needed: https://forms.gle/euAMmNLG9Xm344j26
The seaside duo TYKUMOS (Donatas Bielkauskas and Kristijonas Lučinskas) will present a unique and exclusive project – a visual acoustic musical story about water, flow and depths. In the special water reservoir of the city of Kaunas, a duet from Klaipėda and the mixed choir “Kamertonas” (artistic director and conductor K. Jakeliūnas) will remind us of the historical links with the first Lithuanian song festivals that took place here.
Attention: live concert will take place only on November 24.
Organizers: Landscape design festival MAGENTA,“Kaunas 2022”
Place: “Kauno vandenys” reservoir (Aukštaičių str. 43)
FREE
Educational-creative workshop “V. Starevičius animation laboratory” helps to learn the history of animation: from the most popular animated films currently shown on cinema screens and television to the very origins of animation and the stop-motion technique, which was pioneered by Vladislovas Starevičius.
Workshop is created for children aged 7-11
Organizer: Cinema “Romuva”
Place: Cinema “Romuva” (Laisvės avenue 54)
FREE
Registration: https://bit.ly/AnimacijosLaboratorija
Vincas Kudirka Public Library invites you to the excursion “Library Treasures” – a different kind of walk around the library, during which you will explore its facade more closely, open the secret doors of the safes and get acquainted with the treasures hidden here.
Organizer: Vincas Kudirka Public Library
Place: Vincas Kudirka Public Library (Laisvės avenue 57)
FREE
Registration: https://bit.ly/BibliotekosLobynai
Stories about the former Gunpowder Warehouse which has become a community and culture space spread by word of mouth. Now you have an opportunity to experience the hidden treasure of Kaunas too.
Organizer: „Parakas“
Place: „Parakas“ (Prancūzų str. 2)
FREE
Having collected 3 stamps from the Kaunas Mythical Beast Society, participants will be treated to a surprise – a special signing ceremony of “The Contract”, which will take place in the Karaliaus Mindaugo underpass, under the M.K. Čiurlionio Bridge. Children will not only be able to hear the Beast, but also to meet the Princess, and finally, they will be rewarded with a special Contract, which will remind to them for years to come that Kaunas is an eternal city.
Organizer: „Kultūros dokas“
Place: Street art wall. Nemunas embankment next to M. K. Čiurlionis bridge. Arrival from the side of Nemunas Island
FREE
Organizer: “Jazz Academy”
Vieta: Kauno menininkų namai (V. Putvinskio str. 56)
FREE
Vincas Kudirka Public Library invites you to a creative graphics workshop, where participants will be able to make a print of a carving or a book ex-libris using a special technique.
Organizer: Vincas Kudirka Public Library
Place: Vincas Kudirka Public Library (Laisvės avenue 57)
FREE
Kaunas Vincas Kudirka Public Library invites you to dive into the enchanting world of artistic photography and create your first light painting.
Organizer: Vincas Kudirka Public Library
Place: Vincas Kudirka Public Library (Laisvės avenue 57)
FREE
The main idea of the works of art presented in the exhibition of Lukas Kolmogorcevas is connected with personal experiences of the flow of time and temporality. Collecting and composing the forms of objects and their symbolic contents, the artist distinguishes three main themes – medicine, nature, man.
Organizer: Kaunas Artists’ House
Place: Kaunas Artists’ House (V. Putvinskio str. 56)
FREE
Organizer: Lithuanian Artists’ Association, Kaunas department
Place: Gallery “Drobė”, Drobės str. 62-308
FREE
Donatas Bielkauskas-Donis’ sound object “Tabalai” is a dedication to partisan Juozas Lukša-Daumantas and other brothers of the forest, conveying a message through a tree, communicating with them through rhythm.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Vienybės square (K. Donelaičio str. 64)
FREE
Organizatorius: Kaunas State Musical Theatre
Place: Facade of the Kaunas State Musical Theatre (Laisvės avenue 91)
FREE
17:00–23:00 – Photography exhibition of the “Komoda” project “When Styles are Distracted by Silence”
The exhibition combines the worlds of fashion and music. In cooperation with designers and singers, the aim is to convey auditory sensations and emotions in a visual format.
Organizer: „Kylantis Kaunas“
Place: M. Žilinskas Art Gallery (Nepriklausomybės square 12)
FREE
We are all part of the past, present and future. The light installation “Process” is a meeting at the intersection of different time flows, in a differently known space, with people similar to and different from us. It is being here and now, creating new footprints in history.
Author of the installation: Kotryna Čalkaitė
Music author: Dominykas Digimas
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Nepriklausomybės square 12
FREE
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Facade of M. Žilinskas Art Gallery
FREE
Perhaps the most anticipated event of the whole programme – “The Contract”, the third event of the “Contemporary Myth of Kaunas Trilogy”, will feature echoes of opera, electronic music, jazz, and Čiurlionian motifs, as well as over 150 performers, actors and dancers, creating a massive performance brimming with music and theatrical elements.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Kaunas „Žalgiris“ arena
PAID
Organizer: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress
Place: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress (Šiltnamių str., Noreikiškės)
PAID
Organizer: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress
Place: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress (Šiltnamių str., Noreikiškės)
FREE
MOFUTHEQUE will turn a modernist building specially designed for cinema into an electronic music space for one night.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Cinema „Daina“ (Savanorių a. 74)
FREE
For the first time in history, Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery will open its doors for this kind of event – music club “Lizdas” will be located here. Among the guests – performers from five different European countries.
Organizer: „Lizdas“
Place: M. Žilinskas Art Gallery (Nepriklausomybės square 12)
PAID
Multifunctional, spatial sculpture K-TOTEM has become a space for self-expression by local graphic designers and illustrators. This idea came about during the cultural collaboration between two K’s – Kortrijk (Belgium) and Kaunas – both members of the UNESCO Cities of Design network. Letter K sculpture is decorated with constantly changing visual designs.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Steigiamojo Seimo square (Šv. Gertrūdos str. 19)
FREE
In the last part of the “Arteries” project, the authors will invite visitors to actively get involved and experience art in a different, unconventional way.
Organizer: Vilnius Academy of Arts, Faculty of Kaunas
Place: V. Kuzmos str.
FREE
November 27
Photo art festival KAUNAS PHOTO 2021 organized an artistic residency during which the artist from New Zealand, Chirag Jindal, took a new look at the iconic buildings of Kaunas modernism. The artist combined both their visible part and the dungeons into one image. The exhibition is displayed in light boxes.
Organizer: „Šviesos raštas“
Place: Vienybės square
FREE
The title of European Capital of Culture 2022 enriched Kaunas District with impressive community work, international and contemporary events, and almost a hundred public art objects by Lithuanian and foreign artists – the “Emerald Route”.
The installation “Emerald Road” is a photo exhibition reviewing the results of the work of local communities and leaders, cultural centers and creators, “Kaunas 2022” and partners.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Square in front of Kaunas district municipality (Savanorių avenue 371)
FREE
In the green city we discover ourselves – our identity, social circle, inspirations and sentiments. This message has inspired the installation “Journey to yourself through the city” created by florists.
Organizer: Karalius Mindaugas Vocational Training Centre
Place: Griunvaldo str. 20
FREE
The Lithuanian Aviation Museum and Kaunas 2022 present an exhibition dedicated to aviation history and modern ANBO planes. The exhibition tells a story about Lithuania during the period of Antanas Gustaitis – an officer in the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Famous personalities, industrial growth, health and education reforms, solutions that improved communication and other avant-garde aspects of that time will be presented in the exposition.
Organizer: Lithuanian Aviation Museum
Place: Lithuanian Aviation Museum (Veiverių str. 132)
FREE
More about exhibition
“The Learning Garden of Freedom” is a retrospective exhibition of Yoko Ono’s work, organized in collaboration with “Studio One” founded by the artist in New York, the Contemporary Art Center and the Kaunas Picture Gallery. The exhibition features conceptual artworks, installations, objects, experimental films, performances, sound and text works.
Organizers: Contemporary Art Centre,Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art , Yoko Ono’s studio “Studio One”, M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art
Curator: Jon Hendricks
Place: Kaunas Picture Gallery
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
Freedom, power, money, human rights – these are the universal themes explored by the first Work Museum in Luxembourg (MUAR/ Musée vun der Aarbecht).
In a rather contemporary way, the exhibition “Working Class Heroes” presents three working class heroes Jean-Pierre Bausch (1891–1935), Léon Weirich (1878–1942) and Jean Schortgen (1880–1918). The interactive show reveals the daily life of the industrial southern region of Luxembourg – the work, the dreams and hopes, the intense struggle for workers’ rights. Personal stories of the people who created Luxembourg, a small country in the middle of Europe, raise relevant questions anew: who created your country, who represents your rights today, how far have we progressed in the field of labour law?
Organizers: MUAR, “Kaunas 2022”, “Esch 2022”, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art
Curator: Marie–Paule Jungblut
Place: Kaunas Picture Gallery
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
William Kentridge is one of the most impressive artists of our time. The exhibition That Which We Do Not Remember will compel you to forget stereotypes. In this exhibition, Kentridge addresses humanity’s selective memory. We all choose what we wish to remember and what to expel from our memories. Kentridge hopes to fill these gaps in our memory and speak with us about what we deliberately, or unconsciously, no longer remember.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art
Curator: Virginija Vitkienė
Place: National M. K. Čiurlionis Museum of Art (V. Putvinskio str. 55)
PAID – November 25–27 tickets can be purchased at a discount
Contemporary Ukrainian art triennial “Ukrainian Cross-Section 2022. UKRAINE! UNMUTED” presents contemporary artworks by Ukrainian artists from Dnipro, Kherson, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa and Donetsk. The exposition invites visitors to discover 17 artworks: video works, installations and objects, paintings, graphics and photography. It has a particular focus on the context of colonialism and the reinterpretation and actualization of some special Ukrainian artistic phenomena of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Organizers: “Kaunas 2022”, Cultural Strategy Institute, NGO Institute of Actual Art and Virmenska 35
Curators: Volodymyr Kaufman, Serhiy Petlyuk
Place: Kaunas Central Post Office
PAID
“Videocollective gives everyone the opportunity to share their unique perspective on their city, to join an international group of artists, creators, students and the general public and to share their creative expression through video art. “Videocollective has been running for more than 38 years. It is an international video art project founded by interdisciplinary artist Natan Karczmar in 1984. It is now organised in collaboration with the video art festival VIDEOFOMES in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Service Universite Culture (SUC).
Concept and production – Natan Karczmar. In collaboration with Monika Andrijauskaité, Gleb Divov and VIDEOFORMES.
Organizer: Natan Karczmar
Place: „Kaunas 2022” office (Laisvės ave. 36)
FREE
The Kaunas Mythical Beast carpet is a unique textile work. November 25, at 4 p.m. it will be possible to meet the creators of the carpet, ask about the textile techniques used or enjoy the result of beautifully twisted threads together.
Organizer: Kaunas Culture Center
Place: Kaunas Culture Center 2nd floor exhibition hall (Vytauto avenue 79)
FREE
A fragment of ‘The Family of Man’ – one of the most famous photography exhibitions (1955, MoMA) in the history of art – comes to Kaunas. After travelling to dozens of countries and breaking all-time attendance records, the exhibition is presented in Lithuania for the first time.
Organizer: Kaunas Photography Gallery
Place: Kaunas Photography Gallery (Vilnius str. 2)
PAID
Luxembourg artist Filip Markiewicz is coming to Kaunas with the interdisciplinary project “Ultrasocial Pop”, which was awarded the prestigious “Art Prize Bourse Bert-Theis” prize in 2019. The idea behind the installation project is an analysis of the history and current development of society through the composition and deconstruction of the words “Ultra”, “Social” and “Pop”. Ultrasocial Pop is a type of bogus political campaign strategy that uses slogans, logos, and images. The main aim, however, is to shed light on how these contemporary propaganda systems work.
Organizer: Gallery “Meno parkas”
Place: Gallery “Meno parkas” (Rotušės square. 27)
FREE
Kaunas residents and guests of the city will have the last chance to see the authentic birth document of the modern state – the resolution of the Council of Lithuania on the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, signed in 1918, February 16 in Vilnius.
Organizers: Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania in Kaunas
Place: Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania in Kaunas (Vilnius str. 33)
FREE
New excursions by bus called the “Roads of Modern Art” are starting. An exclusive route prepared for Kaunas and city guests will help you get to know not only the work of Kaunas artists, but also to discover new city spaces, small streets and lesser-known city squares.
Organizer: Organiser: Kaunas Modern Art Foundation
Place: Gimnazijos str. 6 (Former Kaunas Hasidic Synagogue)
PAID
Registration is required by writing an e-mail to [email protected]
Having collected 3 stamps from the Kaunas Mythical Beast Society, participants will be treated to a surprise – a special signing ceremony of “The Contract”, which will take place in the Karaliaus Mindaugo underpass, under the M.K. Čiurlionio Bridge. Children will not only be able to hear the Beast, but also to meet the Princess, and finally, they will be rewarded with a special Contract, which will remind to them for years to come that Kaunas is an eternal city.
Organizer: „Kultūros dokas“
Place: Street art wall. Nemunas embankment next to M. K. Čiurlionis bridge. Arrival from the side of Nemunas Island
FREE
The main idea of the works of art presented in the exhibition of Lukas Kolmogorcevas is connected with personal experiences of the flow of time and temporality. Collecting and composing the forms of objects and their symbolic contents, the artist distinguishes three main themes – medicine, nature, man.
Organizer: Kaunas Artists’ House
Place: Kaunas Artists’ House (V. Putvinskio str. 56)
FREE
The cozy green house in Panemune will invite you to a movie trip. Maybe you will discover not only your favorite places in Kaunas on the big screen, but also see your neighbor smiling?
Organizer: „Kinas Panemunė“
Place: „Kinas Panemunė“ (Vaidoto str. 26)
FREE
The concert will feature Litvakian Yiddish music from various periods and Yiddish songs from Argentina and South America performed by Alejandro Czarny, a Yiddish singer who was born in Argentina and currently lives in the USA, but has not forgotten her Kaunian roots, and her temperamental musical partner Michel Gonzales.
Organizer: Kaunas Artists’ House
Place: Kaunas Artists’ House (V. Putvinskio str. 56)
Registration by calling 8 652 19204
FREE
The performance “Closing party (arrivederci e grazie)” created by Alessandro Bernardeschi and Mauro Paccagnella is a dance for two, an ironic and peaceful farewell waltz, the last chord which is both serious and light-hearted at the same time. The performance will not be short of absurdity, laughter, sentiments, feathers and wigs, music, images and of course dance, which will spread the delicate beauty of aging dancing bodies.
Reccomended age – 16
Organizer: „Kultūros platforma“
Place: Cinema “Romuva” (Laisvės avenue 54)
PAID
The Summer Pavilion, designed by the artist Žilvinas Landzbergas is created as a sculpture catching the sun. This art object also has a function – it is a recreational space for art school students, a place for events. November 27, at 5 p.m. meeting with the artist Žilvinas Landzbergas and a presentation of the project will be organized.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Pelėdų kalnas
FREE
We are all part of the past, present and future. The light installation “Process” is a meeting at the intersection of different time flows, in a differently known space, with people similar to and different from us. It is being here and now, creating new footprints in history.
Author of the installation: Kotryna Čalkaitė
Music author: Dominykas Digimas
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Nepriklausomybės square 12
FREE
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Facade of M. Žilinskas Art Gallery
FREE
Performance The Assembly Kaunas is a joint creative project of the Kaunas National Drama Theatre and the documentary theatre Porte Parole (Canada). By using theatrical means, the project aims at creating a democratic dialogue on topics greatly dividing our society. During the creative process of the performance, the creative team invited 4 strangers with different ideological views to a dinner throughout which they discussed the topics greatly polarising our society. Their conversation was recorded. In the performance, you will see the re-enacted discussion: the actors will play real people, who have participated; their language will be authentic and not edited. The audience will be given an opportunity to continue the initiated discussion.
Organizer: National Kaunas Drama Theatre
Place: National Kaunas Drama Theatre, Rūtos Hall (Laisvės avenue. 71)
PAID
Organizer: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress
Place: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress (Šiltnamių str., Noreikiškės)
PAID
Organizer: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress
Place: The First Fort of Kaunas Fortress (Šiltnamių str., Noreikiškės)
FREE
Multifunctional, spatial sculpture K-TOTEM has become a space for self-expression by local graphic designers and illustrators. This idea came about during the cultural collaboration between two K’s – Kortrijk (Belgium) and Kaunas – both members of the UNESCO Cities of Design network. Letter K sculpture is decorated with constantly changing visual designs.
Organizer: „Kaunas 2022“
Place: Steigiamojo Seimo square (Šv. Gertrūdos str. 19)
FREE
In the last part of the “Arteries” project, the authors will invite visitors to actively get involved and experience art in a different, unconventional way.
Organizer: Vilnius Academy of Arts, Faculty of Kaunas
Place: V. Kuzmos str.
FREE
Illuminated buildings of Kaunas
November 24–27
16:00-00:00
Kaunas Artists’ House
FREE
November 25–27
17:00-00:00
National Kaunas Drama Theatre
FREE
November 25–26
17:00-00:00
Kaunas Central Post Office
FREE
November 25–26
All day long
Kaunas City Chamber Theatre
FREE
Stay in unique apartments, where you will get acquainted with the most significant periods of Kaunas history.
They are local volunteers who will provide you complimentary recommendations and help you discover, taste and see the best and most interesting attractions Kaunas has to offer.
