Art fair “ArtVilnius’24”: what awaits visitors? | Culture

Art fair anniversary

The art fair “ArtVilnius’24” welcomes this year with the slogan “Celebrate art!” As ArtVilnius’ founder and manager Diana Stomienė says, 15 years of the fair is quite a long time, because the fair has entered adolescence: “We have been following this path for 15 years, we see how the program, the audience, the content of art change every year, we see bigger and more famous artists in an international context. I am very happy about it.”

Thorkild Nielsen, the founder of Danish gallery NB, who has been participating in ArtVilnius since the first year of the fair, is happy about this opportunity. T. Nielsen emphasizes that 15 years ago, everything was completely different at this fair, and the progress that has taken place is welcome: “In the beginning, only Lithuanian artists were here, now the fair is much wider. It is almost the biggest art fair in the Baltic countries, and in the future, I hope it will become one of the most important in Europe as well.”

Patricija Adamovič / BNS/Thorkildas Nielsenas

Sonata Baliuckaitė, Art Director of ArtVilnius, during the tour of the spaces being prepared, says that although it is difficult to combine everything in the fair into a general theme of the celebration, because it is only reflected in the works of the galleries themselves, but it is definitely possible to find hints of it. True, she points out that the celebration can be understood in different ways: “In the video “Grand Opening Event” by American artist Nina Sarnelle, presented by Index, the Swedish Foundation for Contemporary Art from Stockholm, there is an analysis of the celebration, how the celebrations are held in the city, about what remains after them garbage and so on. These are the themes of the holiday with us, but not necessarily from a positive angle.”

S. Baliuckaitė assures that among the majority of new galleries participating in the fair, there are also quite a few that have already become long-term participants during their 15 years of existence: “We have good conditions: huge, spacious stands at a very good price, pleasant service, various additional events. Therefore, even if some galleries sometimes do not sell a single artwork, they still come back because the conditions we offer suit them and they support the idea itself.”

Patricija Adamovič / BNS/Diana Stomienė and Sonata Baliuckaitė

This year’s destination is Northern Europe

Participants from France, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, USA will visit the jubilee “ArtVilnius’24” fair. Artists from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Estonia, and Latvia will also participate.

As ArtVilnius’ art manager tells, previously a lot of attention at the fair was devoted to France, Ukraine, and the Baltic countries. S. Baliuckaitė says that this year this direction was chosen, because we ourselves belong to Northern Europe and are a part of it: “This direction, especially the Scandinavian countries, seemed bright and decorative to me, although we often associate them with minimalism. It seems to me that there are many animalistic, animalistic themes in the works here – parrots, owls, snakes, mystical animals.”

According to her, we often don’t see this side of the Scandinavian countries, so it also needs to be shown and revealed. During the excursion, the art director adds that Nordic and Scandinavian countries are often associated with nature, so there is no shortage of natural elements at the fair. Curator of the project area dr. Valentinas Klimašauskas mentions that we belong to this region not only geographically, but also economically and culturally, so this is extremely important in the context of the fair.

Patricija Adamovič / BNS/Valentinas Klimašauskas

S. Baliuckaitė says that this year the fair will be filled with a wide range of photographic art, installations, performances, various visualizations, education for children and adults, interactive experiential exhibitions. The fair will feature the project zone “Agency: about mice, stage and machines” curated by V. Klimašauskas, where visitors will be delighted by representatives of the visual art scene. The exhibition “Takas” curated by the Estonian Maria Arusoo will also be open. M. Arusoo says that there is no single unifying theme here, because all the developers came with an open invitation: “Allow yourself to look at this as an orienting game and look for, notice, see and find clues.”

During the tour, ArtVilnius’ artistic director S.Baliuckaitė also shares interesting facts about the changed architecture of the fair – for the first time in the project area, the walls of Litexpo are exposed, and the space is complemented by racks that replicate the walls and talk to them.

What galleries will we see?

As many as 20 international galleries are participating in the fair for the first time, such as “Sami Center for Contemporary Art” from Norway, “Davis”, “Gallery Hjorth” from Denmark, “KITA” from Finland, “Louise” and “Eristavi” from Belgium, Latvian galleries ISSP, ASNI, Cut Art gallery.

As many as 10 galleries will present the art of photography at the 15th fair, and according to the art director, this year you can see significantly more photographs at the stands of other galleries.

At the stands of ArtVilnius’24, visitors will also see Danish galleries NB, Latvian galleries Māksla XO, Alma, Pilot, French Galerie Nivet-Carzon, Estonian galleries Okapi, Tütar, Lithuanian galleries such as such as “The Rooster gallery”, “Terra Recognita”, “The Room”, “Drifts”, KADS gallery “Baroti”, Kaunas photography gallery, “Tumo gallery”, which will present African artists, even 6 galleries of the Vilnius Academy of Arts and many others .

Patricija Adamovič / BNS/Art Fair “ArtVilnius’24” press conference

The list of participants is supplemented by galleries located in the regions of Lithuania: Panevėžys City Art Gallery, “S_IN” Lithuanian Artists’ Union Gallery from Šiauliai, Vilnius Art Academy Telšiai Art Gallery, Dusetė Art Gallery, Ukmergės “Vilkamirgės” Gallery, Molėtė Art Gallery and others.

The first “ArtVilnius” was held in 2009. It was part of the “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture” (VEKS) national program, and was visited by over 20,000 people. people. The 15th international contemporary art fair “ArtVilnius’24” will take place in the exhibition and congress center “Litexpo” on October 4-6.