The mystical culmination of the Fluxus festival: almost 10,000 people climbed the Kaunas exhibition mountain. people | Culture

From giant storks or titanic cabbages to aliens imprisoned behind bars, people-television, people-angels and other characters as if from a dream – Kaunas was colored by thousands of flux creatures on Saturday evening.

According to the organizers, close to 10 thousand people climbed the exhibition mountain this year. of people who dressed up in self-designed costumes and brought various layouts and posters to the event, such as “Bring back the telecom!”. This entire crowd responded to the already annual FLUXUS festival’s invitation to indulge in fantasy and creativity.

As one of the organizers of the event, Vaiva Marija Bružaitė, producer of cultural events at the Kaunas Artists’ House, tells us, the unique atmosphere of the climb began to be created while the participants were still gathering at the bottom of the mountain.

At the foothills, people were greeted with a message about the future path broadcast live through loudspeakers – an invitation to experience the fruits of their imagination and empathy.

“Later, the participants were invited to follow an uphill, twisting spiral, to climb up and into themselves. On the way, they were surprised by the exhibition mountain, which created a fairy-tale atmosphere, was painted purple and filled with a unique soundtrack. After reaching the destination, the climbers saw a scene emerging in the square near the monument of S.Darius and S.Girėnas. Here they were awaited by the performance of the electronic music artist Palmės Žiedas and the interpretation of Jurgis Mačiūnas at the top of the screen, rejoicing the participants and their revealed inner artists”, says VMBružaitė.

She emphasizes that this year the organizers of FLUXUS were pleased with an even wider range of participants: families with children increased in the event, foreign communities and guests from other cities became more actively involved, and the group of those who watched and supported the participants of the event also grew.

“It was great fun to see relaxed, free people in the crowd, united by the Fluxus movement. We have already heard reviews praising the mystical transformation of the exhibition mountain, its colors and unique experience.

We also received a lot of questions about the music that accompanied the climb. As before, we create it specially for each festival. This time, we invited the artist Gabrielias Zapalskis to create an authentic soundtrack. We can make everyone interested happy – this piece will see the light of day in the near future and will be available on the Spotify platform”, says the organizer of the event.

He also attached great importance to the process

This year, Kaunas residents and guests were encouraged to get involved in the activities of the FLUXUS festival even before the final chord of the event – already from Wednesday: the exhibition “Let’s play Fluxus!” of the international platform “Magic Carpets” was opened at the Kaunas Artists’ House, which will run here until September 28, a documentary film about Jurgis Mačiūnas, a screening of “George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus”, a lecture by Dovilė Zubavičiūtė about the history of Lithuanian Fluxus, a performative tour by Dom Raibis “The Counterfeit Broker”, an interactive presentation by Mantos Kuginis “A mischievous Fluxus guide for the common man” or an opportunity at the cafe “Bundu” to eat a Fluxus bun specially created for this occasion.

On the day of the climb, flux-minded participants embarked on an interactive adventure, the Camino de Fluxus game, where they traveled around the city, collecting words while trying to visit as many different community areas as possible, and creating unique costumes.

According to VMBružaitė, the successful game already poses a considerable challenge for next year’s festival.

“We are happy that the decision to initiate the game was successful and the format worked. It was attended by many people, even those climbing the mountain had specific accents in their costumes that spoke of their visit to the Camino de Fluxus. True, we will have to think carefully about what to do next year, because every year we aim to reconstruct the FLUXUS festival and reassemble it to surprise the participants and offer different activities and initiatives”, says one of the organizers of the event.

Seven years ago in Kaunas, it started as a small adventure hoping to bring together those longing for the spirit of experimentation and freedom, today the FLUXUS festival is one of the biggest celebrations of creativity that liberates each of us, which attracts thousands of people and communities from all over Lithuania.