'Collecting Hits' at National Gallery of Art

2018 04 06 — 2018 06 17 at National Gallery of Art, Vilnius
Author Echo Gone Wrong
Published in Events in Lithuania

ndgCOLLECTING HITS. Artworks and Soundtracks from the Collection of the Lewben Art Foundation

The exhibition COLLECTING HITS offers an insight into the collection of the Lewben Art Foundation, as well as soundtracks produced for its artworks, reflecting the phenomenon of popularity in the field of culture. The exhibition does not provide answers, solve problems or draw conclusions. It raises questions, puts forward hypotheses, and perceives and contemplates situations and meanings of the phenomenon of popularity in art by using various artworks and specially created soundtracks from various periods and media. In other words, the exhibition moderates a discussion on popularity.

With the changing times and political, economic and social situations, as well as the very viewers of art, the perception of the value and the popularity of art also changes. When thinking about the meaning of popularity and works of art created at different periods of time, it is useful to perceive them as particular modern myths (Roland Barthes), or as objects found in a social environment that define ways to see and understand things, and deform the meaning and distort the image of the visible world. The exhibition asks the following questions: is an artwork a modern myth from these times? Does value equate with popularity? How do personalities in the fields of the arts/music perceive popularity? Does popularity (not) kill an artwork? How does art keep various social and political issues up to date by giving them attention? How do the same social and political problems become employed as guarantors of the popularity and value of an artwork? Does art really become a veritable alternative currency (David Joselit, Hito Steyerl), which is often more stable than “real” ones? After all, what determines the fact that at one time or another, an artwork or phenomenon in the field of art, a genre or a medium, suddenly starts trending?

In reflecting on the various popularising and updating strategies for visual art, the exhibition combines artworks from the collection of the Lewben Art Foundation with sound art and the music industry, which society associates with popularity more often than visual art. This is why Lithuanian musicians, composers and sound artists representing various musical styles were invited to participate in the exhibition.
 Until 17 June 2018

Organisers: Lewben Art Foundation, Lietuvos dailės muziejus, Nacionalinė Dailės Galerija

Curators: Ugnė Bužinskaitė, Danutė Gambickaitė

Coordinators: Indre Tubiniene, Giedrė Marčiulaitė, Ieva Šlechtavičiūtė

Artists: Knut Åsdam, Adomas Danusevičius, Kostas Dereškevičius, Pranas Gailius, Vincentas Gečas, Ugnius Gelguda, Petrit Halilaj, Alfredo Jaar, Patricija Jurksaityte, Vincas Kisarauskas, Lazar Krestin, Vitas Luckus, Mindaugas Lukošaitis, Jurgis Mačiūnas, Helen Marten, Mohamed Namou, Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė, Šarūnas Sauka, Augustinas Savickas, Augustas Serapinas, Vincent Slendzinski, Antanas Sutkus, Indrė Šerpytytė, Povilas Ričardas Vaitiekūnas, Kęstutis Zapkus, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius

 Soundtracks: Rokas Beliukevicius, Arturas Bumšteinas, Freaks On Floor, GON, Vytautas V. Jurgutis, Giedrė Kilčiauskienė, Zygimantas Kudirka ir Adas Gecevičius (Vilniaus energija),Andrius Mamontovas, migloko•, Solo Ansamblis, Sheep Got Waxed, Without Letters

Architecture – I M P L M N T architects

Designer – Laura Grigaliunaite

Sponsors: Lewben Group, „Enercom Capital“, Strategy Labs,Nordgain, „Lewben Investment Management“, Ellex Valiunas, Orion Asset Management, Živilė ir Jonas Garbaravičiai, Lina ir Tomas Kučinskai, Porsche Lietuva, Lietuvos Respublikos kultūros ministerija, Lietuvos kultūros taryba

Partner – JCDecaux Lietuva

Friends: Sakada, Rytis Šeškaitis, Alucobond Europe

Media sponsors: 15min7md – Septynios meno dienosArtnews.ltEcho Gone Wrong