To celebrate the success of the first biennial in 2023 and in anticipation of the second edition in 2025, the Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art presents a special intermediate event on 9 December at 7:30 pm at the Skalvija Cinema Centre.
The evening will feature screenings of two work-in-progress films by internationally acclaimed New York-based artists Liam Gillick and Anton Vidokle, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. The event will culminate with Collection of Songs, a performance by Lina Lapelytė, the Venice Golden Lion laureate and one of Lithuania’s most celebrated artists and musicians.
In the summer of 2023, the inaugural Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art premiered A Guiding Light. Part 2, a new work by Liam Gillick and Anton Vidokle. Staged at the railway turntable of the Vilnius Train Repair Depot, this performance re-examined the pivotal role of music in independence movements and revolutions over the last fifty years, alongside the role of artists in the face of global cataclysms. The artists drew inspiration from independence songs composed and performed worldwide from the 1970s to the present, as well as from the Vilnius Television Tower – a symbol of significant importance in Lithuania’s history and a dominant vertical feature of the city’s urban skyline. The performance also doubled as a film set, with the depot’s railway turntable reimagined as the revolving restaurant of the TV Tower.
Using footage from the performance, the artists are finalising a new short film, Antrakt. The title is derived from the French term entr’acte, which means a gap, pause, or musical interlude between two acts. Like a radio receiver, the work captures snippets of songs from the past and key events that shaped the history of the world, while the Vilnius TV Tower’s restaurant metaphorically anchors the film, holding it within its orbit.
The second film, Camaradzi, shot this spring in New York, builds on the themes of Antrakt, focusing on East-Central European history and the revolving Vilnius TV Tower restaurant. At the core of the film is the stenography of a secret emergency meeting of the Romanian Communist Party held on 1 August 1989. The English translation of the transcript, discovered by the artists in the archives of the Woodrow Wilson Institute in the US, records a discussion between Nicolae Ceaușescu – the then leader of Romania – and senior party members about the consequences of Poland’s Solidarity movement and the ‘dangers’ it might have posed to other communist regimes in Eastern Europe, as well as potential strategies for further action. Intriguingly, the language used during the meeting sharply contrasts with how the same terms are interpreted in the democratic world, a paradox the actors attempt to decipher in the film’s first part. Created with actors including Jim Fletcher, who portrays Nicolae Ceaușescu and is celebrated for his work with the Wooster Group – an experimental New York theatre company renowned for its original dramatic works and reinterpretations of Bertolt Brecht.
Following the screenings, Neringa Bumblienė, Vilnius Biennial Artistic Director and Curator, will moderate a discussion with the artists who will join via video call from New York.
The evening will conclude with Collection of Songs, a live performance by Lina Lapelytė, one of the world’s best-known Lithuanian artists and musicians. Lapelytė will perform a selection of songs from her broader body of artistic works.
Admission is free but places are limited. Tickets will be available for collection from the Skalvija box office on the day of the event.
The Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art (VB) is an ongoing international event dedicated to contemporary performance art, organised by Vilnius City Gallery Meno Niša and directed by Diana Stomienė, with Neringa Bumblienė as Artistic Director and Curator. The first Biennial took place in 2023 as part of the Vilnius’ 700th-anniversary programme.
The second edition of the biennial will take place at the end of June 2025 in public and semi-public spaces in Vilnius, presenting performances by both established and emerging Lithuanian and international artists. The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius Municipality.
