Photo reportage from the 17th International Vilnius Painting Triennial [UN]DETERMINED | Part I

April 7, 2021
Author Echo Gone Wrong

We live in turbulent times. Cataclysms, information wars, pandemics, biological weapons, ecological disasters, refugee crises, annexations, and other dangers encroach on the global illusion of security. The various social, cultural, political, religious ideologies and dogmas that establish the so-called meta-narratives define the autonomy of the individual and seek to subordinate it to conveniently controlled apparatuses of power. Today, natural human freedom is a utopian aspiration rather than an indisputable task.

Metanarratives shape and maintain different cultural meanings, social relationships, define their boundaries and “safe” and “supervising” societal structures, and resistance and liberation occur as a symptom of isolation. According to M. Foucault, isolation is a condition for the development of individualization. The acute isolation that has befallen us today, inevitably leads to a state of uncertainty, the unknown, and anxiety about the future.

Art in such a determined, i.e. conditioned state acts as a creative power questioning control and free will, discovered through autonomy and rebellion. Creation is sparked by resistance, which sometimes results from internal antagonism and sometimes from external fields of tension. We live in a time that requires us to be constantly alert and anxious. By changing its forms, opposing control, combining individualization and the social plane, contemporary painting becomes a procedural form of social discourse or at least an opportunity for it. This year’s triennial actualizes the conditions for freedom in the context of global instability, contemplating them as an expectation intertwined in everyday life like a promise of a future reality.

In the context of this triennial, the metanarrative as a control mechanism and isolation as a condition of freedom will be contextually disseminated in the premises of the Museum of Applied Arts and Design (the Arsenal, i.e. the Arms Warehouse) adjacent to the former guardhouse and cultural space “Smoke Factory”.

The triennial exhibitions will take place in December 2020 – April 2021. This year organizers actualizes the conditions for freedom in the context of global instability, contemplating them as an expectation intertwined in everyday life like a promise of a future reality.

Vilnius Painting Triennial is organized by Lithuanian Artists’ Association since 1969. This traditional project functions as a representative review of contemporary painting as well as reflection of social, cultural, civic, historical, political issues through art. This year triennial is dedicated to Anniversary of 85 years of establishment of organization.

17th International Vilnius Painting Triennial [UN]DETERMINED
2020 12 08 – 2021 04 30

Locations: Museum of Applied Arts and Design, Arsenalo str. 3A, Vilnius (till 30th April) | cultural space “Smoke Factory”, Dūmų str. 5, Vilnius (already finished).
Organizer: Lithuanian Artists’ Association.
Partners: Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Smoke Factory, Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu In Toruń, Estonian Artists’ Association,  “Maksla XO” gallery in Riga.
Sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius Municipality.

Media partners: artseria, artnews.lt, echogonewrong.com, Clear Channel, VOX ART.

Participants:

[LT]: Gabrielė Aleksė, Kristina Ališauskaitė, Gytis Arošius, Romas Balinskas, Elena Balsiukaitė, Ričardas Bartkevičius, Raminta Blaževičiūtė, Ina Budrytė, Ramūnas Čeponis, Kipras Černiauskas, Indrė Ercmonaitė, Pranas Griušys, Domas Ignatavičius, Adomas Jacovskis, Gustas Jagminas, Gintaras Palemonas Janonis, Jūratė Jarulytė, Raimonda Jatkevičiūtė, Agnė Jonkutė, Vidmantas Jusionis, Adelė Liepa Kaunaitė, Jolanta Kyzikaitė, Lukas Kolmogorcevas, Irma Leščinskaitė, Linas Liandzbergis, Kęstutis Lupeikis, Andrius Makarevičius, Akvilė Malukienė, Vilmantas Marcinkevičius, Eimutis Markūnas, Liudas Matijošius, Donata Minderytė, Eglė Norkutė, Monika Radžiūnaitė, Mindaugas Skudutis, Julija Stankevičiūtė, Laisvydė Šalčiūtė, Vytautas Tomaševičius, Arūnė Tornau, Aira Urbonavičiūtė, Marta Vosyliūtė

[EE]: Alexei Gordin, Mirjam Hinn, Saskia Järve, Raoul Kurvitz, Karl-Kristjan Nagel, Raul Rajangu, Jaan Toomik, Alar Tuul

[LV]: Ieva Iltnere, Kristaps Zariņš, Mārīte Guščika, Klāvs Loris, Vineta Kaulača

[PL]: The Krasnals, Katarzyna Tretyn-Zečević, Krzysztof Gliszczyński, Krzysztof Skarbek, Aleksandra Kalisz, Wojciech Sobczyński, Sebastian Krzywak, Anna Halarewicz

Project managers: Evelina Januškaitė-Krupavičė, Linas Liandzbergis
Jury: Jolanta Marcišauskytė-Jurašienė, Žygimantas Augustinas, Arvydas Žalpys, Algis Griškevičius, Evelina Januškaitė-Krupavičė
Co-curators: Tiiu Rebane, Ilze Žeivate, Krzysztof Stanislawski
Architecture: Darius Baliukevičius
Design: Pijus Burakas

Photography: Giedrius Akelis

Museum of Applied Arts and Design: