The curatorial landscape in visual and contemporary arts is undergoing significant transformations, marked by expanded roles and a shifting focus towards inclusivity, diversity, cross-disciplinary approaches, participatory experiences, and other. Curators are no longer confined to traditional exhibition making but are actively involved in shaping broader cultural conversations. But is this just a welcomed, or perhaps necessary, part of their job?

Drawing on Paul O'Neill's seminal book summarising the historical development of curating, "The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s)", the talk will address current views on the perception and evaluation of exhibition making practices in the international and Lithuanian context. How do curatorial practices influence the course of art history? What has happened in the field of exhibition making in the last decades? Do we have any new exhibition-making tools that help us to operate in today's globalised post-disciplinary art context?

Milda Ivanauskienė originally trained as a lawyer. In 2012, while on maternity leave, she started volunteering at the MO Museum, then known as the Modern Art Center. In December 2015, she became the head of this organisation. Prior to the opening of the museum, she led the organisation's strategic planning, branding, participated in the construction process and built the team. MO opened in 2018 and has gained attention not only in Lithuania but also internationally. Among many other awards, in 2020 the museum won the prestigious 'Most Welcoming Museum in Europe' award. In 2021, together with five other leaders of other cultural organisations, she was invited to study in the Executive MBA programme for top-level executives, where she received her Master's degree.

Prof. Dr. Lolita Jablonskienė is an art historian, exhibition curator, and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius. She has published research, art criticism and other articles, compiled publications, curated art exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. Jablonskienė was a commissioner of the Lithuanian pavilions at the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2005). Participated in the work of the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Arts, the Lithuanian National Culture and Arts Awards Committee, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television Council and the State Awards Council. In 1993-1999, worked as a deputy director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts-Lithuania. Since 1993 she lectures at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, supervises graduation works and dissertations of all academic levels.

Dr. Paul O'Neill is an Irish curator, artist, writer, and educator. Paul is the Artistic Director of PUBLICS, since September 2017. PUBLICS is a curatorial agency, contemporary art commissioner and event space with a dedicated library and reading room in Helsinki. Between 2013-2017, he was Director of the Graduate Program at the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), Bard College, New York. He is author of the critically acclaimed book "The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s)" (Cambridge, MASS., The MIT Press, 2012), which has been translated into many languages. Paul has also co-curated over seventy exhibitions and is author and editor of numerous agenda-setting anthologies on curating. Most recent being Not Going it Alone: Collective Curatorial Curating (Apex Art, New York, 2023).

Paul is widely regarded as one of the foremost research-oriented curators, educators and scholar of curatorial practice, public art, and exhibition histories, and most recently has published three artist' books as author, co-editor; "Maryam Jafri: Independence Days" (2022), "Kathrin Bohm: Art on the Scale of Life" (2023), and "Dave McKenzie Banners and Letters" (2023). Paul is currently working on two new publications of his curatorial texts called CURIOUS and CURED planned for publication later this year.

Dr. Julija Fomina is a Lithuanian art critic and curator. She has worked as a curator at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius (2004-2023) and since fall 2023 is a Head of PhD Studies in Art History and Theory at Vilnius Academy of Arts. In 2015 she has defended her PhD thesis at the Lithuanian Culture Research Institute on the notion and development of curating in Lithuania since the late 1980s up to 2010. For over 5 years she has been teaching various courses on history of contemporary art and curating at Vilnius Academy of Arts and Vytautas Magnus University. Her areas of scientific research includes history of exhibitions, the impact of exhibitions on the development of art and its reception.

The conversation will be held in English. Entry is free of charge.

The curatorial discussion series "No Cutting Corners" invites practitioners and theoreticians of visual art exhibition curation to discuss their methods and strategies, the challenges they face, and the broader contexts of contemporary exhibitions.

Organised by Kultfliuksas and the National Gallery of Art

Curator Goda Aksamitauskaitė

Graphic designer Ineta Armanavičiūtė

Financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture