Finissage of the exhibition “Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds”

Parodos "Sudėtingos praeitys. Susiję pasauliai" uždarymo savaitgalis

On the last weekend of August, the National Gallery of Art invites to visit the exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds" for the last time! The exhibition explores and questions complicated pasts of Eastern Europe through individual stories told by contemporary artists.
On 26-27 August, Friday and Saturday, the gallery ticket will cost 1 Eur only. On 28 August, Sunday, the entrance will be free of charge. Also, NGA has prepared a special programme for the finissage of the exhibition.

26 August, Friday, 5 pm. Guided tour to the exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds" by the guide Austėja Tavoraitė
The tour will be held in Lithuanian. Duration ~ 1 hour.

27 August, Saturday, 12 pm. Ukrainian bracelete workshop "VECHORNYTSI" with Iryna Bila and Cheres Alla

On the last Saturday of August we will gather at the National Gallery of Art on VECHORNYTSI to... talk about Ukrainian embroidery, enjoy the sounds of a unique Ukrainian instrument - the bandura, and create your own amulet - a bead bracelet based on the embroidery motifs of different regions of Ukraine.
Did you know that Ukrainian embroidery contains sacred geometry? These are not just circles, rhombuses, branches and spirals, these figures were created tens of centuries ago as unique symbols. In times when our ancestors had a magical connection with the world of Nature: plants, animals, heavenly bodies. With the symbols of the Sun, the Earth, the Universe, the Family, they painted their destiny, reproducing them on canvas, writing out mysterious ancient signs as spells, as amulets, as codes of their kind. On this day, we will try to plunge into this abyss of mystery, connecting different senses: sight, which will be surprised by the variety of Ukrainian patterns-symbols, hearing, which will admire the sounds of the bandura, and touch, through which one's own amulet will be created.
The host and beading master will be Iryna Bila - historian, teacher, curator of the Museum of Architecture in Zaporizhzhia, currently intern at the National Gallery of Art. The magical voice and sound will be Cheres Alla - a Ukrainian bandurist, laureate of Ukrainian and International competitions, who toured with concerts in the countries of Western Europe and the Middle East.
The workshop will be held in Ukrainian and English. Duration ~ 3 hours.

27 August, Saturday, 3 pm. Guided tour to the exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds" by the curator Eglė Mikalajūnė
The tour will be held in Lithuanian. Duration ~ 1 h 30 min

28 August, Sunday, 1 pm. The workshop "Collages of Hope" led by exhibition artists Quinsy Gario and Mina Ouaouirst  

With their multimedia installation titled ⵏⴼⴽⴰⵢⴰⵙⵉ ⵎⴰⵓⵔⵉⵙ  ⵉⵇⵇⴰⵢⵏ  ⴷⵜⵎⵎⵓⵔⵖⵉ   ⴷⵡⴰⵎⴰⵏⵏ Pt 2 / We Offered Maurice Dates, Grasshoppers and Water Pt. 2 as the starting point Ouaouirst and Gario have prepared a workshop for the finissage of the exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected World". Their installation was made together with family and friends. It explores ways to protect the futures of others. It does this by mixing and matching images, sounds, mediums and stories from Lithuania, Latvia, Morocco, Tobago, Curaçao and Netherlands.
In this workshop, which stems from the deep hope in a just future, the participants will be asked what do they hope for. Bring your smartphone and be ready to make a collaborative artzine! Participants will be invited to get inspired by the artworks in the exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds" at the National Gallery of Art and make collages using their own photos and clippings from newspapers and magazines. By the end of the workshop, everybody will receive a photocopy with all of the contributions.

Quinsy Gario is an artist and researcher from Curaçao and St. Maarten. Mainly focusing on decolonial remembering and refusal he is currently researching the restitution of ethnographic collections and the role of contemporary art in this. Gario has shown work and performed in numerous international venues. He is the author of two poetry collections and a collection of non-fiction writing. He is a member of Family Connection, the artist collective established by Glenda Martinus and Gala Martinus, respectively his mother and aunt.

Mina Ouaouirst is a visual storyteller and researcher. Her work focuses on Amazigh culture and heritage, women's emancipation, migration and talent development through film and photography.
Using these media, she investigates ways to navigate multiple cultural identities, crystallizing narratives that bring to the fore the coexistence of different narratives within and for people. In her recent practice, she has been particularly interested in the Amazigh weaving tradition and the ways that carpet, as a symbolic art form, can be used to tell stories.

The workshop will be held in English. Duration ~ 2 hours

All events are free of charge.

Registration: https://forms.office.com/r/qPTEYFbkiB

The exhibition and the events are part of the project "From Complicated Past Towards Shared Future".

Curators of the exhibition: Ieva Astahovska, Margaret Tali, Eglė Mikalajūnė
Participating artists:  Anastasia Sosunova, Eléonore de Montesquiou, Jaana Kokko, Laima Kreivytė, Lia Dostlieva & Andrii Dostliev, Matīss Gricmanis & Ona Juciūtė, Quinsy Gario & Mina Ouaouirst, Paulina Pukytė, Ülo Pikkov, Vika Eksta, Zuzanna Hertzberg.
Architect: Jonas Žukauskas
Designer: Alexey Murashko
Curators of the events' programme: Eglė Mikalajūnė and Eglė Nedzinskaitė

The project is organized by the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art and the National Gallery of Art (Lithuanian National Museum of Art)
The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Sponsors: European Union Programme "Creative Europe", Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Nordic Council of Ministers, Mondriaan Fund, Exterus, Imparat.
Media sponsor: lrytas.lt

Image: Mina Ouaouirst and Quinsy Gario. ⵏⴼⴽⴰⵢⴰⵙ  ⵉ  ⵎⴰⵓⵔⵉⵙ   ⵉⵇⵇⴰⵢⵏ  ⴷⵜⵎⵎⵓⵔⵖⵉ   ⴷⵡⴰⵎⴰⵏ Pt 2 / We Offered Maurice Dates, Grasshoppers and Water Pt. 2, 2020-2022. Detail of the work. Photo by Gintarė Grigėnaitė

NGA
2022 08 26

On the last weekend of August, the National Gallery of Art invites to visit the exhibition "Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds" for the last time! The exhibition explores and questions complicated pasts of Eastern Europe through individual stories told by contemporary artists.