Finissage of the exhibition “Difficult Pasts. Connected Worlds”
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
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.