October 13, 2023 – October 15, 2023
The international contemporary art fair ArtVilnius’23 will take place on October 13-15. This year, for the fourteenth time, it will take place in the three main halls and outdoors of the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Centre Litexpo and will cover a total area of 12,000 square meters. 67 art galleries and institutions and 300 artists from 18 countries of the world will participate in ArtVilnius’23.
In addition to the main programme of contemporary art galleries, ArtVilnius’23 will also present many other projects. Hall 4 will traditionally host the Project Zone curated by Valentinas Klimašauskas, showcasing exhibitions of institutions and artists. The sculptures, installations, and performances of the exhibition The Path (curated by Vytenis Burokas), featuring 16 artists, will be on display throughout the entire territory of the fair. This year, the art fair’s programme will welcome the attendance of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the European Film Forum Scanorama, as well as welcome back the popular Young Collector’s stand. Publishing institutions important for the art market will also present themselves.
Every year ArtVilnius has a certain theme – a highlight – and this year’s theme is performativity. The context of the art fair will provide an opportunity to look at the concept of performativity openly and creatively, to talk about performativity and the broadest interpretations of this term.
Gallery programme
Visitors to ArtVilnius’23 will see their favorite galleries Māksla XO (Latvia), Nivet Carzon (France), The Rooster gallery (Lithuania), Baroti, KADS, Galerija Kristina Norvilaitė, Terra Recognita, the Artists’ Association gallery, AP gallery, Contour art gallery, The Room, Vilnius Academy of Arts gallery, and others. This year 10 international galleries are participating for the first time in the programme: TUTAR gallery (Tallinn), TEMA projects (Vilnius), Drifts (Vilnius), Galerija T.2 (Vilnius), Lithuanian Artists’ Association space PE (Vilnius), Drobė art gallery, Audrius Gražys’ art gallery (Vilnius), BILOUS gallery (Vienna), EHU Art Space (Vilnius), and Foreign territory (New York).
The organizers of ArtVilnius’23 are delighted with a large group of galleries not only from the big cities of Lithuania but also from other regions: Panevėžys will be represented by Panevėžys city art gallery and LAA gallery Galerija XX and A Gallery, Dusetai art gallery, Molėtai art gallery, Ramybės Galerija from Palanga, LAA gallery from Šiauliai S_in., VAA art gallery from Telšiai, Vilkamirgė’s gallery, and Artless from Ukmergė.
Project Zone
This year, for the second time, ArtVilnius Project Zone has been handed over to Valentinas Klimašauskas, a renowned curator of contemporary art and writer. The three-day programme of the Project Zone Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow, related to different interpretations of performativity, will present a diverse lineup of institutional and guest authors.
This year, for the first time, ArtVilnius and the Project Zone will be attended by such exceptional contemporary art institutions from our wider region as E. A. Shared Space (Tbilisi), European Humanities University Theatre (Vilnius), Georg Kargl Gallery (Vienna), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (Riga), Medūza ir Draugų vardai (Vilnius), Vilnius Performance Art Biennial (Vilnius), and the already well-known Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Centre (Vilnius), MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art (Krakow), Contemporary Art Centre (Vilnius), and Stasys Eidrigevičius Arts Centre (Panevėžys), who will be joining the festival with their own new specially created projects.
We will see the same guest authors on the same stage at the same time, three days in a row. The European Humanities University Theatre will invite the audience to join in public sketches based on a play by Peter Weiss. Konstantin Bogdan will share his works in stand-up format. Paulina Pukytė will tell tales, forgotten poems, and other opinions. We will meet Agnė Jokšė, Monika Kalin, and others in readings of their original texts.
Exhibition The Path
The traditional international exhibition of sculptures, installations, and performances The Path, curated for the third year by the artist, curator, and head of the Sculpture Department of the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VAA), doc. Vytenis Burokas, will take place in the fair’s spaces. The exhibition The Path will present 16 individual artist projects. It will include: AIROS, Andrius Erminas, Audrius Janušonis, Barbora Matonytė, Dainius Trumpis, Eglė Rakauskaitė, Gediminas Pašvenskas, Julija Pociūtė, Maciej Gąbka, Mari Manna, Marija Griniuk, Monika Žaltkauskaitė-Grašienė, Rokas Janušonis, Rokas Pralgauskas, Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė, and Žygimantas Augustinas.
Plenty of additional events
During ArtVilnius’23, an international jury of art professionals and visitors will select the best galleries, artists, and works of art. The best young artist of the fair will traditionally be awarded by the fair’s Maecenas, the law firm Cobalt, and a new award for the best artist of the fair has been created this year by the fair’s partner Crème de la Crème. The interactive LRT studio will host live discussions, lectures, and presentations on various art topics. Visitors will have the opportunity to take part in guided tours of the fair led by art historians.
You can choose your favorite works in advance in the electronic catalogue of the fair participants at artvilnius.com/en/catalogue. In parallel with ArtVilnius’23, on Friday, October 13, Vilnius residents and visitors will be invited to spend the night in selected galleries and institutions during the Art After Hours art festival.
ArtVilnius’23 is organized by the Association of Lithuanian Art Gallerists, it is headed by Diana Stomienė, and its artistic director is Sonata Baliuckaitė. ArtVilnius’23 is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. The patron of the fair is Vilnius City Municipality. Maecenas of the fair is the law firm Cobalt, and the main partner is Litexpo.