ArtVilnius 2016: a great merit for Polish culture

Poland is a special guest of Vilnius contemporary art fair ArtVilnius 2016, which began this Thursday in the Litexpo center.

„Last year we have initiated an annual tradition of inviting a guest country. This year it is Poland’s turn, so we have invited 10 of the best Polish galleries and 2 cultural institutions“, said the fair’s spokeswoman, Karolina Tomkevičiutė, in her interview with Radio „Znad Wilii“.

According to the organizers, Polish contemporary art is very interesting, but not widely known in our country. „One of the ArtVilnius’ goals is the animation of the regional art market and cultural cooperation that we want to achieve through making acquaintances with the best galleries and artists from neighboring countries. In future, we want to expand our contacts farther to the West. Polish art market is one of the quickest rising markets in its kind in Middle-Eastern Europe and is being closely watched by many international art collectors. ArtVilnius’ delegation made many trips to Poland and personally invited the best cultural institutions, museums and galleries“, underlined the fair’s director, Diana Stomienė.

Chief of the Polish Institute, Marcin Łapczyński, is very content that it is Poland’s turn this year. „Personally, I see it as a great merit both for Polish culture and for all those institutions that are taking part in the Vilnius fair. 12 galleries bring their best works to Vilnius – we received paintings, sculptures, installations and audiovisual projects“, said Łapczyński.

Visitors will not only be able to marvel at works of Polish contemporary authors, but will also have a chance to take part in captivating discussion panels. „During the fairs there will be a possibility to take part in two lecture – discussions. The first of them, „On Cracow’s Vampires“ will be held on Friday,  at 17:00. The second one, with the participation of Polish gallery owners and artists will be held on Saturday at 15:00 and will concern the issue of the role that the art market is playing in the Middle-Eastern Europe“, said Marcin Łapczyński.

This year’s event has an extraordinarily rich program. Fair’s guests will get acquainted with the undertakings of 60 galleries from 12 countries and will have an opportunity to take part in the accompanying events. Poland will present its 12 most interesting galleries and museums: Contemporary Art Museum MOCAK from Cracow, Contemporary Art Center Łaźnia from Gdańsk, galleries „Apteka Sztuki”, „Art Agenda Nova”, „Czułość”, „F.A.I.T.”, „Galeria Zderzak”, „Galeria m2 [m square]”, „Le Guern Gallery”, „Lokal_30”, „Stalowa Art Gallery” and „Assembly Gallery”.

Tickets needed for entry can be bought via „bilietai.lt” or at the Litexpo’s chekcouts.

Organisator: Lithuanian Association of Artistic Galleries, partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, Polish Institute in Vilnius.