In 2009 the capital of Lithuania was one of the two cultural capitals of Europe. Holiday Program Vilnius vast and diverse

In 1009 in Kvedlinburgskoy chronicles the first time the name «Lithuania». After exactly one thousand years, in 2009 the capital of Lithuania became the cultural capital of Europe. More precisely, one of two capitals ( second title belongs to the Austrian Linz ), with the New Year take over from the English Liverpool and Stavanger Norway.

All year at numerous venues in Vilnius will be the program «The Living Culture». This is the first in Lithuania, a creative program of this magnitude, it will become active participants not only professional artists, musicians, actors and directors, and residents of the city, and numerous guests.

Among the special projects, cultural programs will Vilnius «Day outdoor music» (2 May), when professional and amateur musicians will perform jazz, rock, classical, folk music in different parts of the city. On the night of the summer equinox (20/21 June), residents and guests of Vilnius will be able to visit the cinema in the open air concerts in churches, exhibitions in museums and galleries, laser shows and other artistic events in the project «Let there be night !».

At the exhibition «Dialogues of colors and sounds» (19 June - 23 August) at the National Gallery of Art will be available with the creation of the famous Lithuanian artist and composer MKČiurlionis (1875-1911) and his contemporaries from Western and Central Europe. The symbolism and modernism, the search for community art and music - the main theme of an international art exhibition.

5 October at the National Art Gallery opens exhibition «Modernism of the Cold War. Art and Design in the split world: the 1945-1975 biennium. ». Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). The exhibition will display art, design objects and clothes, architecture and film of the Cold War and the conflict of two competing political blocs: the east and west. 1945-1975 years were not only the political tensions, but also, and especially creative potential. The arms race and the struggle for the conquest of space, science and technology have had a great influence on the culture of those years. Visitors will present the work of famous painters Gerhard Richter, Osip Tsadkina , Pablo Picasso, Eric Bulatova , Boris Boris Mikhailov and others, the founders of Design and Applied Arts Magdalena Abakanowicz, Pierre Cardin, Raymond Loui et al; architects Le Corbusier, Bukminstera Fuller and others, as well as films, film directors Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky.

On the stage of the National Drama Theater, Vilnius on 20-21 February, Italian director Romeo Kastelluchchi present a spectacle «Hell» by «Divine Comedy» Dante Alighieri, and April 3-5, viewers will see the setting of the Lithuanian director Eymuntasa Nekrosius (Eimuntas Nyakroshus) on novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky «Idiot».

In the Vilnius Picture Gallery, which is part of the Lithuanian Art Museum until May 31, 2009 opening of the exhibition «Pirosmani». Visitors presented 35 works by the famous Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanashvili (1862-1918) from the collections of the National Museum of Georgia. ( Muscovites were still impressed by the recent exposure « Family randan »with the participation of Pirosmani ).

until 8 March 2009 in the Center for Contemporary Art in Vilnius last exhibition «4A - Code common flight» within the framework of «knowledge of cultures». Code total flight (eng. code share) - an agreement to share airline passenger lists and flight services in the passenger transfer. Center for Contemporary Art borrows strategy tourism industry, and creates a platform of cooperation, together with the Biennale of Contemporary Art from Africa, America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Each Biennale for the project «Code general flight» was selected for the two artists. Thus, the exhibition represents the 5 continents, 10 and 20 Biennial artists.

Jane Lee (Jane Lee, Dr.. 1963) lives and works in Singapore. Her work Raw canvas, which can be translated as «raw, raw canvas», represents Asia and the Singapore Biennale. Formally, as in painting (oil, acrylic), «Canvas» Jane Lee includes elements of sculpture, so that the name appeals to many senses at once.

European continent represents Dzhesper Dzhast (Jesper Just, Dr.. 1974), Danish filmmaker who lives and works in New York. His video installation «Romantic illusion» (Romantic Delusions) was selected for the Liverpool Biennial 2008. Gloom and alienation of people in the luxury and magnificence of the interior - a visual demonstrated several short films.

Adelaide Biennial of Contemporary Arts (Australia) is the installation of Cabinet of curiosities, created by Keith Kin (Kate Rohde, r. 1980). This is an attempt to recreate the wonders of the camera (wunderkammer) European aristocrats baroque, but in a modern manner: the installation consists of a stuffed animal and plant specimens, which constitute the nature of Australia.

American artist Matthew Brennon (Matthew Brannon, Dr.. 1971), whose works were exhibited at the Whitney Biennial (Whitney) in the United States, provided for the project «the total flight code» a series of collages. Work «RSVP» (Fr. répondez s'il vous plaît - look forward to your reply) is a paper application with a fragment of text which includes the work of an artist to create a comic effect. Texts and phrases used in the collages by contemporary American writers - Dzheyu MakInerni (Jay McInerney), and scandalously famous Bret Easton Ellis (Brett Easton Ellis).

The African Biennale of Sharjah (Sharjah), UAE represents «Vacuum» - video artist Palestinian parliament Sa'deh (Raeda Saadeh, Dr.. 1977). The woman who collects vacuum cleaner sand in the desert - allusion to the work of Sisyphus, but parliament is a symbol Sa'deh intractable problems faced by the Palestinian people in the struggle for statehood.

The exhibition aims to reveal the diversity of the art world and to take a fresh look at the cultural identity of each participant. In Vilnius the title of cultural capital of Europe provides an opportunity to attract attention around the world.

Material prepared Marina Bondarenko

Sources: vilnius2009.lt , codeshare.lt