Contemporary art
If art changes the world, it also changes Lithuania. In particular modern art. Lithuanians appreciate contemporary art - our history of modern art witnessed rises and the golden age, numb silence and bold attempts to swim against the current. Charming interwar Modernism, the gloomy reality of the Soviet period, the masterpieces of the thaw and creative flashes of art reflecting the contemporary world create extraordinary art space that does not finish with museums and galleries. It takes you by the hand, involves and invites to get to know the fabulous world of culture.

A contemporary art museum in the capital city and a gallery in a forest. Works made in a glade in a steading and shipped to galleries in New York and London. Conceptual spaces and distinctive places, telling us the most interesting art stories. The new art is extremely diverse. Likewise, places where art can be seen are also diverse.

Art is created in order to be showed. The creator’s imagination, attitude, lifestyle reflection, the stories told, drastic declarations or revolutionary ideas are the air that contemporary Lithuanian art breathes. One can mainly feel it in major art events that involve both creators and art lovers. Kaunas – the European Capital of Culture 2022 – is today the place that best rallies the artistic community without borders.

It’s hard to define the concept of street art – it’s that diverse. It is where artists react to the modern world, transmit their ideas through public spaces, experiment, prepare performances, provocations and manifestos, and, of course, change the face of the city. Only appearing in the mid-1980s, socially active street art is relatively new in Lithuania – this might be why it still surprises us. Especially the artwork that appears overnight at extraordinary art festivals such as Vilnius Street Art, Kaunas Nykoka, Edit Klaipėda, and Marijampolė’s MaLonNy. Maybe you’d like to take stock of all the street art? Grab a map and let’s go together.

Sculpture is the poetry of geometry. Entwined in lines, shapes and feelings. Immortal works that send a message to eternity. We will never find out who has chiselled signs on the pagan stones of Lithuania. We will wonder who has given words to trees. We are powerless against the beauty of Baroque sculptures, we admire modern angles that expand our field of vision. Lithuanian artists give soul to matter. Then geometry begins to talk, and sculptures live with us. And we live amongst them.