Lewben Art Foundation exhibition at National Gallery of Art

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The “COLLECTING HITS” exhibition does not provide any answers, solve problems, or draw conclusions. It raises questions, puts forward hypotheses, perceives and contemplates situations and meanings of the phenomena of popularity in art by using various artworks and specially created soundtracks of various periods and media. In other words, the exhibition is the moderator of a discussion on popularity.

With the changing of time periods and political, economic, and social situations, as well as the very art viewers, the perception of the value and popularity of art also changes. In thinking about the meanings of popularity and the works of art created at different periods of time, it is handy to perceive them as particular modern myths (Roland Barthes), or as objects found in a social environment that deform the meaning, distort the image of the visible world, and define the ways to see and understand things. The exhibition asks the following questions: is an artwork a modern myth of these times? Does the value equate to popularity? How do the very personalities in the arts / music field perceive popularity? Does popularity (not) kill an artwork? How does art keep various social and political issues up to date by paying attention to them? Or how do the same social and political problems become employed as guarantors of the popularity and value of an artwork? Does art really become a veritable alternative currency (David Joselit, Hito Steyerl), which is often more stable than the “real” ones? After all, what determines that at one time or another, one or another artwork or phenomenon of the field of art, a genre or a media, suddenly becomes trending?

In reflecting on the various popularizing and updating strategies for visual art, the exhibition combines artworks from the Lewben Art Foundation collection with sound art and the music industry, which society associates with popularity more often than it does visual art. Thus, Lithuania’s musicians, composers and sound artists representing various musical styles were invited to participate in the exhibition.

 

Artistis: Knut Åsdam, Adomas Danusevičius, Kostas Dereškevičius, Pranas Gailius, Vincentas Gečas, Ugnius Gelguda, Petrit Halilaj, Alfredo Jaar, Patricija Jurkšaitytė, Vincas Kisarauskas, Lazar Krestin, Vitas Luckus, Mindaugas Lukošaitis, Jurgis Mačiūnas, Helen Marten, Mohamed Namou, Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė, Šarūnas Sauka, Augustinas Savickas, Augustas Serapinas, Vincent Slendzinski, Antanas Sutkus, Indrė Šerpytytė, Povilas Ričardas Vaitiekūnas, Kęstutis Zapkus, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius

Authors of soundtracks: Rokas Beliukevičius, Arturas Bumšteinas, „Freaks on Floor“, Vytautas V. Jurgutis, Giedrė Kilčiauskienė, Žygimantas Kudirka-Mesijus and Adas Gecevičius („Vilniaus Energija“), Andrius Mamontovas, Migloko, „Solo Ansamblis“, „Sheep Got Waxed“, „Without Letters“

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Organizers: Lewben Art Foundation, Lithuanian Art Museum, Lithuanian National Gallery of Art

Curators: Ugnė Bužinskaitė, Danutė Gambickaitė

Coordinators: Indrė Tubinienė, Giedrė Marčiulaitė, Ieva Šlechtavičiūtė

NDG Architect: Aleksandras Kavaliauskas

Designer: Laura Grigaliūnaitė

Photographer: Norbert Tukaj