We live in turbulent times. Cataclysms, information wars, pandemics, biological weapons, ecological disasters, refugee crises, annexations, and other dangers encroach on the global illusion of security. The various social, cultural, political, religious ideologies and dogmas that establish the so-called meta-narratives define the autonomy of the individual and seek to subordinate it to conveniently controlled apparatuses of power. Today, natural human freedom is a utopian aspiration rather than an indisputable task.

Metanarratives shape and maintain different cultural meanings, social relationships, define their boundaries and „safe“ and „supervising“ societal structures, and resistance and liberation occur as a symptom of isolation. According to M. Foucault, isolation is a condition for the development of individualization. The acute isolation that has befallen us today, inevitably leads to a state of uncertainty, the unknown, and anxiety about the future.

Art in such a determined, i.e. conditioned state acts as a creative power questioning control and free will, discovered through autonomy and rebellion. Creation is sparked by resistance, which sometimes results from internal antagonism and sometimes from external fields of tension. We live in a time that requires us to be constantly alert and anxious. By changing its forms, opposing control, combining individualization and the social plane, contemporary painting becomes a procedural form of social discourse or at least an opportunity for it. This year’s triennial actualizes the conditions for freedom in the context of global instability, contemplating them as an expectation intertwined in everyday life like a promise of a future reality.

In the context of this triennial, the metanarrative as a control mechanism and isolation as a condition of freedom will be contextually disseminated in the premises of the Museum of Applied Arts and Design (the Arsenal, i.e. the Arms Warehouse) adjacent to the former guardhouse and cultural space “Smoke Factory”.

The triennial exhibitions will take place in December 2020 – March 2021. This year organizers actualizes the conditions for freedom in the context of global instability, contemplating them as an expectation intertwined in everyday life like a promise of a future reality.

Vilnius Painting Triennial is organized by Lithuanian Artists’ Association since 1969. This traditional project functions as a representative review of contemporary painting as well as reflection of social, cultural, civic, historical, political issues through art. This year triennial is dedicated to Anniversary of 85 years of establishment of organization.

17th International Vilnius Painting Triennial [UN]DETERMINED

2020 12 08 – 2021 03 31

Locations: Museum of Applied Arts and Design, Arsenalo str. 3A, Vilnius | cultural space “Smoke Factory”, Dūmų str. 5, Vilnius.