November

In brief: The international exhibition “EXPO 2012” took place in South Korea, Yeosu city for three months – from May 12 to August 12, 2012. More than one hundred countries, several international organisations participated in it, it was expected to receive more than 8 million visitors. Lithuanian representatives who worked in the exhibition presented our country to visitors beautifully.

Lithuania participated in this kind of event of such level for the tenth time officially. The pavilion of our country was evaluated by silver medal in the honourable international forum. The award was granted by the independent experts’ committee formed by the International Bureaux of Exibitions in the category of small pavilions for the creatively revealed main theme of the exhibition “The Living Ocean and Coast”. The gold medal in this category was granted to the Philippines, and bronze went to Mexico. The exposition of Lithuania received such high award in EXPO exhibitions for the first time.

The Lithuanian exposition was visited by 612 thousand people during the three months. The biggest amount of visitors came to see the pavilion on the last weeks of the fair – up to 20 thousand people visited it per day.

The pavilion of our country furnished according to the idea of the architects Mečislovas and Martynas Valevičiai stood out by the unusual amber light and original valuable exhibits – amber inclusions and works brought from the Lithuanian Museum of Art and private collections. The exposition was created in order to present Lithuania as an amber country and to create an impression to visitors that they were inside of a big amber piece.

Various cultural events, concerts, meetings with scientists, specialists of environment protection and artists were held in the pavilion during the entire exhibition.

The cycle of cultural and artistic events was started in the Lithuanian pavilion by the exhibition of the traveller and photographer Paulius Normantas. The author presented two collections “Birth of Neringa Dunes” and “Hill of Crosses”. Two new expositions of Lithuanian art photography were opened every Friday. A set of postcards of the most interesting works with explanations in English and Korean was published. In addition to contemporary photographs, works of art photographers of the past: Marius Baranauskas (1930–1965), Jonas Kalvelis (1925–1987), Liudas Ruikas (1938–2004) were presented.

Professional photographers A. Baranauskas and L. Ruikas worked in the field of press and art photography for 40 years. They organised many solo exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. The joint memorial cycle of both authors “Industrialisation of Lithuania, 1960-1970” was introduced at EXPO 2012. The photography series “Dunes” of J.Kalvelis showcased in the exhibition presented completely different mood.

The exposition of Algimantas Aleksandravičius “Lithuania – the Beautiful Country” enjoyed favourable attention of the audience. Photographs from places of interest of our country were presented in it: historical and natural monuments, churches and landscapes – Trakai Castle in the lake island, Rumšiškės Folk Open-air Museum, Hill of Crosses with more than 50 000 crosses, chapels and statues, Orvidai Farmstead, Horse and Cat Museums.

Panoramic photographs of Vilnius and other places of Lithuania of the Lithuanian Culture and Art Prize winner Stanislovas Žvirgždas were presented in the photography exhibition “Lithuanian Landscapes”. Visitors could find out about birds of Lithuania in the collection of Eugenijus Kavaliauskas and Kęstutis Čepėnas "Lithuanian Birds”. Works of these art photographers create a possibility to see the captured and stopped fragments of birds’ life invisible to us. The youngest author of expositions organised in the Lithuanian pavilion was Gytis Skudžinskas (37 years of age) who works in fields of photography, installation, audio art and graphic design. His cycle “Silence” created in pinhole technique in 2008-2011 was presented.