Fine Arts

In brief: International art exhibition "(No)limit" is a continuation of the project that has been going on for six years and is now being presented at the Vilnius Pamėnkalnis and Šv. Jonas street galleries. Artists participating in the exhibition come from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine. They are exploring the limits of contemporary art and artist's ability to speak to the public about uncomfortable issues.

As stated by one of the exhibition curators Kristina Stančienė (this year she joined the project initiator Linas Lianzbergis), artists were invited to present the extremes. So let us look at the authors who had looked most suggestively at the question of the morality of art.

In my opinion the closest to the extremes of art was Audrius Gražys with his installation "The taste of freedom." Three stuffed chicken, rotating from the ceiling and a hideous stench that nauseates (not only) the heart of a vegetarian, which welcomes you, once you enter the room. That is where the limits of art lie and they should be neither transgressed, nor reached. The atmosphere of flying chicken corpses is complemented by the damp cellars of Šv. Jonas street gallery.

Professionally creepy atmosphere was also created in the adjacent rooms of the basement. Particularly impressive was the work of Linas Liandzbergis and Artūras Valiauga, set in a completely unlit box room named "Medium IV." As if emerging from nothingness, two monk heads covered in habits are observing my every move from their dark eye sockets. A nearby Andrius Erminas installation "From the roots" is analyzing the limits of plants. The plastic language of minimalist work is reinforced by a different color lighting that generates the illusion of nature, or on the contrary - highlights the surrounding architecture.

All the mentioned authors happen to be Lithuanian for a reason. It seems that most of the foreign participating artists did not particularly pay much attention to this year's topic and had only one goal - to show themselves off once again for the Lithuanian audience.

In general, the international art exhibition "(No)limit" can be considered a successful event. The background of prevailing mediocre works allow the more interesting works to shine - the ones that really speak about the limits of art (and life).