A new generation in focus: international exhibition “Gen Z. All at Once” opens at MO Museum
MO Museum in Vilnius has opened its new major exhibition “Gen Z. All at Once” (curated by Michal Novotný, co-curated by Marius Armonas). The exhibition brings together twenty artists, born between 1993 and 2001, who live and work across eleven countries in Central and Eastern Europe – a region shaped by inherited discontinuities and ongoing transition.
The exhibition features artists who are born, live and/or work in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Hungary. Rather than constructing a single narrative or thematic structure, the exhibition functions as a survey, allowing visitors to recognize recurring attitudes emerging from the diversity of artistic approaches.
According to MO Museum Director Milda Ivanauskienė, the contours of “Gen Z. All at Once” began to take shape during a visit to the National Gallery Prague, where discussions with curator Michal Novotný and MO’s curatorial team centered on the possibility of exploring Lithuanian and Czech art in exhibition form. What initially began as a search for connections between two national art scenes gradually expanded into a regional perspective encompassing eleven countries.
„When making this exhibition, it was important to ask how – and indeed whether – both generational and geographical criteria could meaningfully shape it. We responded to these questions by focusing on the artists’ individual perspectives and adopting a flexible yet workable understanding of both generation and territory. For MO Museum, this reflects a desire to open new dialogues – to move beyond dominant Western art narratives and explore artistic processes along less familiar paths,“ says Ivanauskienė.
Generation Z – now largely in their twenties – has come of age amid profound transformations: the expansion of digital technologies, the climate crisis, the changes of work and identity, and the renewed reality of armed conflict.
Exhibition’s curator Michal Novotný highlights that the entanglement of virtual and physical realities has produced an experience in which public and private, intimacy and exposure, production and leisure are no longer separate but coexist simultaneously: “Generation Z has grown up within this permeability. For them, contradiction is not a problem to be resolved, but a structural condition. It is no longer yes or no, but both”.
Novotný’s interest in this generation goes back nearly ten years, when he began teaching at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and noticed that a distinctly different type of student was entering the first year.
“Over time, it became clear to me that this was the first generation to spend most of their adolescence on social media. I could see how profoundly this shaped their self-perception,” says the curator.
Asmeniški žvilgsniai ir regiono unikalumas
One of the defining aspects of Generation Z is the merging of digital and physical realities – a shift that shapes not only everyday life, but also artistic practice. While selecting works for the exhibition, Novotný spent considerable time on Instagram, which has become a primary medium for presenting art – especially for this generation.
“The structure of this platform has also shaped art in significant ways. Much of today’s art has to be communicated within a nine- to twelve- image grid, and it has to capture attention within a very limited visual space. It is therefore no surprise that art has become highly photogenic,” he adds.
Rather than presenting a single narrative, the exhibition offers a dual perspective: it highlights individual artistic identities while also presenting something that connects this generation for visitors who may not be familiar with it.
The ambition of the exhibition is to bridge widening generational divides in a time of accelerated change. It seeks to bring the perspectives of the youngest generation into closer dialogue with broader audiences – while reminding us that the world in which they now search for their voice was largely shaped by those who came before them.
“Gen Z. All at Once” will be on view at MO Museum until 30 August 2026.
