Most visited exhibition and plans for 2020

More than 100,000 visitors have already seen MO Museum’s big exhibition “The Origin of Species: 1990s DNA”. The exhibition, which has received great interest, is at the moment the most visited art exhibition. It will be open to visitors until the end of February, so those who have not seen it have two months to do so. Currently, MO Museum is already preparing for new exhibitions and events. What will take place in 2020?

April and October are among the most important months of the year for MO Museum. This is the time when the major exhibitions are presented to visitors, so MO is already preparing for the upcoming spring and fall seasons.

Main spring exhibition “Why Is It Hard to Love?”

In April MO will invite its visitors to the exhibition “Why Is It Hard to Love?”, specially build up for MO Museum spaces by one of the most original and important British directors of the time Peter Greenaway accompanied by his wife, Dutch multimedia artist and director Saskia Boddeke. It is a cinematic narrative of mankind’s quest for the elimination of social, political and economic inequalities, as well as openness to the “other” and to someone who is “different”.

“This exhibition is special not only because we succeeded in inviting artists of such calibre to create an exhibition at MO, but also because it will present two new installations created by the exhibition authors, and they will develop the whole narrative using the works of Lithuanian artists. Greenaway and Boddeke delve deeper into the difficult historical circumstances and drastic social changes in our region. It is also unique that it is a very personal project for their family, because the story of the exhibition – a poem written by Boddeke that was inspired by their daughter Pip,” says Milda Ivanauskienė, Director at MO Museum.

Exhibitions by Greenaway and Boddeke have already been exhibited at the Louvre in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Italian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale and many other important institutions around the world.

Main autumn exhibition “Difficult Age”

“A historic moment awaits everyone in autumn – painter Andrzej Wróblewski, who was born and raised here, will return to Vilnius for the first time. MO Museum will feature works by the most prominent Polish post-war artists: film director Andrzej Wajda, sculptor Alina Szapocznikow and painter Andrzej Wróblewski. The exhibition is curated by prominent Polish curator Anda Rottenberg, who has persuaded more than 20 Polish museums and international private collectors to lend their Wróblewski’s and Szapocznikow’s works to the exhibition at MO Museum,” Ivanauskienė says.

The exhibition “Difficult Age” will analyse the impact of personal experience on artists’ works. All artists on display were traumatised by World War II. Born at a similar time and lost their parents early, they witnessed crimes that left a special mark on their lives and their works.

“One of the most important questions that we raise in this exhibition is to rethink our identity and understand its fluidity. The story of Wróblewski and other Vilnius residents is especially suitable for this,” says MO director. Therefore, just before the fall (end of August), the small MO Museum exhibition “Difficult Age: Vilnius 1939-1949”, curated by professor Dr. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, will be opened at MO. This exhibition will link not only the local exhibition of the MO Museum to the local context but will also present a topic that has not yet been explored in Lithuania – Vilnius in the period of 1939-1949, with its cultural exchange, and will reveal the concept of migrant identity and talk about the issues of co-existence.

Special events dedicated for Jonas Mekas

Exhibition “Mekas Winks Better”, currently on display in the Small Hall at MO Museum, will run until 16 August 2020.

“We would like to continue displaying this exhibition, giving the opportunity to learn more about Jonas Mekas to foreign visitors who visit the Museum mainly during the summer. Mekas was a very versatile personality, so we will develop the existing Small Exhibition by special events,” says MO director.

MOrathons and other events to take place

“MO is a space for getting to know new things, meet and interact. We will invite you to think, ask questions and discuss together,” Ivanauskienė says. The Museum will continue to organise events and develop themes of the exhibitions and meetings with authors that will offer visitors other perspectives and experiences,“ MO director notes.

Ivanauskienė also adds that MO Museum will invite to summer events in the open spaces of MO Museum, will bring communities to picnics for cozy discussion and conversation, organise summer camps for children, family Sundays and film screenings. “And of course, the opening of every major exhibition will be accompanied by the opening MOrathons of the exhibition with events, talks, discussions, performances and concerts throughout the weekend,” Ivanauskiene says.