Galleries, artists, curators, and art world professionals from Austria, Denmark, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, France, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, Germany, and other countries will arrive in Vilnius. This year’s fair program features a particularly strong international dialogue – it will take place between three European capitals, between artists and institutions, between creators and collectors, and between art and business.
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Prominent international names in the galleries program
This year’s galleries program includes as many as 70 galleries. The contemporary art scene will be presented by “Christine König Galerie” and “Galerie Sturm & Schober,” which have participated in international art fairs for more than four decades.
After almost a decade-long break, “LETO Gallery” and “Le Guern Gallery” return to Vilnius from Warsaw. For the first time, the fair will feature HOS and “Fijewski Gallery,” presenting contemporary Polish artists. Among the debutants are also “Galerie 3AP” from Düsseldorf and Frankfurt, “Galleri Lundberg-Sandhagen” from Stockholm, TUR from Riga, and Vilnius gallery “Vartai.”
Visitors will meet favorite galleries such as “KOGO Gallery” from Estonia, Riga’s “ISSP,” Paris’s “Galerie Nivet-Carzon,” Denmark’s “Galleri NB,” Vilnius’s “The Room,” and Tallinn’s “OKAPI.”
Vilnius Academy of Arts will present six of its galleries, while galleries from Utena, Molėtai, Trakai, Ukmergė, Šiauliai, and Panevėžys will represent Lithuanian regions.
During the fair weekend, there will also be tours with art historians, educational activities, presentations of art publications, networking events, a young collector’s stand, and the “ArtVilnius+” space presenting cultural initiatives. An international jury of art professionals and visitors will select the best galleries, artists, and works at the fair.
The project zone will unite the art of three capitals
The educational, non-commercial “ArtVilnius’26” Project Zone this year draws a diagonal from Vilnius westward and connects the art scenes of three important capitals for us. Each of them – Vilnius, Warsaw, and Vienna – has a specific history, artists, and actively working institutions.
“This unusual perspective, comparing Vilnius with Warsaw and Vienna, expands the established boundaries defining our region, allowing us to discover unexpected connections and differences, as well as to look at ourselves and creators in the near and distant neighborhood from other perspectives,” says the Project Zone curator, director of the Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, artistic director and curator of the Vilnius Performance Art Biennial, Neringa Bumblienė.
The Project Zone in Hall 4 of LITEXPO will present the most interesting public and private contemporary art organizations and key artists from the three capitals.
Vilnius will be represented by the internationally recognized visual artist Emilija Škarnulytė. In the Project Zone, the artist will present the installation “Tethys,” where visitors will see video projections and glass objects “Jūratė’s Tears.”
Another prominent face of Vilnius is sculptor and film director Deimantas Narkevičius. His work “Stones in Pairs” will be presented in the Project Zone.
Warsaw will be represented at the fair by one of Poland’s oldest contemporary art institutions – the national art gallery “Zachęta.” The gallery will bring to Vilnius an interdisciplinary performative project – the video work “Deaf Rebellion. Renewal” by artist, director, and professor Bogna Burska. It was created in collaboration with deaf artist and activist Daniel Kotowski. Both authors represent Poland at this year’s Venice Art Biennale. The work will be exhibited in Vilnius with translation into Lithuanian sign language.
Another guest from Warsaw is the well-known contemporary art space of the Polish capital – “Galeria Studio.” Located in the heart of the capital – the famous Palace of Culture and Science building – the gallery holds a very valuable collection of contemporary art works. A specially selected collection reflecting themes of space and desire will be exhibited in the “Project Zone.” Among the authors are important creators: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Natalia Lach-Lachowicz, and Jadwiga Maziarska.
Vienna’s contemporary art field and the gallery “Meyer Kainer” will present the world-renowned Austrian contemporary art collective “Gelatin” in Vilnius. It includes four artists: Wolfgang Gantner, Ali Janka, Florian Reither, and Tobias Urban.
The group is known for provocative, humorous, often absurd performances, sculptures, and large installations. Their work is based on relational aesthetics, where visitors become co-authors of the artworks. The exhibition layout is designed by architect Gabrielė Černiavskaja.
The Project Zone will also feature the Rothko Museum in Daugavpils, which preserves the only original Mark Rothko works in the Baltic States and will present an installation by ceramicist Pēteris Martinsons (1931–2013) this year, while the Stasys Eidrigevičius Art Center “Stasys Museum” in Panevėžys will show a sculpture installation “Garden” created especially for the fair.
“Takas” leads through a world marked by threats and fragility
The annual exhibition of sculptures, installations, and performances “Takas” is curated this year for the first time by artist, curator, and writer Aliaksejus Barysionakas, who lives and works in Vienna.
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In an open call, he selected eleven participants – artists from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, Belarus, and Ukraine. At “Takas,” works will be presented by Žygimantas Julijus Bėrontas, Bob Bicknells-Knight, Kasparas Brazovskis, Anna Egle, Rokas Janušonis, Povilas Jatkevičius, Mariia Kulykivska, Anna Mari Liivrand, Katsiaryna Miats, Ūla Šukytė, and Vytautas Viržbickas.
The curator says that the title “Takas” became a starting point for talking about a world marked by wars, forced migration, ecological threats, and fragility. However, A. Barysionakas’s narrative will not be gloomy.
“I myself was surprised by how fragile, subtle, even gentle the exhibition turned out. It includes many everyday, industrial, infrastructural materials, but they speak of very deep, painful, dramatic things dictated by nature and landscape. The path we travel with the artists goes through a forest with poisonous plants, through border spaces where even a coffee machine speaks with a human voice, through sacred spaces, places dedicated to mourning, and abandoned industrial areas. We walk thinking about how to survive dark times, and different objects and ideas along this path help us navigate,” says A. Barysionakas.
The curator said that the selection of works was influenced more by intuition, the interrelations of the works, and the balance of different experiences and perspectives than by a strict, pre-made exhibition scheme. Thus, from individual artists’ proposals, a difficult-to-predict but coherent route through today’s reality was formed.
Important partnerships
The friendship between the “ArtVilnius” art fair and “EIKA Group,” which began last year,
continues this year as well. It helps bring world-famous artworks and their creators to Lithuania.
“ArtVilnius” director D. Stomienė is convinced that long-term partnerships allow the fair to grow and strengthen the international level of the event. “We are glad that ‘EIKA Group’ has been our general partner for the second year. Long-term partnership means not only stability but also belief in the shared vision of the fair. Such partnerships strengthen the international prestige of the fair and allow us to present an increasingly ambitious program,” says D. Stomienė.
“Cities become unique not only because of architecture – their identity is also created by culture. Therefore, we are happy to continue our partnership with ‘ArtVilnius’ and contribute to an event that has strengthened Vilnius’s reputation as a contemporary art city for many years,” says Domas Dargis, CEO of “EIKA Group.”
“ArtVilnius Talks” discussions – about the relationship between business and art
The discussion and conversation studio will bring together Lithuanian and foreign artists, curators, collectors, gallery owners, heads of art institutions, and business representatives.
Leaders and curators of contemporary art centers in Vilnius, Warsaw, and Vienna will discuss the current issues of contemporary art institutions – what it means to be significant in the face of geopolitical, ecological, and social upheavals. The discussions will be moderated by “ArtVilnius” Project Zone curator N. Bumblienė and art historian and journalist Sylwia Alicja Krason-Kozdras.
The historical perspective of the Lithuanian art scene will be revealed in a conversation about the 30th anniversary of the Lithuanian Art Gallery Association. Memories and insights will be shared by the fair director Diana Stomienė, artistic director Sonata Baliuckaitė Arlauskienė, honorary member of the association Dalia Lopez, founder of “Baroti” gallery and LMGA member Izraildžonas Baroti, with the discussion moderated by LMGA honorary member, art historian Dr. Viktoras Liutkus.
The international program on collecting at the fair will be moderated by Dr. Paco Barragán. A lecture and discussion will feature art advisor Dr. Alia Al-Senussi, working in London and Riyadh. She will present the transformation of cultural ecosystems in the Persian Gulf countries.
The topic of collectors and institutions will be developed by French-born contemporary art collector and film producer Frédéricas de Goldschmidts, living in Brussels. His collections focus on works by emerging artists, conceptual and minimalist art, and the legacy of the “Zero Group” and “Arte Povera” movements.
The discussions will also cover the significance of artist catalogs in the digital age, the role of private collectors in public culture, issues of collection sustainability, and the important relationship between business and creativity – can capital and art become equal partners?
During the fair weekend, there will also be tours with art historians, educational activities, presentations of art publications, networking events, a young collector’s stand, and the “ArtVilnius+” space presenting cultural initiatives. An international jury of art professionals and visitors will select the best galleries, artists, and works at the fair.
The 17th international contemporary art fair “ArtVilnius’26” will take place from October 1 to 4 at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center “Litexpo.” The fair is organized by the Lithuanian Art Gallery Association’s public institution “ArtVilnius,” funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, and supported by the Vilnius City Municipality. The fair’s patron is the law firm COBALT, and the general partner is “EIKA Group.”
