On 6 March 2025 at 6 pm, the closing event of the ‘Bakakay’ exhibition will take place at the Atletika Gallery, including a guided tour with artists Stéphanie Baechler and Sara Bjarland and a programme of presentations of the research accompanying the exhibition.
The research accompanying the exhibition explores the issues of discomfort and childishness and the related questions of maturity and immaturity, form and formlessness. The title ‘Bakakay’ refers to the theme of the pressure on taking on a social form, which was developed in the work of Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. The researchers of the ‘Bakakay’ exhibition are interested in both the positive aspects of childishness, associated with openness of form and identity, tact, experimentalism, as well as infantilism, phenomena associated with escapism, lack of attention. They delve into historical and personal pasts, ways of reconstructing them, themes of complicated heritage.
The closing evening of the exhibition will start on 6 March 2025 at 6 pm with a guided tour by the artists Stéphanie Baechler and Sara Bjarland at the Atletika Gallery. From 6.45 pm, the event will continue at SODAS 2123 project space, where the Bakakay collective (Monika Kornilova, Artūras Mitinas) will present their research. From 19.15 the research ‘Iron Gates’ by Lukas Mykolaitis will be presented, and from 7 pm onwards Alina Kalachova will present her research titled ‘Citizens’ participation in cultural heritage development of Vilnius’. The event will be held in English, except the Lukas Mykolaitis’ presentation.
In their presentation Bakakay collective (Monika Kornilova, Artūras Mitinas) will unravel the multi-layered history of the building and the surrounding district in the thematic perspective of childhood, heritage and historical memory. The founders, philanthropists, architects, staff and pupils of the boarding school for children with intellectual disabilities have shaped the history of the building that houses the Atletika Gallery. The social landscape of the area has changed dramatically over the last two centuries, as monasteries and gardens have given way to prisons, boarding schools and power structures. Researchers are looking for a possibility to glimpse into personal and communal pasts, discovering the relationship between the distant signs of the past and the active processes shaping the present.
‘Iron Gates’ is a presentation by Lukas Mykolaitis on his artistic research project, which was started in 2022. Using walking and observation practices, the entire territory of Kaunas reveals itself as a kind of playground, where historical facts, preserved artefacts and archival documents intertwine with the author’s childhood experiences. Fragments of the iron fence left behind by the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century can still be found scattered throughout the city. This fence becomes a tool for time travel and a symbol that allows us to talk about an uncomfortable historical memory, a sense of insecurity and the notion of masculinity. Combining photography, video, memories, drawings and other means of capturing events, it attempts to understand how the geopolitical reverberations of the past affect the present, how global historical events intertwine with personal history, and what is the point of the seemingly innocent pastime of butterfly collecting.
Alina Kalachova will present her research titled ‘Citizens’ participation in cultural heritage development of Vilnius’. Since 1948, participation of citizens in cultural life has transformed from a concept of cultural rights as a human right into a complex system of cultural heritage preservation, public participation and economic processes. ‘Citizens’ participation in cultural heritage development of Vilnius’ gives a nuanced overview on the wide range of formats through which Vilnius’ citizens engage with cultural heritage, providing glimpses of ideas on how the Atletika Gallery might be situated in this landscape. The presentation overarches a large-scale research project on cultural rights in Lithuania that, throughout 2024, brought together students and faculty members of European Humanities University with civil society activists of Lithuania, as well as international professionals and experts in cultural heritage.
Event programme 6 March, 2025
18.00 Guided tour with artists Stéphanie Baechler and Sara Bjarland at the Atletika Gallery (in English).
18.45 Bakakay collective (Monika Kornilova, Artūras Mitinas), presentation (SODAS 2123 project space, in English)
19.15 Lukas Mykolaitis ‘Iron Gates’, presentation (SODAS 2123 Project Space, in Lithuanian)
19.45 Alina Kalachova ‘Citizens’ participation in cultural heritage development of Vilnius’ presentation (SODAS 2123 project space, in English).
Exhibiting artists – Stephanie Baechler, Sara Bjarland, Ina Budrytė, Polyrabbit Duplicate, Monika Kornilova, Simonas Nekrošius, Artūras Mitinas, Hanna Umin.
Exhibition curators – Bakakay collective (Monika Kornilova, Artūras Mitinas).
Researchers – Saulė Ziziliauskas, Monika Kornilova, Artūras Mitinas, Lukas Mykolaitis.
Designer – Izabelė Žepnickaitė.
Exhibition dates & times 2025/02/07 – 03/15
Thursdays & Fridays 16.00–19.00, Saturdays 14.00–18.00.
Address: Atletika gallery, Vitebsko 21, Vilnius.
Free entry to all events and the exhibition.
Organised by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association and Bakakay collective. Activities of LIAA are financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality. Sponsored by the Embassy of Finland, Vilnius.