ArtVilnius Opens Amid Cultural Ministry Overhaul
Temnikova & Kasela, installation view, ArtVilnius 2025. Photography by Jonas Balsevičius
ArtVilnius
Litexpo 3-5 October, 2025
Vilnius, Lithuania
Review by Àngels Miralda
Kogo Gallery, Installation view, ArtVilnius 2025. Photograph by Jonas Balsevičius
Amid contemporary art fair fatigue, context-specific and region-focused alternatives offer respite from the global homogeneity of large-scale events. ArtVinius, which ran from the 3-5 October in Lithuania’s capital did just that by offering a curated focus on the Baltic region through a democratic selection of galleries that operate on the commercial, public, municipal, and academy levels. All of these positions were brought under one roof to offer a deep-dive into the art scenes of the Baltic region.
Installation View, ArtVilnius 2025. Augustinas Zukovas, Penktadienis 122.
The fair was composed of a traditional booth structure framed between a curated sculpture exhibition titled Takas (The Path) and a museum-scale presentation of Baltic collecting practices. This selection was curated by Maria Arusoo (Estonia), Inga Lāce (Latvia) and Sonata Baliuckaitė (Lithuania). The hall dedicated to private foundations and individuals focused on some of the most noteworthy collections in the region that each offer a different aesthetic and focus for a rapid entrance into the contemporary art scene as well as modern art positions of the Baltic region. The galleries in the commercial sector were a mixed array of local spaces with international recognition to municipal galleries across Lithuania. This wide array gave a democratic feeling to the fair that offered an open space for collectors with varying budgets, as well as a wide art audience interested in keeping up with developments in the cultural scene.
Performance Galerie Nivet-Carzon, Kamilė Krasauskaitė and Louis Danjou, ArtVilnius 2025. Photograph by Andrej Vasilenko.
By the selection alone, ArtVilnius goes beyond the function of a traditional art fair, offering the public service of a platform for a wider art scene. It is difficult to find such spaces in an industry often built on niche spaces disconnected from other artistic contexts. Furthermore, it went beyond the traditional function of an art fair and positioned itself on the forefront of current events as a platform for the political demands of the general cultural sphere. This was evident before stepping foot into the building whose doors were adorned with a sign board displaying the word “kultūra” dropping off a cliff signalled that the fair had taken a position in the issue currently shaking Lithuania’s art scene.
After the Lithuanian general election late last year, months of deliberations led to a new mixed government being formed. An unlikely coalition of the Social Democratic Party (LSDP) and the Dawn of Nemunas Party (NA) was agreed on based on the handover of the Ministry of Culture to Ignotas Adomavičius. This move sent shock-waves through the Lithuanian art scene whose cultural production and exhibitions have been consistently supportive of Ukraine since the Russian full-scale occupation and whose young art scene has been put together by the cooperation of many cultural actors with the country’s government support. The Nemuno aušra party was described as “anti-Semitic, anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian” by CAC Director Valentinas Klimasauskas, (1) fitting the profile of similar extreme-right parties that have recently emerged in countries like Hungary or Slovakia.
Drifts Gallery, installation view, ArtVilnius 2025. Photograph by Andrej Vasilenko
The examples that have been set by the string of removals of directors that occurred in Poland (2) and later in Slovakia (3) increase the rightful anxiety among the art community of the destructive potential of this political maneuver. Yet, in Lithuania’s signature style, the art scene stood together against the incoming political existential threat. ‘“We are all united in this struggle” affirmed Klimasauskas as he visited the fair, (4) and this was corroborated by the amount of signs present around Vilnius all making the same demand. The signs were visible not only in contemporary art institutions, but in historical museums, design offices, project spaces, and shops demonstrating the broad societal support for the initiative. The fair also became a site for social vindication challenging the stereotypes of the art market’s separation from politics and as a real space for dialogue. The signs were placed on the entrance doors, flashed on screens across the fair, and even included inside of some of the booths including Matas Duda’s presentation at the Vilniaus Dailės Akademija booth in the third hall.
Detail from Matas Duda installation at Vilniaus Dailės Akademija, ArtVilnius 2025. Photograph by Àngels Miralda.
The fair showed its solidarity and political affinity in action, not only in the inclusive voice of its selection, making it a pressing and urgent addition to the voices demanding respect for the importance of culture in times of encroaching fascisms. The focus on Baltic collections, uniting private supporters of contemporary art across Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, was already a political show of unity across all three young Baltic states. The result of activist’s demands had an immediate effect, and on the 3rd of October, Ignotas Adomavičius’ resignation was made public after public pressure against his candidacy. (5) Confronted with the impressive views of Zenta Logina’s textile works from the Zuzāns collection produced during the 1970s and the final years of the Soviet Union, demonstrate the struggle that the artistic community has had to face in this region and the long history of artist’s resistance against the imperialism of its encroaching neighbour. Other collections such as the TAAD Foundation and Boris Symulevič showed an impressive support of today’s most recognized young artists including Augustas Serapinas, Anastasia Sosunova, Pakui Hardware, and more.
Works by Zenta Logina in the Zuzāns Collection, Photograph by Andrej Vasilenko, ArtVilnius 2025.
Drifts Gallery, installation view, ArtVilnius 2025. Photograph by Andrej Vasilenko
Some of the most outstanding booths included proposals from young and established galleries including Drifts Gallery (Vilnius), Kogo Gallery (Tartu), Temnikova & Kasela (Tallinn), and Makslas xo (Riga). Regional galleries including Vilkamirgės Gallery and Panevėzio miesto dailės galerija from the Aukštaitija region brought important works to the capital. Artvilnius serves as an alternative to the homogeneity of most international art fairs who compete to platform the biggest international galleries on the market and offers instead a deep-dive into a local context that is beneficial for visitors both familiar and unfamiliar with the Baltic context. It breaks the stereotype of the market’s isolation from local issues and separation from artistic political demands by including protest firmly within its agenda and taking a stand in unison with the cultural community.
(1) Written in a Facebook post 23 September, 2025.
(2) https://metropolism.com/en/feature/49005_the_authoritarian_turn_on_the_crisis_of_the_polish_institutions_of_contemporary_art/
(3) https://artreview.com/purge-feared-as-multiple-slovakian-arts-heads-dismissed/
(4) Conversation with Klimasauskas 3 October, 2025.
(5) https://echogonewrong.com/the-cultural-communitys-protest-conversation-with-arunas-gelunas-and-gintaute-zemaityte/