Head With Many Thoughts

Participants: Aidas Bareikis, Khairani Barokka, Tiago Borges, Polly Brown, Marco Bruzzone, Vitalij Červiakov, Ian Damerell, Viktorija Damerell and Ona Juciūtė, Povilas Dirgėla, Sholto Dobie and Dovilė Šimonytė, Daniel Eatock, Greta Eimulytė, Annabel Elgar, Marta Frėjutė, Vytautas Gečas, Arūnas Gudaitis, Lizzie Homersham (Book Works), Ellie Hunter and Anastasia Sosunova, Milda Januševičiūtė and Ignė Narbutaitė, Karolina Jašinskaitė, Patricija Jurkšaitytė, Anastasia Kolas, Laima Kreivytė, Liucija Kvašytė, Dainius Liškevičius, Listening Eyes (Sheryl Cheung, Duto Hardono, Chi-Wei Lin, curated by Esther Lu), Marcos Lutyens, Marianna Maruyama, Matter in Flux, Gizela Mickiewicz, Andrej Polukord, Mark Prendergast, Eglė Ridikaitė, Maria Saivosalmi and Vytautas Puidokas, Self Luminous Society, Matthew Shannon, Vitalij Strigunkov, Andrius Svilys, Ieva Tarejeva, T.E.C. (Alex Kelvy, Zoé Renié Harris, Aapo Nikkanen), Trafik, Andrej Vasilenko, Mindaugas Vegys, Simona Žemaitytė, Tomas Židonis

Architecture: Povilas Marozas (Studio SpaceTime)
Design: Vytautas Volbekas
Public Relations: Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė
Public Programme: Vilius Vaitiekūnas and Kamilė Krasauskaitė
Resident Writers: Valentinas Klimašauskas and Post Brothers

Last autumn, the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius announced an open call to participate in a group exhibition. The open call presented an opportunity to reflect upon the needs of the art field along with its community, and to explore new ways of working together. “We would like to make an experiment – to invite anyone and everyone to propose ideas, projects, events and processes,” the curators wrote in the invitation; anything that “seems important, interesting to share or to experience with others.”

More than 200 people from various countries responded to the invitation, among them not just professional artists; a small infinity which for the last couple of months have been testing the limits of the CAC. We are very grateful for such an overwhelming response; collectively, the proposals contributed a diverse range of ideas, projects and points of view and each was considered, discussed and thus in some way accepted. Some of the proposals will be implemented and presented in the future or otherwise woven into the fabric of the CAC’s future activities. Meanwhile, several dozen artists, curators and collectives will feature in the exhibition ‘Head With Many Thoughts’.

The exhibition is a polyvocal reflection on time, endings, beginnings, transition and change. It offers no single vision for the future – neither hopeful nor threatening – nor one direction of movement: the present time is marked by a range of simultaneous trajectories and multiple choices. Knowing what exactly our actions will change is not always possible; nevertheless, it is important and no less interesting to look out for what is unfolding in front of us, and to act. If the exhibition does not lie, it’s the gentle attentiveness, togetherness and care that help us face the uncertainty; and one becomes the necessary “glue” by becoming support, springboard and adventure for oneself and for others.

The original invitation posed the question “Are We Closing?” as its headline, and the exhibition was intended as one of the last projects presented at the CAC prior to a major renovation. The prospect of a hiatus became a pretext for self-reflection and an opening up of the institution, and the exhibition also carries a sense of leaping into the unknown. However, due to an unexpected change in the building’s renovation plan, repairs have been postponed and the CAC will continue to operate in its usual spaces for at least another year. But while the anticipated changes have been delayed, thoughts are picking up speed.

Partners: Lithuanian council for culture, Vilnius Art Academy, TelepART, Soome Instituut, Department of Cultural Affairs (Taipei City Government), Embassy of France in Lithuania, Creative Industries Fund NL, Mondriaan Fonds, Stroom Den Haag, Kone Foundation, TelepART

Media partners: Lithuanian National Radio and Television, 15min

With thanks to: Jonas Aničas, Audrius Antanavičius, Contour Art Gallery, Agnė Dailidaitė, Martynas Gailiušas, Antanas Gerlikas, Rokas Janušonis, Laura Kaminskaitė, Tauras Kensminis, Lewben Art Foundation, Almantas Lukoševičius, Nacionalinė dailės galerija, Jurga Sako, Kazimieras Sližius, Solds Real Estate, Ivanas Vilkoicas, Ilona Virzinkevič