Artists: Ieva Marija Andrulytė, Augustynas Sinkevič, Vytautas Straižys, Naglis Kristijonas Zakaras. Curator: Milda Dainovskytė.
In 1933, a twin-towered astronomical pavilion rose on Čiurlionio Street in Vilnius. At the city’s then-suburban edge, the night sky was still clear enough for stellar photometry, pursued by scientists Władysław Dziewulski and Wilhelmina Iwanowska. Yet as Vilnius expanded and its lights thickened, the stars dimmed, forcing astronomers to retreat in search of darker horizons. The observatory lost its function, and silence settled where measurements once were made.
This exhibition grows from the layered memory of that site: a district once peripheral, an observatory both real and spectral. Its works unfold through shifting veils of time – from mystified imagination, dreamscapes, and the paradigms of science and nature, to social transformations and the traces of vanished use. Emerging artists respond through sound, object, sculpture, ready-mades, and installation, their works interlaced with archival documents, photographs, and recordings from the Observatory of Ideas.
The Last Light of the Sun marks the instant when vision falters into shadow, when the human striving to chart the universe intertwines with myth and mystery. It invites reflection on the fragile threshold between knowledge and memory: what remains of the final light, once it no longer illuminates research, but lingers only as a vessel of remembrance?
Curator: Milda Dainovskytė
Architect: Vytautas Gečas
Sincere thanks to: Žilvinas Baranauskas, Agnė Poškienė, Danguolė Straižytė
Organiser: Pamėnkalnio Gallery
Partner: Vilnius University Observatory of Ideas / Vilnius University Museum
Supported by: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius City, Lithuanian Artists’ Association
The project is part of the 10th Vilnius Gallery Weekend. The full program is available at www.vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis.lt
