Any bigger or smaller art event that takes place in a new, untried, unfamiliar place is also a kind of transfer of an artistic message from the place of its creation to a new environment. Every conveyed message has its own content that creates its value. Gallery Meno Parkas is delighted to present an exhibition for the first time at the Hattingen City Museum. The collection dedicated to this acquaintance is composed of various generations of Kaunas artists united by this geographical point, matured or still maturing in their interconnections, circumstances, and the influences of the same twists and turns of history, but remarkably different in their choice of form of expression or subject matter. The kaleidoscopic image of the exhibition seamlessly reveals the spirit of the place that connects the works and allows the viewer to come up with his or her own impression. This is Kaunas’ cultural message to the city of Hattingen.

If you were to dot the world map with flags marking the projects of Meno Parkas completed during the gallery’s 25 years of activity, there would be quite a few of them. Germany would have a special place on this list and would be the most abundantly dotted with flags, perhaps even listed as number one because at the very beginning, back in 1999, with the help of the German Embassy in Vilnius, the first exhibition of the Westdeutscher Künstlerbund, Graphic Art’96, was presented at the Meno Parkas gallery. It was the beginning of a long, productive, and today ongoing creative collaboration.

2022 is significant for Meno Parkas for two reasons: it marks the 25^th anniversary of the gallery’s activity and Kaunas is the European Capital of Culture. Gallery Meno Parkas participates in the official programme of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 by presenting five art events: two contemporary art exhibitions from Esch, the other European Capital of Culture 2022, a contemporary video art project from France Videoformes, a conceptual art exhibition presented by Brigitte March International Contemporary Art from Stuttgart, and of course the biggest achievement and challenge is the retrospective of Marina Abramović’s works Memory of Being, organised by Meno Parkas for the first time in this region of Europe.

Today, in the collection of the exhibition presented in the Hattingen City Museum, there are already acclaimed Lithuanian painter – Aušra Vaitkūnienė, the middle artists being at the very peak of their creativity – Židrija Janušaitė, Agnė Jonkutė, Milda Gailiūtė, who have gained the knowledge and already have their own strong creative style, and the young – Rosanda Sorakaitė, Povilas Ramanauskas, Gabrielė Aleksė, Sonata Riepšaitė, brave and searching, who have not forgotten what they have learned but not following it word by word. These artists are also connected by the fact that they have graduated from the Kaunas faculty of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, some of them have graduated from Vilnius, but they live and work in Kaunas. Although the artists represent the same school of art, today they have already found their own style, set their own goals, found their own creative philosophy, and are exploring and striving to convey the themes that are important to them. Therefore, the exhibition ranges from bold expressive gesture or colour to subtle minimalism, from abstraction to recognisable plots, from object to poetic landscape, from literary interpretations to Kaunas natural landscape. Of course, this first exhibition cannot provide an opportunity for a comprehensive overview of Lithuanian art. But this is not the aim. It is just a Message, illustrated with the Image is Attached that the viewer is free to read and interpret.

Exhibition opening will be on September 23, at 7pm

We are delighted to have the opportunity to spread the message of Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022, and we are grateful to the Hattingen City Museum for the invitation and the hosting of the exhibition, as well as the Westdeutscher Künstlerbund for their cooperation and support.

We also thank the Lithuanian Council for Culture for partial financial support.

We hope that Image is Attached will be understood and that it will enrich the cultural field of Kaunas and Lithuania.