A Visionary in the World of Things. Feliksas Daukantas’ Works

30 March – 16 May 2021

Feliksas Daukantas (1915–1995) – the father of professional design education in Lithuania, a theoretician, and a creator of modern design. His ideas, shaped 60 years ago, have markedly impacted Lithuanian design. He was a thinker and a practitioner, who had a clear vision of the world of things that he shared in a public space as well as in an academic environment, the Design Department he founded in Vilnius Academy of Arts.

 

Feliksas Daukantas dreamt of perfect society, with its harmonious relations reflected in a wisely arranged environment. It would be simple and convenient for people to live in his utopian city where all things would serve them: when a new resident settles in, he/she finds necessary household appliances and compatible elements of the interior, rationally laid out streets ensuring the shortest way to one’s destination, symbolic signs and appropriately adjusted advertisement lights helping to find one’s way even at night, and freedom of movement facilitated by public transport that should be free as Daukantas repeatedly suggested in the press as far back as the 1960s. Even in decorating confectionary, he looked for compositions which would meet the taste of every one who has a sweet tooth.

 

The integral system of things in the environment that Daukantas created was not easy to implement, therefore a large part of his ideas remained in projects, sketches and dozens of articles published in the press of the time. This exhibition features all the material collected from various institutions and private collections and supplemented with the author’s authentic thoughts. It aims to highlight Daukantas’ theoretical principles of design and to present his works part of which remained in photos. Daukantas’ œuvre is exhibited for the first time and spans well-known areas of artistic activity (jewellery, leather and metal artwork) and less-known to the general public design works, sculptures, photographs, and cartoons.

 

 

Exhibition curators: Gražina Gurnevičiūtė, Živilė Intaitė

 

Exhibition architect Justinas Dūdėnas

 

Exhibition graphic designer Laura Grigaliūnaitė

 

Consultant in collecting the exhibition material Dr Karolina Jakaitė

 

Partners: Company Design Foundation, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius Academy of Arts

 

The project is financed by

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