We are 17
4 April – 11 May 2025
At the heart of the We are 17 international exhibition is a photographic series of the same name by Dutch film-maker and photographer Johan Van der Keuken. It comprises 30 portraits of young people that the artist captured in 1955 at the age of 17. The spontaneous and candid photographs depict a post-war generation on the brink of adulthood. The We are 17 cycle symbolically marked the beginning of Johan Van der Keuken’s career at the age of 17. The exhibition showcases photographs printed directly from the negatives using pigment ink technology.
As part of a dialogue with Johan van der Keuken’s works, the exhibition features more than 100 portraits captured by young artists from Catalonia, Lithuania, and Romania. Inspired by the Dutch artist, the 17-year-olds photographed each other and elderly individuals who were around 17 years old in 1955. Throughout the creative process, they were guided by professional photographers: Artūras Morozovas, Vilma Samulionytė, Aistė Žegulytė (Lithuania), Ingrid Ferrer, Tanit Plana, Mònica Roselló, Berta Vicente Salas (Catalonia), Lorena Dumitrascu, Melissa Ivana, Luiza Puiu (Romania). The portraits created by the young artists are complemented by audio recordings featuring fragments of life experiences and dreams shared by the subjects of the exhibition (both young and elderly individuals).
We are 17 unfolds across different layers of time and space: the images of 17-year-olds from 2025 and 1955 are separated by 70 years, their countries are thousands of kilometres apart, and the experiences of today’s youth and the elderly are divided by decades. The diversity of identities, along with glimpses of cultural and temporal differences, invites conversation about identity, authenticity, representation and the search for the contours of a European ‘face’. The diverse portraits are united not only by the boundaries of the Old Continent but also by a shared human space, where the art of professionals and young creators converge, and where the anxieties of adolescence and the expectations of adult life coexist. The exhibition invites visitors to dream or reflect: ‘Ah, when I will be / was 17, I…’
The exhibition will be accompanied by educational creative activities, as well as screenings of films by Johan Van der Keuken and Jonas Mekas at the Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum, the Skalvija Film Centre and the Meno Avilys Cinematheque.
Curator of the exhibition: A Bao A Qu with Érika Goyarrola
Exhibition coordinator in Lithuania: Meno Avilys
Architect of the exhibition: Jurgis Dagelis
Designer of the exhibition: Jurgis Griškevičius
The We are 17 exhibition at the Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art will run from 4 April to 11 May 2025. It will then be exhibited at the Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture (CCBC) and in Timișoara.
The We are 17 international exhibition is part of an international creative photography project of the same name. Throughout the project, young people from various Lithuanian schools drew inspiration from the work of artist Johan Van der Keuken and created portraits of their peers and elderly individuals. During the creative sessions, they were guided by professional photographers. The project aims to foster a dialogue between professional art and the creative activities of young people, as well as between representatives of two different generations, between different countries and cultures. This dialogue is part of the search for the contours of a European ‘portrait’, while reflecting on the concepts of identity and representation. Project partners in Lithuania: Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum, Saulėtekio Primary School in Bezdonys and Šilo Gymnasium in Juodšliai (Vilnius District), Adomas Brakas School of Art and Aitvaras Gymnasium (Klaipėda), Šeduva Gymnasium (Šiauliai District), Danė Social Services Centre (Klaipėda), Šeduva Nursing Home.
The project and the exhibition are organised by the Cultural Association A Bao A Qu (Catalonia), the Cultural Association Contrasens (Romania) and the Media Education and Research Centre Meno Avilys (Lithuania).
The project and exhibition are funded by: the European Union under the Culture sub-programme of the Creative Europe programme and the Lithuanian Culture Institute.
1 Goštauto st, Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 261 6764.
kasiulio.muziejus@lndm.lt
