The new Radvila Palace exhibition shows all we should not do
Exhibition opening at 6 pm on Thursday, 13 March, 2025
The new exhibition of the Radvila Palace Art Museum of the LNMA, Everything You Are Not Supposed to Do stages an encounter of contemporary female artists with the historical painting tradition. The exhibition of contemporary art, opening at 6 pm 13 March, hones in on the artwork by female artists, which the exhibition curator Monika Kalinauskaitė embeds into the exhibit of the museums’ historical painting. The opening event will symbolically celebrate the encounter of the old and new by a performance from the Lithuanian Queer Archive išgirsti.
The exhibition Everything You Are Not Supposed to Do invites to explore contemporary female art practices against an unorthodox backdrop – the permanent historical painting exhibit of the Radvila Palace Art Museum. The building of the museum on Liejyklos St. houses a display of nearly a hundred of 16th to 19th-century paintings from Italy, Spain, Netherlands, France, Germany and other countries, organized by the curators Dr Tojana Račiūnaitė and Joana Vitkutė into thematic blocks established on the basis of iconographic similarities or purely on association.
Amongst these Vibrant Profiles of the Old World, Monika Kalinauskaitė situates 21st-century female artwork from the LNMA’s collections. Such juxtaposition brings into relief the technical/generic variety together with intricate thematic complexities of contemporary art, counterpointing matters eternal and the pressing issues of today. The museum’s repositories of paintings, photography and video, ceramics, textiles and other forms of art are annually enriched by new acquisitions, art pieces by male and female artists across all generations. In her selection of works for the exhibition, the curator explored the artwork by 21st-century women artists, practitioners of contemporary – distinct in terms of theme and content – forms, that have surfaced over the past 25 years, the period of dramatic geopolitical, social and information shifts in Lithuania and globally.
‘There are things you simply must not do. You must not yell or kiss under the watchful eyes gazing eternally from the paintings, you must not swear or recall certain matters, or doubt some big truths. There are all sorts of little abrupt acts we are not supposed to do, and they are easy to quickly discipline, control and condemn. Nobody cares too much to preserve them for the future – we will hardly come across many museums of provocations or hooliganism round the world. Yet art cares for these little no-noes – and what they tell of the victims and perpetrators of the big crimes,’ the curator of the event Monika Kalinauskaitė introduces her line of thought.
Even being a female artist in various societies has long been unacceptable, and could be punishable, that is exactly one of the reasons why displaying contemporary female artwork against the backdrop of the paintings by the old masters is consequential.
Each piece selected for the exhibition interacts with the themes and stories by the old masters, testing their boundaries as they do. For instance, the video Songs from Compost (2020) by Eglė Budvytytė (with Marija Olšauskaite and Julija Steponaitytė) presents an image of expansive nature defiant of any usual categories, while Agnė Juodvalkytė’s painting (Y)Wedding (2021) shows a traditional phenomenon rendered by traditional media, which, however, becomes a work of abstract mood refusing to be labelled. The works “invading” the permanent museum’s exhibition challenge the boundaries of similar social, political, personal or natural phenomena, inviting to take a free and somewhat rebellious look at them – not necessarily in a generally acceptable way.
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of events, curator and museum’s guide guided tours. The opening event with a performative gesture from the Lithuanian Queer Archive išgirsti (They Are Heard) takes place at 6 pm 13 March at the exhibition halls of the Radvila Palace Museum of Art.
Exhibition at the South Wing of the Radvila Palace Museum of Art (Vilniaus St. 24, Vilnius) will run through 28 September 2025.
Participating artists: Eglė Budvytytė, Janina Gražina Degutytė-Švažienė, Laura Garbštienė, Kristina Inčiūraitė ir Rita Mačiliūnaitė, Agnė Juodvalkytė, Geistė Marija Kinčinaitytė, Danutė Kvietkevičiūtė, Aurelija Maknytė, Relita Mielė, Elena Narbutaitė, Eglė Rakauskaitė, Gintarė Sokelytė, Regina Šulskytė.
Exhibition organized by the Radvila Palace Museum of Art of the LNDM
Curator Monika Kalinauskaitė
Curator assistant Audrius Jerašius.
Coordinator: Lina Jonkuvienė, Nojus Kiznis.
Designer Gailė Pranckūnaitė
Communication coordinator Aistė Marija Stankevičiūtė.
Guide Erikas Siliuk
Educators: Daiva Banikonienė, Ona Kvašytė
- Purchase an e-ticket for this exhibition
- Book a guided tour of this exhibition by phone +370 616 16550, email radvilos.ekskursijos@lndm.lt
- Plan your visit to the Radvila Palace Art Museum
Radvila Palace Museum of Art,
24 Vilniaus st, LT-01402, Vilnius, Lithuania
+370 5 250 5824
