Announcing the Shortlist for This Year’s Art Criticism Awards

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The organisers of the second iteration of the Art Criticism Awards – Contemporary Art Centre, LNMA National Gallery of Art, and the online contemporary art magazine Artnews.lt – are delighted to announce the shortlisted nominees (published below) and invite readers to become acquainted with 2023’s most prominent initiatives and contributors to visual art criticism in Lithuania. 


From 14 February to 17 March writers, publishers, editors, readers, artists, viewers, and listeners submitted their nominations for the Art Criticism Awards. A total of 136 nominations were received in four categories: Short Form, Long Form, Texts by Artists and Curators, and Phenomenon of the Year. The shortlists of nominees have been selected by this year’s jury comprising art critics Monika Krikštopaitytė and Helmutas Šabasevičius, cultural commentator and film critic Monika Gimbutaitė, and two recipients of last year’s awards, artists Aurelija Maknytė and Agnė Jokšė.

 

When considering the SHORT FORM nominations this year, both the proposers and the jury seem to have paid more attention to the review as a specific genre. The shortlist, was carefully chosen to be reflective of the different approaches to examining the viewer’s or narrator’s relationship to the exhibition in question. The jury has acknowledged both the texts that become works of art themselves, and those that evidence in-depth knowledge of the subject matter, and demonstrate an ability to step back and look critically, with a curious eye, at what the exhibition produces by encountering the audience and the context. It was not only important to include texts about the vitality of local centres but also a gaze directed toward the wider region and contexts.

 

Similarly, in assessing contenders for the LONG FORM category, the concern was to cover the variety of expressions of art criticism that create a deeper or broader relationship with phenomena, which can unfold powerfully in an exquisitely crafted conversation, or unwind as if in casual conversation, be evident in the book’s dialectically structured structure, or find inventive suggestions in the seemingly unmistakable cobwebs of love and hate, open up in the exploration of complex themes or by listening attentively to authors already known.

 

TEXTS BY ARTISTS AND CURATORS differ from texts of art criticism first of all in their locus of speech. They do not come from ‘the side’ but are themselves narrators, characters, and voices, who are not bound by arguments but would perish without their persuasiveness. Sometimes they speak constructively, sometimes from a distance and ironically, and sometimes to the point of chilling nakedness.

 

In thinking about the PHENOMENON OF THE YEAR, the intention was to highlight what constitutes the foundations of art criticism: the need for freedom and empathy, the promotion of empowerment and rights, and the development of self-esteem through professional conversation. The curatorial discussion series ‘Taking the Longer Road’ was noted for its focus on bringing intergenerational players from the field of art criticism together for a vibrant dialogue and focusing on more complex issues; the initiative to discuss fair pay, as it is relevant to the future of both art criticism and curatorship; and the interdisciplinary project ‘Obscene West’ for its resilience to intolerance, and the actualisation of queer memory through creative means.

The second Art Criticism Awards ceremony will take place at the National Art Gallery on the evening of 1 June 2024. The recipients will be presented with cash prizes worth 900 euros and be awarded with statuettes created by the artist Ona Juciūtė.

The candidates for the awards are (in alphabetical order):

 

SHORT FORM

 

LONG FORM

 

TEXTS BY ARTISTS AND CURATORS

  • ALFONSAS ANDRIUŠKEVIČIUS for the text Gyvenimo slinksmas sausio mėnesį (The Slow Pace of Life in January). Šiaurės Atėnai, 27.01.2023, No. 2
  • JOGINTĖ BUČINSKAITĖ for the annotation of Tomas Daukša’s solo exhibition Summer of Eternal Love at The Rooster Gallery
  • JURIJ DOBRIAKOV for the annotation of the graduation exhibition of the students from the Department of Photography, Animation and Media Art, Vilnius Academy of Arts Kalnai ir griovos (Mountains and Ravines) at Prospekto Gallery and Vilnius Photography Gallery
  • FANTASTIC LITTLE SPLASH for the text Kuo mažiau pamiršti save (To Forget Oneself as Little as Possible). Artnews.lt, 28.12.2023 
  • VAIVA GRAINYTĖ for the text Sraigtiniai laiptai (Spiral Stairs). Metai, 2023 No. 12
  • MONIKA KALINAUSKAITĖ for a speech given during the first Visual Art Criticism Awards ceremony and later published under the title Veidrodžių miškas žodžių miške (A Forest of Mirrors in the Forest of Words). 15min.lt, 02.06.2023 
  • DANIEL MUZYCZUK for the annotation of Anastasia Sosunova’s exhibition DIY at Editorial
  • PAULINA PUKYTĖ for the text “Aš stengiuosi” (I Am Trying), read by the author during the performance ‘Storytelling and Other Opinions’ at the ArtVilnius art fair
  • DARIUS ŽIŪRA for the text Vilniaus skvotai ir Paryžius devyniasdešimtiniais pagal Darių Žiūrą (Vilnius Squats and Paris in the 1990s According to Darius Žiūra). Literatūra ir menas, No. 3780 / 20, 17.11.2023 

 

PHENOMENON OF THE YEAR

  • GODA AKSAMITAUSKAITĖ for curating the discussion series ‘Taking the Longer Road’ organised by the LNAM National Gallery of Art and Kultfliuksas
  • Curators AGNĖ BAGDŽIŪNAITĖ and EDVINAS GRINKEVIČIUS for the interdisciplinary project ‘Obscene West’ organised by Kaunas Artists’ House
  • LITHUANIAN INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTISTS’ ASSOCIATION, LITHUANIAN ARTISTS’ ASSOCIATION, LITHUANIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS’ ASSOCIATION and the author of the study TADAS ŠARŪNAS for the initiative to discuss equitable remuneration for artists

 

The Art Criticism Awards and the accompanying series of events are curated by the CAC curators Virginija Januškevičiūtė and Edvardas Šumila, editor of Artnews.lt Danutė Gambickaitė, and the curator of the public programme at the LNAM National Gallery of Art Goda Aksamitauskaitė.

In anticipation of the award night, we invite you to take part in other events organised in their context. A public talk by the curator and writer Raimundas Malašauskas will take place on Friday, 17 May at 6.30 pm at Sapieha Palace. Writers will soon be invited to book a private session with editors of cultural media – Vaida Stepanovaite, Marius Burokas, and/or Anders Kreuger – scheduled for 28 May.