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MULTI-FUNCTIONAL CULTURAL CENTER JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS GALLERY

HERMITAGE/GUGGENHEIM VILNIUS MUSEUM

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VILNIUS – REGIONAL LEADER

Crossroads of Northern, Eastern and Central EuropeFormer and Future Uniting Force of Western and Eastern

Culture

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VILNIUS – REGIONAL LEADER

Number of residents in a 300 km. radius around Vilnius

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MULTI-FUNCTIONAL CULTURAL CENTER JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS GALLERY

HERMITAGE/GUGGENHEIM VILNIUS MUSEUM

Objectives of establishment

• To mould Vilnius into a contemporary center of attraction known worldwide with its own unique and recognizable identity

• To elevate culture as a virtue in modern society and as the driving force in city development

• To enhance national pride, and to promote cultural and community participation in establishing a culture within a modern European society

• To return to Lithuania the art heritage of Lithuanian emigrants

• To make good conditions for Lithuanian artists to become a part of European and World culture

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MULTI-FUNCTIONAL CULTURAL CENTER JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS GALLERY

HERMITAGE/GUGGENHEIM VILNIUS MUSEUM

Litvak Art Center

Non-commercial film

screening halls

Cinémathèque

Hermitage/ Guggenheim

Museum

Long-term and special

rotating contemporary

art exhibitions

Other spaces:

cafes, mini-conference

halls, library and

museum store

Arts Education Center

for young peopleGeorge Maciunas

FLUXUS

exhibitions

Jonas MekasVisual Arts Gallery

STRUCTURE:

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THE JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS GALERY: “Vilnius- Avant-Garde’s New Capital”

• To focus on Jonas Mekas’ and George Maciunas’ Work.

• To act as a premier research and education institution where scholars and students directly experience the most innovative works in avant-garde film history and Fluxus art.

• To create an extensive film archive that holds all material pertinent to avant-garde cinema and a comprehensive Film Library.

• To build a Fluxus Research Institute with resources and programs

directed towards fostering progressive discourses on Fluxus art.

• Through its activities, the center looks to a future in which Lithuania is

internationally recognized for its support of the visual arts.

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THE JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS GALERY:

Jonas Mekas, the Godfather of avant-garde filmmaking

• Renowned filmmaker and inventor of the Diarist Cinema.

• Founder of the Anthology Film Archives, the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, Film Culture magazine.

• His own output ranging from narrative films (Guns of the Trees, 1961) to documentaries (the Brig, 1963) and to "diaries" such as Walden (1969); Lost, Lost, Lost, (1975); Reminiscences of a Voyage to Lithuania, (1972); Zefiro torna, (1992) and As I was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2001) have been screened extensively at festivals and museums around the world.

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THE JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS GALERY: George Maciunas

FLUXUS exhibitions

• A Lithuanian-born American artist George Maciunas was the founder of the 1960’s international Fluxus movement.

• Fluxus deviated between the boundaries of art and non-art through visions of artistic collaboration in music, performance, visual arts, and literature.

• Fluxus encouraged a do it yourself aesthetic, and valued simplicity over complexity.

• Fluxus’ rebellious ideology and multicultural constitution has made it one of the most influential philosophies in modern art. Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Beuys, Dick Higgins, Vytautas Landsbergis, Shigeko Kubota, Ken Friedman, Jon Hendricks, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Larry Miller, and Peter Moore were all part of the Fluxus family.

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INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Museums in Bilbao, New York, Venice, Berlin, Las VegasNext projects: Abu Dhabi, and… Vilnius?!

CULTURE: DRIVING FORCE OF THE ECONOMY

� The newest museum in the network will have access to

the art holdings of the Guggenheim and the Hermitage, as

well as its’ partners, e.g. the Vienna Kulturhistorisches.

� The museum consortium will guarantee collaboration in

the lending of art work, Internet projects, education and

research programs and cultural arts management

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WHITE BRIDGE LOCATION

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� A new compositional and functional accent between the new and old Vilnius center

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ACTIONS TO DATE

INTERNATIONAL

� Vilnius was chosen from among 140 cities to engage in a Feasibility Study for a joint Hermitage/Guggenheim project

� The Hermitage has agreed to participate in the joint museum project as a partner

� The Governor of St. Petersburg supports the participation of the Hermitage

� Agreement for a Feasibility Study to explore a possible new joint Hermitage-Guggenheim museum in Vilnius signed

� World famous architects - Massimiliano Fuksas, Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind - agreed to participate in an architectural competition for Hermitage-Guggenheim museum

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GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

� The project has received support from the highest levels of Lithuanian government. “I consider this fact an extremely significant step in Lithuania’s history. I am confident that our warm cooperation, having so successfully started, will bear fruit in the near future, when Vilnius is the European Capital of Culture in 2009,” stated Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas in a letter to T. Krens.

� The Multi-Functional Cultural Center was included in the “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009” program and presented in Brussels

� The directors of the Hermitage and the Guggenheim were received in Vilnius at the highest levels of government

ACTIONS TO DATE

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ACTIONS TO DATE

CITY OF VILNIUS

� Hosted a visit by the Director of the Guggenheim

Foundation, Thomas Krens, and the Director of the

Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky, to Vilnius

� Is providing financing for the Feasibility Study together

with private sponsors

� Established the “Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center”

� Commenced the preparation of a Detailed Site Plan

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ACTIONS TO DATE

� Entered into cooperation with

the Godfather of avant-garde

filmmaking, Jonas Mekas

(In 2006, J. Mekas was awarded the LA

Film Critics’ Award for his contribution to

the film industry)

� Signed an Agreement in New

York to purchase George

Maciunas’ FLUXUS works of art

(2,700 items)

JONAS MEKAS VISUAL ARTS CENTER

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CORPORATE SUPPORT

� Ranga Group - 5 million LTL

� AKROPOLIS - 9 million LTL

� Lideika, Petrauskas, Valiūnas ir partneriai LAWIN - 1 million LTL

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PROPOSED SCALE: 15,000 – 20,000 sq. meters

PRELIMINARY COST OF PROJECT: 60 million Euros

FINANCING:

� City of Vilnius budgetary funds

� 0.2 % real estate tax tariff (approx. 18-20 million LTL annually)

� City’s Privatization Fund

� European Union structural funds

� Private sector investments

� Government of Lithuania

COSTS AND FINANCING

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Publications in German, English, Italian and French as well as letters of support state that Vilnius is slated to become the center of contemporary art in the 21st century.

April 29, 2007

� After a Dark Era, a City Looks West and Sees a Future“...The contemporary art scene has also taken off. The city recently established an avant-garde visual arts center named after the Lithuanian-American filmmaker and counterculture icon Jonas Mekas, a fellow traveler of Andy Warhol and Allen Ginsberg. The roster of private galleries seems to grow every month, taking advantage of a robust economy and a rich artistic history.”

� “I support the proposal for a museum in Vilnius. It would put the city on the cultural map, as well as honoring two of its most dynamic artistic individuals.”Chrissie IlesAnne and Joel Ehrenkranz Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

� “I wanted to express my admiration and support for the prospect that a museum might be opened in Lithuania devoted to the research and exhibition of the work of Maciunas, Fluxus and Jonas Mekas.” Julia E. Robinson, Princeton University, Department of Art and Archeology

� “Je suis mille fois d'accord. Je ferai tout ce que je peux pour t'aider et vous aider...”Dominique Paini, Pompidou Centre

INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION