2024 November 8 – December 7 inspiring art experiences await you at the contemporary art and fashion festival Virus’29!

2024 11 08 | 5:00 p.m. The festive opening event of the contemporary art and fashion festival “VIRUS’29” will be held in the Šiauliai Art Gallery, where the humorous exhibition “Joke” by Kazimieras Brazdžiūnas and Tomas Daukša will be presented, the performance “Percussions” by Dagnė Petkevičiūtė will take place, DJ Cyber will will create a musical background.

More about the exhibition: https://siauliugalerija.lt/kazimiero-brazdziuno-ir-tomo-dauksos-duetas-pristato-paroda-pokstas/

JOKES AND MANNERISM

Autumn calls for brightness. There will be plenty of it at the 29th Virus Contemporary Art Festival. As art constantly balances between resignation and breakthrough, one can always expect surprises. For example, the bright explosions of iconography that the opening exhibition of the festival “Joke” offers us. Kazimieras Brazdžiūnas and Tomas Daukša are not artists who easily fall into melancholy. Rather, they prefer the kinetics of emerald gardens and the intellectually elegant “stencil” aesthetics of classical mannerism. Intellectual wit unites these artists for unexpected adventures. This is the main tonality of the opening of this festival, which will be developed by Dagne Petkevičiūtė in physical percussion, and compiled by Cyber in the record sets.

In a way, the opening will be continued by Pijus Opera, which will organically fit into the forest of Tomas Daukša total installation and flood it with a wave of powerful word and sound improvisation that is unique to this musician. Dancers of the Kaunas Dance Theater “Aura” will be hosted by the Šiauliai State Drama Theater this year. Their colorful versatility is well suited to the transformative openness of “Virus”. Birutė Letukaitė “Lost memories” aims to evoke the magic of movements and once again reminds us of the power of memory the body has.

The expected duet of Agnė Matulevičiūtė and Marta Finkelštein “Dear, dear” will be a real surprise for music lovers at the concert venue “Polifonija”. How else can classical music and its instruments be actualized? Be at the concert, you will not only hear, but also see. Andrea Salustri (Italy / Germany) at the Šiauliai State Drama Theater promises minimalist experiences of materiality, an easy spreading of being with a cloud of polystyrene dust. By the way, Andrea will also teach the audience the basics of materia dance in creative workshops at the Šiauliai Art Gallery. The aesthetics of concerts of the Mannerist era are also characteristic of the efforts of the “Kosmos Theater” team to make the furniture speak, to combine illusion and reality.

The festival will be crowned by the international fashion show “Virus mada / Virus Fashion”, which consistently develops the synthesis of fashion and art, opens up the creative potential of costume design, presents artistically and conceptually oriented costume design projects, in which the collection becomes a performative artistic event. Collection shows will be encrusted with body plastic miniatures by Auros dancers, reminding of the crucial importance of the costume for the choreography of the body.

Eglė Rakauskaitė’s sculptural installation “Polimerija” will complement the space of the fashion show very organically. It is an epiphany of synthetic nationalism that most accurately conveys the idea of conceptual fashion. Composer and painter Antanas Jasenka is directly related to fashion events and contemporary dance, so his ear and skill will expand this fashion show with impressive improvisational sound attacks.
This year, Virus Festival does not choose resignation, but the colors of psychedelic gardens and the wit of jokes. Let’s not be afraid to wander!

– art critic, festival curator Virginijus Kinčinaitis

THE PROGRAM

2024 11 08 | 17.00 OPENING OF THE VIRUS’29 CONTEMPORARY ART AND FASHION FESTIVAL

(Šiauliai Art Gallery, Vilniaus St. 245)

Exhibition “Joke” by Kazimieras Brazdžiūnas and Tomas Daukša (exhibition partner – The Rooster Gallery).

Dagnė Petkevičiūtė performance “Percussions”.

Evening DJ – Cyber.

The exhibition will be open until December 15.

2024 11 15 | 19.00 PIJUS OPERA FREESTYLE CONCERT

(Šiauliai Art Gallery, Vilniaus St. 245)

2024 11 17 | 18.00 PREMIERE OF PERFORMANCE “LOST MEMORIES” BY “AURA” DANCE THEATER OF KAUNAS CITY

(The Great Hall of the Šiauliai State Drama Theater, Tilžės st. 155)