MO Museum Annual Report 2023 by MO Museum

2023

ANNUAL REPORT

CONTENTS

2023 IN REVIEW

MO MUSEUM TURNS 5

IMPROVING THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE

EXHIBITIONS

A TRAVELLING MUSEUM

COLLECTION NEWS

CULTURAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

LEARNING AND MAKING CONNECTIONS

MORE THAN A MUSEUM

MO COMMUNITIES

DONORS AND PARTNERS

FINANCIAL REVIEW

FUTURE PLANS

2023 IN REVIEW

MAIN EVENTS IN 2023 02 14 01 10

The Celebrate for Change photography exhibition arrives in Biržai

Third convening of the Visual Thinking Exchanges through Art project, together with The British Council in Lithuania

02 20

03 11

Launch of Ričardas Jankauskas’ Back2school lecture series

02 21

A sculpture honoring Dr. Jonas Basanavičius, by Gediminas Piekuras, is included in the Talking Vilnius Sculptures project

02 01

06 22

Opening of the Nesting Houses for Rebirth installation on the MO terrace

Presentation of MOmandiruotė, a new activity for team and community building

07 06

04 22

Vilnius Poker opens in the Main Hall

03 06

Long-term partnership agreement signed with the Eruditas Lyceum

03 02

Opening of the exhibition Žilvinas Kempinas. Portraits-Fossils 2023

10 18

“Culture + Education” Conference convenes

04 05

The Celebrate for Change photography exhibition arrives in Druskininkai

02 16

06 15

Opening of the experience space installation for children, Find the Wolf

04 17

The Celebrate for Change photography exhibition arrives at its last stop – Šalčininkai

Opening of the botanical installation Invasive Species on the MO terrace, dedicated to supporting Ukraine

08 24

Opening of the children’s exhibition The Trolleybus and His Whiskers

09 20

10 24

Convening of the Third “It’s a Match” Conference on investing, art, commerce, and creativity

12 21

MO Christmas

Fourth MOdyssey virtual art game organized together with LRT public broadcasting

09 29

05 08

Presentation of the series Art in the Life of the City, in collaboration with LRT public broadcasting

Celebration of MO’s Fifth Anniversary!

Third Children’s Night at MO Museum

06 26–07 21 Children’s summer camps

06 15–08 23

Summer event series MO Outside, with poetry readings and concerts by acoustic youth groups

09 06

Selections from the exhibition Mekas Winks Better travel to Marijampolė, supported by our major partner Juodeliai

11 17 10 31

Convening of the MOkytojo (Teacher) Passport Conference for the teaching community

Presentation of a new activity for adults – Meeting Around Art

11 09

Opening of an exhibition of the work of A. Zakarauskas through the V. B. prism

Opening of the Žilvinas Kempinas plaster mask studio

2023 IN REVIEW

After five years, MO Museum has firmly planted its roots in the soil of Lithuanian culture and now thrives on its own, expanding and growing stronger thanks to its team. We’re delighted that MO is succeeding in our goal to foster a creative and critically thinking society.

By the MO Museum’s director Milda Ivanauskienė

This was a year of celebrations: Vilnius marked 700 years since its founding, and MO Museum – its fifth anniversary.

Danguolė Butkienė and Viktoras Butkus

Over the years, MO Museum has been most visible for its exhibitions. They became significant events, attracting over 700,000 visitors – probably because the subjects and questions we explored resonated with contemporary people’s lives. This is one of the most important goals for a museum: We invite the public to focus on important topics, reconsider them through their own experiences, and ultimately – to take part in an open dialogue. This year’s event was the main exhibition entitled “Vilnius Poker”, dedicated to the 700th anniversary of the founding of Vilnius.

Over this period, we’ve reached some 70,000 children throughout Lithuania, developed a community of over 4,000 Teacher’s Pass holders around the country, and organized five conferences that attracted a multitude of participants – both actual and virtual. We see our museum as an important platform for non-formal education, which is why we’ve created educational activities accordingly: inviting participants to integrated lessons and programs for developing emotional intellect and the most important competences for the 21st century. This year, these efforts were crowned by a significant recognition: MO Museum became the first art museum accredited by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sport to work with educators. Recognizing the importance of art in strengthening emotional literacy and psychological resilience, we approached the Children Support Centre as soon as

the museum opened and we created educational activities together for children of all age groups. Last year, we launched a research study to show the positive effects of such education. We’ll share this work with Lithuanian museums and also at the important MuseumNext international conference. We also seek to underscore the importance of art for adults as well: Visiting a museum nurtures everyone’s psychological well-being. We’ll continue to talk about this. We’re also aware of our responsibility to take the lead in socially significant areas. We want to strengthen the cultural dimension of our society – a goal identified as fundamental in the Lithuania 2050 strategy – and the cultural sector itself, by setting an example of entrepreneurship, cooperation, and partnership. We support LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities, a bravely fighting Ukraine and its people, and we devote attention to human rights and democratic values. It’s important for us to bring value not only to Vilnius, but to Lithuania as a whole, and even more broadly – we want people, communities, the culture of dialogue, and a sustainable future to be at the core of our museum’s work.

But MO chose to embrace a more complicated path and model, to not limit itself to exhibitions and to respond to the needs of society, seeking to make a deeper impact and change – which is why, since the very beginning, we’ve paid special attention to education and building cultural awareness.

AWARDS

THE YEAR IN NUMBERS

145 000

454 686 Virtual museum visitors

Children participating in educational programs

13 173

8 694

40 743

Museum visitors

Adults participating in cultural education events

12 615

Tour participants

E-guide listeners

European Museum Academy Awards

MO was a finalist in two categories at the EMA Awards. We made it to the TOP 5 out of 34 aspiring museums – from European art museums with impressive collections to institutions fostering historical memory. The main criterion for the Best Art Museum Award is an institution’s social role and impact on society. And in this regard, we have a lot to be proud of! This includes exhibition themes that seek to challenge attitudes and stereotypes, tours around Lithuania to reduce the cultural divide, and other activism that encourages conversation, debate, and listening to lesserheard voices. In the Commission’s view, there is a deliberate and conscientious effort to involve all of society in MO’s activities. We are delighted to have received this recognition for one of our core values.

LITHUANIAN TOURISM AWARDS

MO Museum received an award at the 9th Lithuanian Tourism Forum for its contributions to tourism. Since we opened, we have sought to make MO both a center of local tourism and a major attraction for foreign tourists – a place to revisit again and again.

55%

more than half of the resident of Vilnius country’s population know the MO has visited the Museum* MO museum at least once*

61 597 Facebook followers

27 326 Instagram followers

12 913

Newsletter subscribers

Baltic Landscape Design Competition

The MO Sculpture Garden was awarded the Grand Prix at the first international Baltic landscape design competition organized by Rīgas Meži. The garden and its landscaping have attracted considerable attention and accolades from many foreign visitors.

9 OUT OF 10

Vilnius residents know about MO Museum*

*MO brand awareness survey in Lithuania, Baltic research, November, 2023.

EVERY SECOND

MO MUSEUM TURNS 5

After opening its doors on October 18 five years ago, MO – the first private art museum in Lithuania – became a cultural phenomenon that has brought about great change. In just a few years, the museum has succeeded in leaving a prominent footprint in the fields of art, education, and cultural awareness, sponsorship, and cultural institutional leadership.

A Museum Changing Social Attitudes According to MO Museum Director Milda Ivanauskienė, five years of hard work have not only affirmed the public relevance of art museums, but also changed how such institutions are perceived in Lithuania.

After we opened, we received comments that MO had landed into the world of Lithuanian culture like a meteorite, demonstrating a new approach to building a dialogue between an art institution and its audience. In five years, we’ve managed to turn our uniqueness into consistent and assured leadership. We’ve raised the museum’s public value: from the critical issues we explore in our exhibition program to our relationships with education and cultural awareness building that encompass all of Lithuania. Most importantly, we’ve been able to show that art can be understood by and be relevant for everyone, and can positively affect all aspects of life. Through its work, MO has demonstrated that, in a society full of contradictions and divisions, a museum can become a unifying conversation space, where we can explore complicated, not always comfortable, but vitally important questions.

Milda Ivanauskienė, MO Museum’s Director

Over this period, MO Museum has broken attendance records, and has also solidified its place as one of the most recognizable cultural brands and an art museum with one of the largest social media followings in the Baltic countries. MO’s impact is evident from the dozens of awards and nominations it has received in Lithuania and internationally. These include being named the friendliest museum in the 2020 Best Museum in Europe Awards, and being named one of the top five art museums in the 2023 European Museum Academy Awards.

Creating Philanthropic Traditions MO Museum’s Director of Development, Mindaugas Morkūnas, says that a museum that emerged out of a private initiative has evolved over five years into an organization that is seen today as an example of cultural entrepreneurship. According to Morkūnas, in these five years MO has succeeded in realizing its founders’ hope that, after they had funded the initial MO Collection and the opening of the museum, the effort to continue developing MO’s activities would be joined by a community of private donors as well as government support.

MO belongs to all of us, because it’s not only maintained by its founders and the museum team, but also the entire community of supporting donors, our visitors, and funding provided by the national and municipal governments. MO has built a community of donors based on the best examples set by international museums and non-profit organizations. Like many international museums, MO ticket sales fund only about 20-30% of the museum’s budget, which is why sponsorship and donations will always be important. Such support is not only a significant achievement for MO Museum – what we’ve accomplished also contributes to building a tradition of philanthropy throughout Lithuania Head of Development, Board Member Mindaugas Morkūnas

To foster a philanthropic tradition in Lithuania, MO Museum appealed to relevant public institutions in 2022 proposing that Lithuania celebrate International Philanthropy Day every year. According to MO representatives, this tradition has already contributed to the growth of philanthropy and donations in the United States and Europe, and that charity is important not only for the wealthiest in society – a culture of sharing benefits all of society.

MO MUSEUM TURNS 5

Topical Subjects and Famous Names in Art

MO’s cultural education programs have expanded not only through individual communities, but throughout Lithuania. Over five years, our educational activities have benefitted over 70,000 children, bringing them into closer contact with art. Cultural education programs have become one of the most important engines in expanding MO Museum’s accessibility and the geographic reach of its activities. The idea of a traveling museum has been championed by MO Museum since its founding, and after the opening of the museum this activity has continued to be expanded and systematized.

From the most visited art exhibition in Lithuania to works by the world’s most renowned artists being shown in our country for the first time, MO Museum has mounted 9 major and 13 smaller exhibitions over five years, alongside projects displayed not only in the exhibition halls, but also in other spaces around the museum.

In pursuit of a closer collaboration between culture and education, MO Museum established the Teacher’s Pass program, through which participating educators are invited to visit the museum at no cost and take advantage of virtual education activities, receive topical information, and attend an annual conference on the subject of education and culture. The rapidly growing Teacher’s Pass community reaches over 4,000 Lithuanian educators.

This year, our consistent work with the education community reached a new level: MO became the first art museum in Lithuania to be accredited by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sport to conduct professional development for teachers and education support specialists. Professional teaching development courses prepared by MO Museum educators will also be included in the Millennium Schools Project.

Each exhibition at MO is a way to create a dialogue on relevant issues: individual and national identity, historical and collective memory, the relationship with otherness, self-expression, global contexts and challenges. Visitors are invited to experience art from a personal perspective and to build their own unique relationship. Our very first exhibition, All Art Is About Us in 2018 (in 2018, curated by Raminta Jurėnaitė) already reflected this promise of the museum in its title and concept. The museum is not just about exhibiting works of art – immersive exhibition experiences have become the museum’s calling card over the past five years. Among the most prominent examples of this was the most visited art exhibition in Lithuania, The Origin of Species: 1990s DNA (2019), curated by V. Jauniškis, R. Kmita, M. Pelakauskas, M. Survilaitė, A. Švedas, T. Vaiseta and R. Valčik; the exhibition Why Is It Hard to Love? curated by film director Peter Greenaway and artist Saskia Bodekke (2020); and the exhibition Vilnius Poker in 2023, curated by D. Barcytė and A. Gudaitytė, directed by O. Koršunovas, and designed by G. Makarevičius, dedicated to the 700th anniversary of Vilnius, combining art, theatre, music and literature. The exhibition The Origin of Species: 1990s DNA, featured both works of art and elements of pop culture,

everyday artefacts, and personal stories from visitors themselves to shed light on current issues. The exhibition Why Is It Hard to Love? brought together artworks, video installations, sound, light and even rain effects, while Vilnius Poker invited visitors to experience a mood-creating maze reminiscent of the famous novel by Ričardas Gavelis, exploring the issues of individual and societal freedom. Exhibitions developed in collaboration with museums abroad have opened up new contexts, reflected on a complex historical past, or even attempted to expand the prevailing narrative of Western art history. In 2021, the exhibition A Difficult Age: Szapocznikow – Wajda – Wróblewski involved 25 international museums and galleries and was curated by the legendary Polish art historian Anda Rottenberg. In 2022, the exhibition The Meeting that Never Was (curated by C. Esche, A. Kreuger, G. Radzevičiūtė), organized together with the Van Abbe Museum in the Netherlands, brought together art from both sides of the Iron Curtain in a metaphorical encounter: International art celebrities Andy Warhol, Yves Klein, Marlene Dumas, the Guerrilla Girls and others, were displayed alongside works by Lithuanian artists.

A Museum as a Participant in Social Processes This became particularly evident after the pandemic that struck Lithuania and the world in 2020 when MO shifted some of its activities to virtual or non-traditional spaces and took up a leadership role in emphasizing the importance of culture and the arts for social well-being.

With the sustainability campaign entitled The Climate of the Inner World Is Just as Important, launched in 2021, MO Museum sought to draw attention to one of the 17 United Nations Sustainability Goals: human wellbeing. The campaign and accompanying educational activities sought to emphasize that a museum is a place to step away from one’s daily routine, to meet, to interact, to reflect, to be inspired – all of which contributes to a sense of well-being and emotional health. Emotional well-being is also a major focus of the museum’s cultural education approach. In 2022, a study entitled Improving Emotional Literacy through Art Interventions initiated by MO Museum and conducted in collaboration with the Association of Integrated Neuroscience, became not only the first of its kind in Lithuania, but also one of only a few such studies in the world. It confirmed the positive impact of arts-based education on school children’s emotional literacy. MO Museum takes an active position in assessing global social issues and events. The Museum supports the LGBTQ+ community, and during the 2020 protests in Belarus, the Museum demonstrated its support through the projection on its façade of an exhibition entitled Women Shaping the Future of Belarus. In 2022, after Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, MO Museum sought to contribute to the support of the people of Ukraine in various ways: Since the start of the war, 28,000 euro have been donated to the Blue/ Yellow Foundation, and the Museum has extended free admission to Ukrainian citizens and launched an e-guide in Ukrainian as well as guided tours.

A Synthesis of Education and Culture

THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE

SELF-SERVICE TERMINALS This autumn we completed a year-long project – installing self-service terminals for MO Museum visitors where they can quickly and easily purchase tickets and make symbolic donations to the Museum. The terminals are easy to use for visiting MOdernists and visitors buying admission online. This way, MO Museum hopes to respond to visitor habits and global trends, but also reduce lines and make the Museum even easier to visit.

CHANGES IN THE MUSEUM ENTRANCE HALL Visitors to MO will not only see new terminals, but also interactive furniture for children where our littlest visitors will be greeted by playful MOmukai characters who have become symbols of the Museum. To promote sustainability, we’ve replaced paper information posters with screens. Three of these are located in the main entrance hall, and the fourth has been placed in a window facing pedestrians passing through the new Vingriai Square. We’ve not only renovated the furniture in our reception area and shop, but also at the Museum’s information center, where volunteers provide visitors with e-guides and information about current exhibitions.

E-GUIDES

MO Museum launched a new e-guide platform in 2023. This interactive audio guide, accessible both through devices provided by the Museum as well as visitor smartphones, has become even easier to use. It not only contains exhibition presentations for adults, but also the Talking Vilnius Sculptures project and interactive MOmukai exercises for kids. E-guides for main exhibitions are now available in Lithuanian, English, and Ukrainian.

MODERNIST MEMBERSHIP This year it became even easier to become a MOdernist or send someone else the gift of membership. We launched a MOdernist website where visitors can buy a membership for themselves or someone else, renew their membership, or register a new membership they’ve received as a gift.

EXHIBITIONS

VILNIUS POKER “In Vilnius, everything is possible,” wrote Ričardas Gavelis in his novel Vilnius Poker. For many, Gavelis’ book became a symbol of creative freedom and liberation under Soviet rule. It deconstructed Soviet reality and spoke in an original voice about jazz, architecture, art, anthropology, and multiculturalism. The challenge of visually revisiting the novel on the 700th anniversary of the founding of Vilnius was taken up by two of the country’s most prominent and innovative names in theatre: director Oskaras Koršunovas and artist and set designer Gintaras Makarevičius. The exhibition generated huge interest – not only from the people of Vilnius, but also from visiting guests, including cultural journalists from around the world. The American media giant Forbes named the exhibition one of eight reasons to love Vilnius. The main US art website Artnet called the exhibition a journey through time to experience a city’s transformation. And the biggest French daily, Le Monde, included Vilnius Poker into its 48-hour tour of the Lithuanian capital, calling it inspired and inspiring. The exhibition’s artworks and their creators were also presented in an e-guide recorded in Lithuanian, English, and – now for the second exhibition – Ukrainian. Our partner for the exhibition’s Ukrainian e-guide is the GO Vilnius agency.

2023 04 22–2024 01 28 / Main Hall Director – Oskaras Koršunovas Set Designer – Gintaras Makarevičius Curators: Dovilė Barcytė, Algė Gudaitytė Designer – Liudas Parulskis Composer – Antanas Jasenka Consultants: Jūratė Čerškutė, Laima Kreivytė, Gintautas Mažeikis, Kasparas Pocius, Almantas Samalavičius, Vladimiras Tarasovas Exhibition visual: Mūsų Vilnius (Our Vilnius, 2023), by Liudas Parulskis

In a review for the Polish cultural portal Culture.pl, the renowned art historian and director Jarosław Kilian called MO’s exhibition a story about the constant struggle waged by will and reason against the evil that imprisons man in physical and mental bondage. The Vilnius Poker exhibition that opened this spring is a story about a generation that was born into slavery but lived to see freedom, about a generation trying to become part of the Free World. I am convinced this will become a watershed for Lithuanians not only in consciously creating a vision of modern art, but also in coming to understand their own identity Jarosław Kilian, art critic, director

Exhibition presented by This exhibition is part of the Vilnius 700 program. Major partners

Institutional partners

Exhibition partners

See a TV clip from the exhibition

ŽILVINAS KEMPINAS. PORTRAITSFOSSILS 2023 Žilvinas Kempinas, a Lithuanian artist living and working in New York City, launched a project he called Portraits-Fossils in 1996, casting plaster masks of renowned painters, dancers, and directors in his studio. Only four of some 70 masks survived the intervening decades, captured in a film about the casting process by director Gintas Smilga. 27 years later, the casting studio was revived and the newly cast masks were shown at the exhibition Portraits-Fossils 2023. Plaster masks were traditionally used to immortalize the faces of prominent deceased persons, but for Kempinas they not only signify the preservation of memory, but in today’s context also reflect the changing times and the selfie culture.

2023 03 02–2023 08 06 / Small Hall Artist – Žilvinas Kempinas Curators: Miglė Survilaitė, Aušra Trakšelytė Cameraman – Gintas Smilga Studio Coordinator – Agnė Kuprytė Architects and Designers – DADADA studio Exhibition installed by Dominykas Šavelis.

The exhibition is precise, like all Kempinas exhibitions. It could be no other way. Daiva Šabasevičienė, theatrologist

THE TROLLEYBUS AND HIS WHISKERS, AN EXHIBITION FOR CHILDREN This exhibition invites us to travel down streets that could wind through any city in the world, full of children dropping in every day into a shop, park, library, school, clinic, stadium, or a milk bar. City stories are recounted here by works from the MO Collection, book characters, scents, sounds, and even poetry verses! We invite children to experience art in an unusual way, in an atmosphere created by an immersive set, light, and sound. These elements make this exhibition a space full of unexpected experiences. The whole family can play and learn about art here, but we devote special attention to children aged 6 to 10. Major Partner

2023 08 24–2024 03 31 / Small Hall Curators: Kotryna Zylė, Justinas Vancevičius, „Vaikų žemė“ Coordinators: Ugnė Paberžytė, Agnė Kuprytė Architect – Povilas Vincentas Jankūnas Text authors: Daiva Čepauskaitė, Kotryna Zylė Consultants: Viola Klimčiauskaitė, Antanas Dubra Exhibition installed by Dominykas Šavelis.

Listen to a conversation from the exhibition’s opening, entitled “How cultural experiences in childhood can affect our life as adults”

Exhibition partners

Institutional partners

SUPPORTING UKRAINE Žilvinas Kempinas’ plaster mask casting studio 2023 02 01–2023 02 25

Žilvinas Kempinas, an artist living and working in New York City, presented a project he called Portraits-Fossils in Vilnius in 1996, later displaying it at the Jutempus (now Kablys) Gallery. Kempinas cast plaster masks of his friends and the occasional visitor at his studio; today, most of his models are now renowned painters, dancers, directors, and actors. After 27 years, his portrait-fossil casting studio has been revived – this time in the MO Museum Entrance Hall. We invited museumgoers to observe the entire casting process.

Nesting Houses for Rebirth 2023 06 22–2023 06 29 The MO Museum terrace hosted an installation by Jolita Vaitkutė and Aurimas Kadzevičius entitled Atgimimo inkilai (Nesting Houses for Rebirth). An auction was held at the installation’s opening, with all proceeds going to the Stiprūs kartu (Strong Together) fund supporting children who have lost both parents in the war in Ukraine. The Nesting Houses for Rebirth were created using fragments of buildings that, before the war, had been safe and secure homes. They immortalize the unbreakable Ukrainian spirit, but they are also a grave and a monument. Birds sheltering in these nesting houses remind us that we must not forget to help Ukraine be reborn.

Find the Wolf, an experience space

Botanical installation. Invasive Species

2023 03 11–2023-11-05

2023 07 06–2023 07 16

Installation Creators: Antanas Dubra ir Vladas Suncovas Creative Partners: Justinas Vancevičius ir Kotryna Zylė, Vaikų žemė MO Museum team: Viola Klimčiauskaitė, Agnė Kuprytė, Karilė Mozerytė, Ugnė Paberžytė, Dominykas Šavelis

Creators: Eglė Plytnikaitė, Agnė Stirnė, Oskaras Stirna Informational Partner – „Blue Oceans PR“ Supporters: Baltic Production Services, Spaces Spaces Spaces Partners: dr. Mindaugas Lapelė, Dalia Bastienė, Sengirės fondas

Our youngest museum visitors were invited to an experience space called Find the Wolf in the MO Museum Entrance Hall, where they found a vibrant map of the city, full of surprises. Every stop on Vilnius rapid bus lines introduced them to buildings, bridges, and other sites that create everyday life in the city. Meanwhile, a screen projected an educational game helping visitors learn more about the history of Vilnius through sites around the city.

The botanical installation Invazinės rūšys (Invasive Species), dedicated to supporting Ukraine, was displayed on the MO Museum terrace. The installation, consisting of artillery-scorched ground and charred tree trunks, is a reference to a field devastated by the war in Ukraine. An invasive plant symbolizes the deliberate, active ecocide being waged by Russian forces in Ukraine, leaving enduring scars both on Ukrainian soil and the collective consciousness of its people.

ENTRANCE HALL

A TRAVELLING MUSEUM

The one-year tour of MO’s exhibition Celebrate for Change through the cities and towns of Lithuania has come to an end. MO’s project, entitled The Traveling Museum: Learn About Yourself Through Art, proved to be a success: Selections from the exhibition traveled from Vilnius to regions around the country and reached those for whom visiting a modern art museum is not always an available option, drawing over 16 000 visitors.

Tour Map 2023 01 09–02 17

2022 09 05–10 28

Biržai

Akmenė

Celebrate for Change exhibition team Curators Tomas Pabedinskas ir Ugnė Paberžytė Consulting Curator – Arvydas Grišinas Consultant – Egidija Ramanauskaitė Designer – Gytis Skudžinskas Architect – Dominykas Šavelis MO Museum space architects – ŠA atelier Traveling Museum Coordinators: Barbora Sakalinskaitė ir Jurgita Zigmantė

2022 06 27–08 05

Antalieptė, Zarasų raj.

2022 10 31–12 09

Šilutė

2022 05 16–06 24

Molėtai

MO Museum Director Milda Ivanauskienė about her impression from the tour.

What did we present in each city?

/ / / /

An adaptation of the exhibition Celebrate for Change Professional training for educators and culture workers Educational activities for children Saturday educational activities for families with children ages 3-8, together with the Pradžia (Start) Theatre

A significant part of this project consisted of educational activities: Training classes for professionals working in the fields of culture, art, and education were organized in each city, as well as activities for school children and their families. Even the organizers didn’t expect such a high interest in these programs, which together with the exhibition welcomed over 16 000 visitors. “These numbers are astonishing. At the start of the project, we couldn’t have imagined that thousands of children might come to see an exhibition in Biržai or Akmenė, but that’s exactly what happened. A willingness to open communication and share knowledge changes mindsets and encourages a desire to show interest,” says MO Museum Education Director Jurgita Zigmantė.

2022 04 01–05 13

Marijampolė

2023 04 17–05 28

Šalčininkai

2023 02 21–03 31

Druskininkai

Everyone had a chance to learn about themselves through this exhibition, and to encounter acute issues and try to accept people who think and feel differently. We clearly see how art helps us communicate and reduce the cultural divide.

Educational Programs Have Lasting Value

Project funders

Sustainable energy partner

See excerpts from the project at:

Information partner

Major Patron in Marijampolė

Project partners

Reykjavik Art Museum

Hvers Museum

MO AROUND LITHUANIA

SELECTIONS FROM THE “MEKAS MIRKSI GERIAU” (MEKAS WINKS BETTER) EXHIBITION TRAVEL TO MARIJAMPOLĖ We returned to Marijampolė for the third time, inviting visitors to recall selections from our exhibition titled Mekas Winks Better and learn more about this legendary figure in avantgarde cinema. This tradition of brining MO Museum exhibitions to Marijampolė has been supported by our main donor in the city, UAB Juodeliai. According to the company’s director, Andrius Zimnickas, bringing MO Museum exhibitions each year profoundly enriches the city’s cultural life.

PRESENTATION OF THE MO COLLECTION’S “VILLA LITUANIA” IN ROME, AN INSTALLATION BY NOMEDA AND GEDIMINAS URBONAS An installation entitled Villa Lituania was shown at the Museum of Civilizations in Rome, as part of an exhibition by artists Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas. The project represented Lithuania at the 2007 Venice Biennale, earning the artists a Jury Prize. The installation is now part of the MO Museum Collection.

Major patron in Marijampole

COLLECTION NEWS

The MO Museum Collection, spanning works created from the 1960s to the present day, is one of the largest privately held art collections in Lithuania, consisting of over 6 000 works of Lithuanian modern and contemporary art. In 2011, the collection was designated as nationally significant. This year, museum founders Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus added 80 new works to the collection, of which 41 are by new artists. As a result, the collection now includes 354 works by 6 274 artists.

Vilmantas Marcinkevičius A Positive Madman and a Lyrical Girl, 2000 The works of Vilmantas Marcinkevičius are discordant within the context of Lithuanian painting. They are expressively rendered, but this expression is entirely different: assertive, grotesque, even aggressive. In Marcinkevičius’ work, traditional Christian and mythological iconography intertwines with fantastical motifs and quotidian realities.

Cooltūristės Women on the Moon, 2019 The name Cooltūristės, taken by a group of anonymous women artists, has several meanings: It is related to the English word “cool”, but also to the Lithuanian words “kultūra” (culture), “turizmas” (tourism), and “kultūristė” – woman bodybuilder. This group first appeared in 2005, out of a need for activist art. According to Laima Kreivytė, one of the group’s founders, activism in art was sorely lacking in Lithuania: “Sometimes there would be individual initiatives by an activist, but the art world was extremely consumed with its own affairs.”

Matas Janušonis is a young artist, sculptor, and installation creator. “In Matas Janušonis’ work we see all kinds of altered everyday objects: mirrors, manhole covers, pots. They have been stripped of their usual function and have taken on unusual features, vibrating and resonating sounds. This is how Janušonis chooses to analyze the phenomenon of strangeness: Usually, an object placed in an everyday environment is completely consumed by it and loses any potential of being unique. But here, an unusual manhole cover calls our attention, compelling us to look more carefully at the things around us,” says curator Deima Žuklytė-Gasperaitienė.

Gintas Smilga Video, 145 min. Žilvinas Kempinas, Portraits-Fossils Casting, filming, still image, 1996 Gintas Smilga is a director who captures imagery. The MO Collection now includes a film about how Žilvinas Kempinas cast mask of his friends and passersby in 1996, for his project Portraits-Fossils. This film was projected on the wall of a casting studio in the MO Entrance Hall.

Matas Janušonis Deep Breath, 2015

Kazimieras Žoromskis Scientists, 1984 Kazimieras Žoromskis is one of the most prominent Lithuanian diaspora artists, who has spent most his life living abroad in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Colombia, and the United States. His work places equal importance on figurative, abstract, and optical painting – which is evident from a work now included in the MO Museum Collection.

Tomas Daukša As Soon as You Wake Up, 2023

Leopoldas Surgailis nurtures the Lithuanian expressionist painting tradition. His central motifs are wooden figurines depicting St. George and St. Mykolas, sometimes also other saints, as well as Užgavėnės (Shrovetide) processions and, as we see here, musicians. “Composition is what’s important – no matter what you portray, angel or demon – what’s important is that they come together harmoniously. Harmony is everything, composition and drawing – also. Color is not the central thing in art. Colors work when they are connected to the image, with what is being depicted. If you elevate one color over another – nothing comes of it,” says Surgailis.

Gerda Paliušytė Guys, 2021 In her work, Gerda Paliušytė explores often contradictory historical and pop culture phenomenon and figures, their relationship with social reality and how they intervene into a specific time and place. She is intrigued by the transience of collectiveness, the desire for contact, and tacit consent.

Leopoldas Surgailis Five Village Musicians, 1985

The MO Collection has grown to include a work of this artist’s project, entitled Bigfoot (Sniegažmogis). “Despite its playful and attractive form, this project is a serious artistic study that explores the difference between belief and knowledge. I’m interested in the moment when what is believed becomes unquestionable. An example of such a transformation might be popular TV shows and documentary films about mystical, paranormal phenomena, including about the very same Bigfoot, presented with eyewitness accounts from people who have encountered them. But, in the end, this contradiction between the real and the unreal becomes irrelevant and the most important thing becomes the object and the story told about it,” says Daukša.

Rokas Janušonis Dragon Ball, 2022 Young artist Rokas Janušonis uses his work to reexamine clichés and functions associated with ceramics – exploring the interaction between sculptural forms and drawing, searching for the link between unexpected abstract elements, colors, and lines, and trying to find a place for the ceramics craft on the landscape of contemporary art.

Stanislovas Kuzma Seated Woman, 1993 Stanislovas Kuzma is one of the most versatile sculptors of his generation. His creative range is quite broad: from monumental sculptures in public spaces to small sculptures and gravestones, to sacred monuments and medallions. Kuzma’s muses grace the roof of the National Drama Theatre, and his sculptures of saints adorn the pediment of Vilnius Cathedral.

Žilvinas Kempinas O2, 2006 Žilvinas Kempinas is best known for his use of op art and minimalist aesthetic principles, and for the methods and materials he employs, including video cassette tape, fans, light, and combinations of these in a given space. “I avoid infusing meaning into specific objects, because to me that seems like a pointless endeavor. I’m interested in strong, visually impactful ideas,” says Kempinas.

Valentinas Antanavičius, Gytis Arošius, Cooltūristės, Tomas Daukša, Silvestras Džiaukštas, Indrė Ercmonaitė, Kostas Gaitanži, Antanas Gerlikas, Matas Janušonis, Rokas Janušonis, Viačeslavas Jevdokimovas-Karmalita, Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas, Ieva Juršėnaitė, Dalia Kasčiūnaitė, Linas Leonas Katinas, Žilvinas Kempinas, Vytautas Kumža, Stanislovas Kuzma, Vilmantas Marcinkevičius, Henrikas Natalevičius, Gerda Paliušytė, Romualdas Petrauskas, Algis Skačkauskas, Gintas Smilga, Leopoldas Surgailis, Arvydas Šaltenis, Nijolė Šaltenytė, Solomonas Teitelbaumas, Alfonsas Vilpišauskas, Aleksandras Vozbinas, Kazimieras Žoromskis

Other artists whose works the museum acquired in 2023:

CULTURAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Family Sundays At MO, Sundays have traditionally been devoted to families. During the Vilnius Poker exhibition, our younger MO visitors were invited to explore Vilnius and find the most interesting, mysterious, and fun places there. Children could explore the city through active movement, improvisation, even construction. Traveling together with the Pradžia (Start) Theatre through a map of Vilnius set up in the MO entrance hall, we listened to stories about the city, visited buildings that become surprising objects, and played mobile and creative games.

Educational activities sponsored by MO and the Kazickas Family Foundation For over three years, MO Museum and the Kazickas Family Foundation have been organizing an initiative devoted to socially vulnerable groups of young people, inviting them to take part in free, interdisciplinary MO educational activities (live or virtually) or to visit the museum on their own. The initiative’s target audience is young people living in remote regions of Lithuania who may not have the opportunity to visit cultural institutions or learn more about modern art. These include young people from children’s and youth day centers, children from orphanages and small towns and villages that are quite far from Vilnius. This joint educational project has reached over 3,000 young people and visited some 40 to 50 Lithuanian towns and villages.

Project partner:

MO Children’s Summer School Programs and Children’s Night at the Museum There were as many as four creative and theatre camps for children in June and July. At the creative camps, actors from the Keistuolių Theatre and the Atviras Ratas Theatre invited children to explore MO Museum, find hidden treasures, create a stop motion film, experiment with sounds and music, create mysterious tiny worlds and fantastical stories, and organize their own festival of creative work. At the theatre camp, children developed their creativity and dove into the fascinating world of the stage, full of discoveries. Night at MO Museum is a unique nighttime adventure for children! We invite our littlest museum friends to what has become a tradition at MO. Works of art and exhibitions from a different angle, creative tasks, music, songs, stories, and even treasure hunts – all of this to discover after the museum’s usual working hours! An entirely new way of learning about art awaited all those who showed up with their pajamas and sleeping bags!

Exhibition Opening Festival for Children At the opening of the children’s exhibition The Trolleybus and His Whiskers, the most important stop on the line was MO Museum – which invited everyone to a celebratory festival to open the exhibition. Children of different ages took part in theatre, music, and literature activities, and created a story and drawings together in an improvised performance. At music workshops, they connected art and music, creating a song based on Patricija Jurkšaitytė’s painting Natiurmortas (Still Life), using innovative sound equipment, instruments, music controllers and software.

FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN

MOrathons In 2023, we continued our tradition at every opening of a major exhibition to organize cultural festivals called “MOrathons”: During opening week of the Vilnius Poker exhibition, we ventured into an impressive maze of Vilnius legends, symbols, and experiences. This exhibition, mounted to celebrate both the 700th anniversary of the founding of Lithuania’s capital and one the most significant works of Vilnius culture – the novel Vilnius Poker, by Ričardas Gavelis – invited visitors to experience the city in the most unexpected of ways.

MO Professional Development Tours We created a new team-building product we call MOmandiruotė in Lithuanian – or MO professional development tours. These are exploratory trips that require no luggage, stress, or passports. There’s nothing to worry about or sort out in advance. On a MOmandiruotė, we look at works of art and share what we see in them; using the visual thinking strategy method, we analyze artwork and relate that experience with aspects of teamwork. By speaking with, listening to, and hearing others, we get to know our colleagues better. MOmandiruotės are an appealing way of team-building and getting to know one another, and they are simple to organize at any time of year and for any kind of company or institution. MOmandiruotės have been tried by IT specialists, engineers, creative artists, and teams from other professions.

Meeting Around Art We’ve created another new experience at MO Museum to help people relax and get away from their daily routine! We bring together other curious and like-minded visitors for walks around the exhibitions and lively discussions about works of art and ourselves.

MO Outside – Events on the terrace There wouldn’t be summer without “MO lauke” – MO Outside, musical evenings on the MO terrace with friends, conversation, and new discoveries. MO Outside returned to celebrate another summer in the city – with poetry readings and concerts, enjoying listening to famous as well as new names. The main MO exhibition Vilnius Poker shaped the choice of music to perform at the MO summer concert series. And MO summer poetry readings invited listeners to keep exploring surprising shades and undertones in verse, and revisit favorite writers or discover ones they’ve never heard of. These poetry readings reminded us of MO’s slogan and the title of the museum’s first exhibition: All Art Is About Us.

MO’s Birthday MO Museum celebrated its fifth anniversary for five whole days! On October 18, visitors came to enjoy the new tradition of Pay What You Can, and on October 19-20 there were special tours through spaces that are usually not open to the public. On October 21, visitors were invited on tours through the Vilnius Poker exhibition, led by the program’s curators, and given the chance to listen to discussions on current social issues, and experience a newly developing layer of the Vilnius Poker exhibition – reflections by renowned Vilniusites about the exhibition and their city. A celebratory Saturday evening was crowned by a concert given by one of the most creative names in music today, Free Finga.

Back2school In 2023, we continued a lecture series called Back2school, aimed at those wanting to learn more about the styles of art presented in the main exhibition The Meeting that Never Was. In his lectures, Ričardas Jankauskas not only talked about the “isms” (minimalism, conceptualism) that constantly confound our ears, but also about the more recognizable and familiar Pop Art.

FOR ADULTS

EDUCATION AND MO MO – the First Art Museum to Offer Professional Development for Teachers MO became the first art museum in Lithuania to receive accreditation from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sports to conduct a professional development program for teachers and specialists in education. This is not only a recognition of work in education from official state institutions, but also an opportunity to broaden the scope of the development of teaching skills through art. Moreover, experts believe that MO Museum’s leadership can pave the way for changing attitudes about the relationship between education and culture. When MO Museum opened in 2018, all of its educational activities were directed toward building cooperation with the field of education: We created integrated lessons, educational programs for honing 21st century skills based on the visual thinking method, as well as a program for developing emotional literacy.

“MOkytojo pasas” (Teacher’s Pass) Conference We invited teachers to the MOkytojo Pasas (Teacher’s Pass) Conference called “The Importance and Special Characteristics of Early Age Cultural Development”. This is an annual event organized for the Teacher’s Pass community. At the conference, we discussed the continuing relevance of educational and cultural issues, listened to lectures, held discussions about child and adolescent psychology and the importance of communication for the development of special needs children, the integration of art in development processes, and other significant early age development aspects. We also interacted with specialists from various fields: psychologists, teachers, and educators. The conference addressed the importance of development at an early age, and we discussed how this stage of life affects personal growth and development. Speakers invited assembled pre-school and early development educators to discuss alternative early age communication, and the importance of cultural development and games in children’s growth process.

Our dedicated work soon produced results. By 2019, we had already established an everexpanding community of Teacher’s Pass holders, which now brings together 5 000 educators from around the country. Members of this community can visit the museum free of charge and obtain pertinent information about cultural education programs.

The drive to bring culture closer to education has helped MO Museum establish enduring and meaningful partnerships that allow us to implement expansive educational programs geared to teachers and students alike.

That same year, we held the first conference for the Teacher’s Pass community, focused on actualizing the museum as a development platform. This annual conference attracts hundreds of teachers from around Lithuania and will once again host educators this autumn.

The MO and British Council project for teachers entitled “Visual Thinking Exchange in Art and Learning” had an exceptional attendance this year: 150 teachers from different regions of Lithuania participated in the project, and at the Draugystė secondary school in Visaginas, together with educators, teachers and students, the project began to develop integrated lessons on literature and visual thinking methodology. This year’s project called “Visual Thinking Exchange in Art and Learning” consisted of three programs, where we continued to share knowledge about the visual thinking strategy, its possibilities and various ways of using it in the educational process. In addition, we developed and tested an innovation - combining the Visual Thinking Strategy approach with literature lessons. Jurgita Zigmantė, head of MO Education Programs, emphasizes that this project has created an opportunity for educators from all over Lithuania to learn the visual thinking method, widely used at MO Museum, to help develop students’ critical thinking, communication, and creativity skills. “During the project at the Draugystė School in Visaginas, we saw first-hand how this practice can enrich educational content. The program ‘Applying Visual Thinking Startup in Literature Classes’, developed by MO Museum, will also be started as part of the Millennium Schools program. The success of the first pilot project in Visaginas confirmed that such integrated lessons work and are relevant for both students and teachers,” says Zigmantė.

The conference “Culture + Education” at MO Museum is open to all culture and education professionals interested in future development trends and closer collaboration among these fields. The event will allow the sharing of experiences and insights by representatives of MO Museum and the British Council, as well as the participants of the [Visual Thinking Exchange in Art and Learning and other education professionals.

Eruditas Lyceum: Building Education and Awards for Student Works MO Museum and the Eruditas Lyceum continued their partnership in 2023. This collaboration has shown the importance of art and museums in creating a synergy between formal and informal education. This cooperation will continue to help development teacher skills, build interdisciplinary educational programs, and share current development experiences, devoting special attention to supporting emotional literacy among students. We also held the traditional Eruditas Lyceum and MO Museum Conference, at which as many as 32 teams of fifth-tenth graders from Kaunas and Vilnius presented their best works of art created for the project “700 Years of Lithuanian Mythology”. MO Museum is a space where teachers can meet, interact, and develop common activities. Last year, this opportunity was enjoyed by the Eruditas Lyceum teaching community from Kaunas and Vilnius, who shared their experiences in education today. Together with MO educators, they created a new educational exercises program for students called “Parodos DNR” (Exhibition DNA), and participated in emotional control and visual thinking exercises, developing their skills surrounded by works of art. At the Lyceum, we devote considerable attention to building effective cognitive habits. Empathy, cooperation, the ability to think critically and creatively – these are amongthemostimportant skills for successful professional and personal activity today. Our partnership with MO Museum provides new methods for experiential, integrated development of these skills, and there is no question that we will continue it. Headmaster of “Erudito” lyceum, Nerijus Pacėsa

Training for Teachers by MO and the British Council

LEARNING AND MAKING CONNECTIONS

LEARNING AND MAKING CONNECTIONS Training for Educators by our US Colleagues This year, we had special guests from the United States. In a three-day training course led by visual thinking strategy professionals Tara Geer and Amy Chase Gulden, we delved deeper into the use of this method. The Visual Thinking Strategy, developed by MoMA educator Philip Yenawine and psychologist Abigail Housen (Tara Geer’s mother!), has been in use at MO Museum since it opened its doors. During this visit, MO educators were able to discuss, practice, explore, reflect, and discover new directions and connections based on first-hand information. Educator Viola said: “It’s like being a Harry Potter fan and getting the chance to meet J.K. Rowling! We were very inspired, and we look forward to sharing our experience after meeting you at the MO education program!” The Visual Thinking Strategies training program at MO Museum was organized in cooperation with the European Social Fund agency and the US Embassy in Lithuania.

Trips and Meetings This year, the MO Museum team embarked on many business trips to meet with colleagues at museums abroad. MO’s director and curators visited Czechia, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, building new relationships and meeting with professionals working at various art institutions. They visited exhibitions, shared their experiences, reviewed collections and learned about institution management strategies, personnel structures, work methods, and future plans, and discussed opportunities for cooperation. In Prague, meetings were held with the heads and curators of two institutions: Kunsthalle and the National Gallery of Art in Prague, and in Finland, with colleagues from the Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), the Ateneum National Gallery of Art, and the Espoo Modern Art Museum (EMMA). In Sweden, MO representatives visited exhibitions and the following institutions: the Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Malmö, the Fotografiska and Magasin III in Stockholm, and the Malmö Art Museum. In Denmark, visits were made to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and the Collega art space. In Germany, the visit provided an opportunity for meetings and exchanges with the institutional leaders and curators of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Hamburger Bahnhof, the Martin-Gropius-Bau, the KINDL Centre for Contemporary Art, and the ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe.

Visits by Foreign Guests Laurent Le Bon, President of the Pompidou National Centre for Arts and Culture, visited Lithuania in preparation for the Lithuanian season in France in 2024. Le Bon also visited MO Museum together with Julija Rėklaitė, Head of the Lithuanian Cultural Institute and Virginija Vitkienė, Commissioner of the Lithuanian Season in France 2024.

MO Museum also hosted guests from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in the United States, and MO Museum curators met with Jay A. Levenson, Head of the International Program, and curator Inga Lāce.

MORE THAN A MUSEUM

MORE THAN A MUSEUM Jonas Basanavičius Finds a Voice

MOdyssey Our virtual modern art game called MOdyssey, organized together with the Lithuanian public LRT, has become a tradition. We’re glad to see a steady rise in the number of participants – reaching a record 1,956 this past year! This time, we also had something new to offer: limited edition “MOdisėja” t-shirts, bags, and socks.

An interactive cultural education project called Talking Vilnius Sculptures, launched by MO Museum and the Vilnius City Municipality, has been joined by one of Lithuanian history’s most prominent figures – Dr. Jonas Basanavičius. A monument to the founding father of the modern Lithuanian state, designed by sculptor Gediminas Piekuras, and located in front of the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall, has become this project’s 24th talking sculpture.

Art in the Life of the City

This is the second year for MO TV. Culture lovers from all over Lithuania can see MO exhibitions, backstage stories, conversations with artists and cultural activists through all Cgates platforms.

See for yourself

MO TV

We worked with LRT television to present a new series of visual stories called “Menas miesto gyvenime” – Art in the Life of the City, featuring new artists and their stories every day. This series is a short and concentrated dose of art, shedding light on surprising connections between art and the city.

MO COMMUNITIES

Virtual MO Community

MO Team

Teacher Pass Community

Volunteers

Guides and Educators

Families

Patrons, sponsors, partners, ambassadors, friends

Artists

Art historians, museum professionals

MOdernists

PEOPLE ARE TALKING

One of my art homes. Love this place. From the bottom souvenir shop to the small reading room. Anonymous visitor

Actually, it was the first contemporary art exhibition I have truly liked. The collection tells a super well-done storytelling, the arts are really impressive and the audio guide is amazing. My visit to the MO Museum in Vilnius was a journey through a world of contemporary art that left me thoroughly impressed. The museum’s architecture is a masterpiece in itself, offering a modern and inviting space. Inside, the exhibitions were thoughtfully curated, showcasing a wide range of works from both local and international artists. The interactive displays and educational programs were particularly engaging, making art accessible to visitors of all ages. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly, adding to the overall positive experience. The museum also featured a cozy cafe, perfect for a relaxing break between the exhibits. Located in the heart of Vilnius, the MO Museum is a cultural gem that provides insight into the vibrant art scene of the city and is a must-visit for art enthusiasts and casual visitors alike. Leonardo

MO Museum is one of the most active modern art institutions in Lithuania. Everything here has an idea and a charge of creativity – starting from the architecture of the building and ending with thematic exhibitions that excite, entice, sometimes provoke, but never disappoint. And if the appearance of the building attracts fans of the architect Daniel Libeskind, the currently ongoing experiential exhibition Vilnius Poker takes you behind the scenes of my beloved city of Vilnius. I suggest you see and evaluate the exhibition by yourself, because as the slogan says, ”Everything, absolutely everything is a dream here”. Paulius

A wonderful museum, always full of something amazing… From paintings and photographs to films and sound clips… I always tell everyone to visit this WOW Museum. Tautvydas

I’m not “artsy”, but new experiences are always interesting, and MO Museum surprised me in a good way. A wonderful guide gave an interesting and interactive tour. Beautiful and well-kept spaces, strange but at the same time intriguing works of art.

Elona

We send our warmest and colorfully happy greetings to Sandra, our guide, and thank her very much for a wonderful tour through the Vilnius graffiti sites! The tour was fun, interesting, and creative! We’re still smiling!

Vilnius Poker is THE exhibition that overwhelms, engages, and lets you forget everything and immerse yourself in the imaginary world of Vilnius as told by works by different artists. And those artists are truly very different: from Evaldas Jansas and Solo Ensemble to Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė and Igoris Piekuras. Passages from Ričardas Gavelis’ novel lead you through the exhibition, filling it with the force of words and a vivid, brutal sexuality. Now I’m really going to read Vilnius Poker.

Mariana

It’s actually very interesting that I also had something of a reaction of rejection, a desire to resist, protest, and challenge. Maybe I envied the artists’ freedom, bohemianism – something that I lacked myself? Or maybe I was annoyed that so few women were talking about Vilnius, and so many men? Here, Vilnius is a city of men, and a man’s world with shiny swords and erect phalluses. But good exhibitions are supposed to agitate, to provoke questions, and make you want to curse out loud. It means that important processes are going on inside you. I highly recommend it. It is somet Neringa Rekašiūtė

Make sure to go see the Vilnius Poker exhibition at MO Museum. I’m sure it’s best to go there alone and take your time (have some time to sit, hang out, not look at your phone). I was really surprised that there were so many visitors on a Thursday evening, so it will be crowded on weekends.

Really impressed by the MO Museum’s Vilnius Poker exhibition. Brilliantly curated it is a great introduction to Lithuanian art, literature and the complex history of Vilnius.

Worth visiting - both the museum and its exhibitions are modern :)

Linara Dovydaitytė

Aurimas

Marius Lucka

GREETINGS FROM THE ERUDITAS LYCEUM

DONORS AND PARTNERS

A MERCEDES OR A TESLA? Head of Development, Member of the Advisory Board Mindaugas Morkūnas

In 2023, MO marked its fifth year, reflecting on the dynamic journey it has undertaken. The past five years have been a whirlwind of rapid progress, creativity, rewards, and challenges. Despite the evident success and continuous influx of visitors, it is essential to explore the underlying challenges and identify areas for improvement. Much like other esteemed museums in Europe and the United States, MO Museum relies on more than just ticket sales for its revenue. While solid visitor attendance contributes to 20-25% of the income, the remaining 50-60% is derived from private donors, government programs, and taxpayers. In instances of funding shortfalls, the museum must bridge the gap through its own initiatives. MO gained popularity swiftly, creating an illusion of self-sufficiency. However, the reality is that without the steadfast support of our community, MO would only be half of what it is. We are grateful for our supporters who comprehend the importance of their role in sustaining MO’s development and impact. To maintain our operational capabilities and impact from the previous year, MO aims to increase its turnover by 5-15% annually, accounting for changes, inflation, fundraising challenges, and other variables. The continuous effort to secure and expand our support base remains a priority.

collaboration with socially vulnerable groups, advocacy on crucial societal issues, dialogue with the state, promotion of patronage, and exemplifying social entrepreneurship. MO’s contributions extend not only to Vilnius but resonate throughout Lithuania, thanks to the support it receives. The achievement of building a supportive community, modeled after international museums, within just five years is a source of pride. Nurturing and expanding this community is now our responsibility. A Mercedes or a Tesla? Reflecting on MO’s inception, Viktoras Butkus likened it to gifting the public a cultural Mercedes, urging everyone to contribute to its sustainability. Five years later, we reinterpret this analogy, casting MO as an art and culture Tesla with an extended range of 1,000 km. The question remains: will we collectively “charge up” MO to ensure its sustainable journey through the 20242028 period? The hope is affirmative, as we embark on creating this history together. Thank you.

MO extends its influence beyond art and the MO Collection, engaging in various social initiatives as a cultural nonprofit. These include educational programs,

Over the span of five years, MO’s budget has grown from 1.2 to 2.7 million euros. While we could have opted for a simpler approach with a smaller budget, we deliberately chose the public museum model over a private one. Despite the inherent challenges, this model offers a more significant potential for social impact.

DONORS OF SEASON 2023—2024 Major partners

Institutional partners

Major patrons

Ambassadors

Friends

Eugenijus Arvydas Janulaitis

Asta ir Darius Vaičiuliai ***** Vilma ir Virginijus Striogos ***** Rasa Juodviršienė ***** Remigijui Juodviršiui atminti Mariaus Jakulio Jason fondas ***** Andrius Šlimas ***** Marius Markevičius ***** Justina ir Vladas Jurkevičiai **** Sergey ir Natallia Avetikov **** Aras Pranckevičius **** Jurgita Krasauskienė **** The Bajorunas/Sarnoff Foundation **** Irenai Galvanauskienei atminti LitCapital **** Kęstutis Ivanauskas ir Jurgis Jasinskas*** Agnė Jonaitytė ** Justas Janauskas ir Gabija Grušaitė ** Renata ir Rolandas Valiūnai Matilda ir Tomas Bučinskai Ramutis Petniūnas ir Daiva Tonkūnienė** Rytis ir Renata** Manvesta UAB Vilniaus aukcionas M. Čiuželio labdaros ir paramos fondas Tomas Banišauskas / Bored Panda

Rasa Klimavičiūtė**** Dovilė Burgienė**** Justė ir Darius Pinkevičiai*** Laimonas Belickas*** Darius Daubaras** Viktorija ir Simonas Jurgioniai*** Vilma Dagilienė** Vilija ir Gintautas Kvietkauskai*** Stede Ingram*** MAGNUS kredito unija*** Aurelija Kazlauskienė Janita ir Tauras Plungės Tautvydas Barštys ir Neringa Mataitytė** Daiva Rakauskaitė** Simona Skaisgirė ir Artūras Petronis Neringa ir Rolandas Vingiliai** Milda ir Arūnas Gečiauskai** Ieva Koreivaitė** Greta ir Tomas Šidlauskai Marijam Kamuntavičiūtė Renatas Andrejevas Gintautas ir Leta Galvanauskai Tomas Krakauskas Tomas ir Dovilė Virbickai Gabija ir Mantas Radvilos Tomas Milaknis Edita ir Domas Janickai

Patrons Žana ir Vladas Algirdas Bumeliai Ina ir Darius Zubai Justina ir Vladas Jurkevičiai

Information partners

Supporters Kęstutis Juščius Eugenija Sutkienė Irmantas Norkus ir Žaneta Norkienė

** - *****

Supports MO Museum for two - five years in a row More about the support to MO mo.lt/support * Nearly 50% of MO museum’s activities rely on support.

Partners

FINANCIAL REVIEW

FINANCIAL REVIEW 6%

Given our museum’s success, the question might be asked: Does MO face any challenges at all? It’s no secret that our museum’s budget is our eternal struggle. The budget has grown from 1.5 million to 3 million euro, because we’re always looking for ways to do more, to better respond to the needs of society, and to create and introduce innovation. We’ve succeeded in growing because of our increasing support, enduring partnerships and, of course, our visitors.

2023*

This year, our financial situation was relatively easier because we had one major exhibition for the year instead of the usual two. This was a considerable relief, not only because it reduced expenses, but also because the museum’s larger exhibition hall was only closed for five weeks instead of ten. But even under such circumstances the museum could not survive on its own without public funding and private donations, which together finance half of MO’s budget. Consistent support is especially important for us to be able to realize our plans and ideas: We’re grateful to the community of MO supporters and cherish their faithful friendship. We look ahead to the next year with our usual conservative outlook. We will return to mounting two major exhibitions for the year, continue existing projects, and will search for new ways to expand our work to address important issues. We hope that the support of our MO donor community will remain stable and continue to grow, by nurturing long-standing partnerships and seeking out new opportunities for collaboration in creating socially relevant projects.

26 %

28 % 27 %

Tickets

Exhibitions

Other activities

Costs of other activities

Private donations

Administration

Public funding

Facilities

36 %

Revenue

Expenses

2 630 000

2 310 000

Communication 23 %

* Figures for December are preliminary

21 %

17 %

16 %

2024

18 %

30 %

26 % 30 %

Tickets

Exhibitions

Other activities

Costs of other activities

Private donations

Administration

Public funding

Facilities

International donations

Communication

26 %

Revenue

Expenses

2 750 000

2 960 000

19 %

29%

15 %

FUTURE PLANS

FUTURE PLANS FOR 2024 Milda Ivanauskienė, MO Museum Director

Our exhibitions and events will continue to explore topical issues and raise important questions. Next year, our main exhibition We Don’t Do This will explore intimacy and sexuality in the three Baltic countries under Soviet rule and in the present day. When unresolved issues continue to divide society, it is essential to direct our focus to acute and significant subjects. In the exhibition that follows, From the Inside, we will focus on the positive effect art has on our psychological welfare and resilience. In a world of never-ending turmoil and with the increasing negative chronic impact stress plays on our health, we will seek to recall the positive influence of art and the potential role museums can play in this regard.

As we develop our network of exhibitions for the next five years, we continue to actively pursue opportunities for international collaboration. This year we met with many museum directors and curators and discussed as yet unexplored shared histories and stories that could increase our knowledge about one another and enrich the history of Western art.

We have noticed how, as the international art world reflects on the discourse of decolonization, our region often falls into a blind spot. This situation encourages us to seek change – and while it may be slow in coming, both on the political and cultural levels, we feel a great potential to contribute to such processes directly. One step in this direction is the Lithuanian Season in France in 2024. We will work with the Pompidou Modern Art Centre in Paris to co-organize an exhibition of Lithuanian art from the Pompidou Collection and advise on additional content. We hope that this collaboration in the form of an exhibition will resonate not only at the Pompidou Centre, but also at MO Museum itself. We will continue to devote considerable focus on education. We hope a wonderful opportunity in this regard will be the Millennium School (Tūkstantmečio mokyklos) Program, with which we will once again be touring Lithuania. We will use the Museum’s voice to pursue constructive dialogue with official institutions and advance our ideas and initiatives to promise public welfare. It’s important to cooperate and to create – together.

We will continue to work and ambitiously pursue our goals.

Photographers featured in this issue: Dainius Putinas Gediminas Bartuška Gediminas Gražys Gintarė Užtupytė

Mantas Repečka Rytis Šeškaitis

Judita Grigelytė