Contents
2024 in Review
Key Events in 2024
01 29
Sharing our experience in children’s emotional literacy development at the MusuemNext international conference
02 08
The launch, together with the British Council, of a threeyear educational program series entitled “Visual Thinking Strategy in Schools”, for teachers and ethnic minority schools
03 09
Opening of the exhibition “We Don’t Do This” in the main hall
03 20
Opening of the traveling exhibition “Vilnius Poker” in Šiauliai
04 11
Opening of the exhibition “Down the Rabbit Hole” in the Small Hall
04 24–25
Public meetings with sexual development expert Akvilė Giniota
05 09
Opening of the traveling exhibition “Vilnius Poker” in Panevėžys
02 12
Joined with other NGOs in an appeal addressed to the President and government regarding the removal of bureaucratic barriers to support
02 08
Opening of the installation Embodied Emotions in the museum atrium
01 30
Annual MO Museum Donors Evening
03 18
Launch of Back2School, a lecture series by Ričardas Jankauskas
04 18
The MO initiative to declare November 15th as Philanthropy Day in Lithuania is accomplished
04 15–05 05
A campaign together with photographer Neringa Rekašiūtė and the Sons & Daughters advertising firm to promote bolder discussions about sexuality
05 20
06 01
MO Young Critic’s Stipend announced at the Art Critics Awards
Visitors invited to explore the exhibition through a sensory tour entitled “Date with an Artwork”
06 24 –07
Summer camps for children
06 13–08 24
Traditional MO Outside summer concerts and poetry readings
07 20
Opening of “BAXT”, an exhibition of photographs by Andrew Miksys, at the Žagarė Synagogue
–07 19 for
08
Settling into the new MO storage facility, MO Betonas, in a former concrete factory
09 05
The traveling “Vilnius Poker” exhibition reaches its final stop in Marijampolė; Major Sponsor: TMV Foundation
09 09–10 18
Seniors invited to participate in exercises called “be neriMO” (No Worries)
09 13
Opening of an exhibition of works by men and women Lithuanian artists at the Lithuanian Season in France, in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou
10 12
Opening of the exhibition “From Within” in the Main Hall
10 20
A renewed Family Sundays program opened its doors to visitors
10 22
Fourth “It’s a Match” conference on art, business, and creativity
10 24
New regulation revoking the requirement for notarized contracts for donations up to 100,000 euro takes effect, thanks to an initiative launched in February by MO Museum.
11 14
Opening of the exhibition “Longing, Not Sure What For” in the Small Hall
11 07
Consultations with psychologists organized together with Jaunimo Linija (Youth Line)
10 30
Consultations with psychologists organized together with Jaunimo Linija (Youth Line)
10 25
Fourth Night at MO Museum for children
10 18
Celebration of MO Museum’s sixth birthday!
2024 in Review
Milda Ivanauskienė, MO Museum Director
One of the most important events in 2024 was that Lithuanian art became even more boldly and decisively part of the European art narrative: The exhibition “Lithuanian contemporary art from 1960 to today. Major donation” was mounted in Paris in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou. In addition, the works by Lithuanian artists exhibited at the Centre Pompidou became part of the collection of this leading international institution.
We continued our vision to engage in multicultural dialogue through the exhibitions, opening two exhibitions dedicated to Baltic art. What is important is that narratives based on these types of dialogues will endure and continue: Many new collaborative projects await, and a cooperation agreement signed between MO Museum and the Centre Pompidou has laid the foundation for new encounters between the collections of these two institutions.
This year, we continued to address what is important, yet not always convenient, and we also devoted attention to increasing the museum’s accessibility, responding to the needs of various visitors. It is heartening that the public sees and appreciates this effort. This year, we became the first cultural institution to be recognized at the Baltic Brand Awards. In Lithuania, we were named one of the Top 5 socially responsible brands, joining particularly notable companies that include Lithuanian National Radio and Television, Vinted, Swedbank, and Laisvės TV. When we speak about important subjects, we do so with humor: We were named among TOP3 brands with the best sense of humor in Lithuania, alongside the greats in telecommunications. This is an unprecedent recognition
for a cultural organization. Even though the MO brand is only six years old, it is already being compared to brands that have thrived in the market for decades, not to mention the enormous differences between NGO and corporate marketing budgets.
Our most prominent activity seeking societal change manifested in two of our major exhibitions mounted this year: “We Don’t Do This”, devoted to an open, reflective perspective on sexuality, gender roles and stereotypes (with an accompanying social campaign), and “From Within”, which combined art theory and psychology to articulate the potential of art museums for the improvement of emotional well-being.
One of the most essential impacts of MO Museum’s activity is in education. This year, the Millenium Schools project continued to expand, using innovative educational programs to reach children and teachers throughout Lithuania. In this uneasy world, one of the most important skills is critical thinking, which can be developed by integrating the methods of visual thinking strategy into formal education. We traveled across Lithuania not only with educational programs, but also with selections from the exhibition “Vilnius Poker”, presented in Šiauliai, Panevėžys, and Marijampolė.
We not only worked with teachers and students throughout Lithuania, but also with seniors, seeking to respond to the painful issue of loneliness among the elderly.
Another welcome achievement this year came in the field of philanthropy: November 15 was declared Philanthropy Day in Lithuania. In addition, one barrier identified by international institutions as hindering the growth of support levels in Lithuania was finally addressed: The Civil Code was revised to revoke a provision requiring the signing of notarized contracts for donations up to 100,000 euro.
Next year, we plan a special small exhibition devoted to video games, exploring them as visual culture and as a way to raise various social questions. A new major exhibition will touch upon issues related to the eternal questions of beauty, time, and love, showing how, over time, they take on not only a different visual expression, but also a different social approach. For today’s society, living in its bubbles and prone to polarization, this will be an important message about the relativity of indisputable truths.
When we opened MO Museum, we had two credos: to preserve what has been created, and to gather together all the works that had been hidden or negatively impacted by political circumstances and make them known to the world. This has been the strategy we envisioned from the start and we used all possible means to follow it. Our donation to the Centre Pompidou reflects the desire of all people in Lithuania that our art become a full-fledged part of international, European art.
Danguolė ir Viktoras Butkus
The year in numbers
*MO Museum is the first destination of choice for nearly one in three Vilnius residents
*More than one in two Vilnius residents have visited MO
*87% of Vilniusites know about MO Museum
148 443 Museum visitors
15 602
Children participating in educational programs
22 605
Adults participating in cultural educational events
20 268 Tour participants
30 147 e-Guide listeners
64 244 Facebook followers
29 727 Instagram followers
17 217 Newsletter subscribers
802 MOdernists
*Surveys of Vilnius residents between the ages of 16 and 55 about their visits to and views about cultural institutions, conducted by the KOG Institute for Marketing and Communication Sciences in September–October 2024
Awards
Baltic Brand Forum 2024 awards
The main focus of the advertising and marketing forum Baltic Brand Forum 2024 was devoted to the subject of humor and encouraging brands to use wittier content in their communications. Various awards were presented to brands. During a study conducted by Baltic Brands, nearly 600 brands from various categories were rated by some 3,000 respondents from the Baltic countries. We’re pleased that from such a large group, MO Museum made it into the Top 5 most socially responsible brands and brands with the best sense of humor!
DASA European Museum Academy Awards
This year, MO Museum became one of the five finalists for the DASA Award established by the European Museum Academy. This award is given annually in recognition of training opportunities and educational activities organized by museums. According to the awards committee, MO Museum is an example of how private initiative can play a decisive role in public culture. The committee stressed that the impact of this activity is felt not just in Vilnius, but throughout Lithuania, demonstrating how culture can promote relevant debate in society.
An historic MO Museum and Pompidou exhibition
The Season of Lithuania in France was officially opened on September 13 with an historic event: an exhibition mounted by the Centre Pompidou and MO Museum entitled “Lithuanian Art from 1960 to the Present Day. An Historic Donation.” This exhibition presented nationally significant works of art created by several generations of Lithuanian artists to French and global audiences.
The Centre Pompidou’s collection now includes some of the greatest examples of Lithuanian art, thanks to a donation from the MO Collection by Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus. This is an historic event: Works created by Lithuanian artists during the years of Soviet occupation have now joined the collection of one of the world’s most renowned modern art institutions.
This donation by Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus includes the most prominent works by artists Linas Leonas Katinas, Vincas Kisarauskas, Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė, Marija Švažienė, and Kazimiera Zimblytė, as well as drawings by Elvyra Kairiukštytė donated to the Centre Pompidou by Regina Norvaišienė. Seeking to preserve their artistic freedom during the occupation years, these artists often worked underground or masked their core ideas in metaphors, myths, and biblical allegories.
The Centre Pompidou also decided to acquire additional works presented at the exhibition by contemporary Lithuanian artists Andrius Arutiunian, Žilvinas Landzbergas, works created by Pakui Hardware artist Eglė Rakauskaitė, and Anastasija Sosunova. With their distinctive creative approach, these artists have gained international recognition and their contribution to the global art scene promises to continue to be significant.
Thanks to the MO Museum’s founders, exceptional works of Lithuanian art have now become part of the Pompidou collection – an event that is a symbolic gesture of the restoration of historical justice that returns Lithuania to its rightful place in art history
said Milda Ivanauskienė
Cooperation agreement signed with the Centre Pompidou
September 13 is also an important date because of another significant event: the signing of a cooperation agreement by the President of the Centre Pompidou, Laurent Le Bon, and the Director of the MO Museum, Milda Ivanauskienė. This agreement affirms the intent of MO Museum and the Centre Pompidou to organize an exhibition in Lithuania.
“We Don’t Do This”
March 9–September 8, 2024 Main Hall
Curators – Inga Lāce, Adomas Narkevičius, Rebeka Põldsam
Architects – Laura Linsi, Roland Reemaa
Graphic designer – Monika Janulevičiūtė
Coordinators – Marius Armonas, Kamilė Jagėlienė
Technician – Dominykas Šavelis
Research assistants – Diāna Lauriņa, Saule Ziziliauskas
During the Soviet occupation, sexuality was resolutely erased from the public sphere. According to an oft-repeated phrase that has become part of folklore, there was no sex in the Soviet Union. The exhibition “We Don’t Do This: Intimacy, Norms, and Desires in Baltic Art” was a fresh look at both known and still underappreciated Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian works by modern and contemporary artists exploring the culture of sexuality, family relationships, gender roles, and the transformations of these phenomena in the Baltic visual arts from the 1960s to the present day.
Why did sexuality have to be suppressed in the Soviet period and what forms of love were permissible? How do prevailing public concepts of intimacy, gender, love, and sexuality differ in the Baltic region today from previously held views? As part of this exhibition, we sought to find the answer to how the depiction of gender, family, and sexuality has changed over half a century and how that evolution was impacted by both alternating liberal and more restrictive norms during the Soviet period and later.
Performance artist Marina Abramović, who visited Lithuania in March, stressed that this exhibition was one of the best she’s seen in recent years.
I’m tired of the Western perspective in art and on all things. This exhibition is so vibrant – it addresses important subjects and connects the past with the present. It is especially worth seeing for the younger generation.
Major Partners
Informational Partners
Institutional PartnersExhibition Partner
To hear remarks given at the opening of the exhibition, visit:
Marina Abramović, performance artist
“From Within”
October 12, 2024–August 31, 2025 Main Hall
Curators – Aldona Dapkutė, Brigita Kaleckaitė, Deima Žuklytė-Gasperaitienė
Curator-Coordinator – Kamilė Jagėlienė
Architects – 2XJ (Laura Druktenytė, Jokūbas Jurgelis, Jūratė Volkavičiūtė)
Graphic designer – Akvilė Paukštytė
Composer – Karolina Kapustaitė
Technician – Dominykas Šavelis
Consultant – Eglė Beinorienė
“From Within” is the first exhibition of this scope in Lithuania to combine art history and psychology. Using these two disciplines, we encourage a reflection on the multifaceted impact of works of art. The tools of art history help us understand visual language, while psychology guides us toward self-analysis.
With this exhibition, we present a thematic rather than chronological view of modern and contemporary Lithuanian art created between the 1940s and the present day. The exhibition has been organized based on the personal structure model of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) and the vision of art therapy proposed by philosopher and writer Alain de Botton (b. 1969).
For a work of art to help us better understand ourselves and to feel its impact, the response of the viewer is vital. We invited visitors to sensitize their perspective and devote time to a dialogue, exploring their emotions, thoughts, and experiences with an open heart, to help them answer the questions: What is it that comes from within?
Major Partners
Informational Partners
Institutional Partners
Listen to remarks delivered at the exhibition’s opening:
“Down the Rabbit Hole”
April 11–November 3, 2024 Small Hall
Curators – Roots to Routes (Justė Kostikovaitė, Maija Rudovska, Merilin Talumaa)
Architect – Sigita Šimkūnaitė
Coordinator – Agnė Kuprytė
Graphic designer – Gailė Pranckūnaitė
Exhibition installed by Dominykas Šavelis
This joint project by MO and the curators collective Roots to Routes presented works of art created between 1970 and the present day in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, inviting visitors to reflect on how increasingly popular ideas about returning to nature and the practice of spirituality and a healthy lifestyle in contemporary society are often associated with conspiracy theories and alternative worldviews.
Exhibition partners
“Longing, Not Sure What For”
November 14, 2024–March 30, 2025 Small Hall
Curator – Marius Armonas
Coordinator – Agnė Kuprytė
Architect – Dominykas Šavelis
Graphic designer – Monika Janulevičiūtė
Exhibition partner
Is it possible to long for something without knowing exactly what for? Or to feel homesick while you’re actually at home? This precise feeling was given the name “solastalgia” by philosopher Glenn Albrecht in 2005, referring to emotional and existential anxiety in the face of climate change. It is the feeling of being at home and realizing that one’s sense of place is changing or has already changed irreversibly. Thorough a nostalgic and perhaps slightly naïve perspective, this exhibition attempts to grasp, with the tips of our thoughts and fingers, our multifaceted and paradox-filled relationship with nature, when one fabric interweaves both our admiration for and fear of nature, exploitation and love, facts and beliefs.
An installation “Embodied Emotions”
February 8–October 9, 2024 Atrium
The sensory installation entitled “Embodied Emotions” explored the limits of the visible body and used sound to delve into the connection between physical sensations and emotions. MO visitors were invited to embark on a journey to learn more about the body: exploring the intimate, usually unnoticed subtleties of human sensations and discover individual sensations and emotions.
Our young visitors were also invited to take part in creative exercises and virtual educational games in the MO atrium. With the help of MO Collection works of art, these activities helped them learn more about themselves and the world of their emotions.
Installation authors – DADADA studio
Sound artist – Bogusz Tworek
Installation volumes created by Liepa Aliukaitė MO Museum team – Karilė Mozerytė, Miglė Survilaitė, Dominykas Šavelis
03
Traveling Museum
Traveling “Vilnius Poker”
Šiauliai Art Gallery
March 20 – May 4
Panevėžys Civic Art Gallery
May 9 – June 16
Marijampolė Cultural Centre
September 5 – October 14
Exhibition director – Oskaras Koršunovas
Set designer – Gintaras Makarevičius
Curators – Dovilė Barcytė, Algė Gudaitytė
Exhibition designer – Liudas Parulskis
Exhibition composer – Antanas Jasenka
MO Museum has been touring around Lithuania since 2017, before it even opened its doors. Traveling educational programs for children and adults developed into traveling exhibitions touring various towns and cities in Lithuania. We continued this tradition in 2024, touring the country with selections from the major MO exhibition “Vilnius Poker”.
Consultants – Jūratė Čerškutė, Laima Kreivytė, Gintautas Mažeikis, Kasparas
Pocius, Almantas Samalavičius, Vladimiras Tarasovas
Traveling museum coordinators – Barbora Sakalauskaitė, Jurgita Zigmantė
Project financed by
Major Patron
Traveling exhibition partners
These exhibitions were complemented with unique local accents: The Panevėžys presentation included a work by MO Collection artist Vytautas Viržbickas; artist Živilė Žvėrūna added her own poker card to the Šiauliai presentation, contributing a new work of art specially created for this exhibition; and in Marijampolė we featured the photographs of local artist Remigijus Pačėsa.
In every city, we invited professionals working in the fields of culture, art, and education to participate in training exercises led by MO Museum educators, and in Panevėžys schoolchildren from the city and the surrounding area took part in art-based educational programs to develop critical thinking, communitybuilding, creativity, and communication. A total of 2,454 schoolchildren took part in 130 educational programs.
“BAXT” in Žagarė
Curator – Andrew Miksys
Consulting curator – Ugnė Paberžytė
Exhibition architect – Dominykas Šavelis
Exhibition coordinator – Barbora Sakalinskaitė
Exhibition designer – Akvilė Paukštytė
Essay author – Laimonas Briedis
“BAXT”, an exhibition of a photographic series by Andrew Miksys, was first mounted at MO Museum in 2022 and was featured in the legendary magazine Vogue as one of the world’s must-see exhibitions. That exhibition has now finally arrived where many of its images were created – the town of Žagarė.
This exhibition is a unique opportunity to reflect in a new way on the situation of Roma in Lithuania and Europe from an artistic, historical, social, and political perspective. “BAXT” invited viewers to critically assess the preconceived notions associated with this community and delve deeper into various points of view and life experiences.
This year, our traveling exhibitions welcomed
visitors from various Lithuanian towns and cities
The Collection
A new MO Collection storage facility –MO Betonas
Over time the works of the MO Collection have exceeded the existing storage capacity of the museum itself, and so it was decided to give them a new home. Thanks to founders Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus, a former concrete factory in Vilkpėdė has been converted into a new space that we have come to call “MO Betonas” – MO Concrete.
Two years passed from the project’s inception to the final result, with one entire year devoted to the installation of humidification, air-conditioning, and special fire-fighting equipment to protect and preserve the artworks. The project was implemented by the Do Architects firm.
During the conversion, the space was judged to be part of the industrial heritage and efforts were made to maintain its industrial identity, making only essential changes while preserving everything else. Ventilation pipe ends, remnants of machinery movement line drawings on the concrete floor – all of these building layers have a story to tell.
To date, some 200 works have been transferred to the new facility, with more MO Collection works to follow in the future.
Collection News
The MO Museum Collection is one of the largest private art collections in Lithuania, spanning the period from 1960 to the present day. It includes over 6,000 contemporary and modern Lithuanian works of art. In 2011, the Collection was designated as nationally significant. The Collection is regularly expanded to include new and relevant works by Lithuanian artists. This year, MO founders Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus added 27 new works to the Collection, including works by 7 new authors. As a result, we know have a Collection with over 6,000 works by 359 authors.
Mykolas Sauka
Vaikas su skyle, žiūrintis kairėn, (Child with Hole, Looking Downward) 2020–2022
The MO Collection has expanded to include works by Mykolas Sauka from an ongoing projected entitled Vaikų kambarys (Children’s Room), in which he examines the themes of otherness, deformation, and transformation, as well as the human relationship with body and gender. Sauka draws inspiration from religious and folk art – an influence that is also evident in his choice of technique: carved wooden sculptures.
Vytautas Kumža Fingertip, 2021
In his artistic work, Kumža explores how photography is constructed, seen, and perceived. Through various photographic means, he questions and constructs reality, delving into photographic images we see every day and recreating them.
Anastasia Sosunova D I Y, 2023
Sosunova’s work includes video stories, installations, graphic art, and sculpture, and she is inspired by personal stories and their connection to broader cultural, economic, and spiritual subjects. She devotes considerable attention in her work to communities and the bonds that shape them. DIY is an installation built around a video diary capturing travel to places of power in pursuit of transcendental experiences and to selfie sites, creating the “do it yourself” subculture.
Teodoras Kazimieras Valaitis Besilaukianti (Expecting), 1968
Sculptor and painter Teodoras Kazimieras Valaitis became known as an innovator, creating highly stylized and later abstract sculptures and objects. He was one of the first in Lithuania to begin creating kinetic sculptures. In his early works, Valaitis expanded upon the neoclassical style and was drawn to mythological themes and motifs, and later applied the principles of cubism, with some of his works displaying surrealistic elements.
Vladislovas Žilius
Baltijos gintarai / Baltijos saulė, (Baltic Amber/Baltic Sun) 1970
The paintings by graphic artist and painter Vladislovas Žilius created in the late 1960s and early 1970s display a vivid interest in optical art and his attempts to experiment using the spatial creation strategies typical of op art.
Ugnius Gelguda
Užsilikusi petarda tapo nelaimės priežastimi. (A Discarded Firecracker Caused an Accident), from the series Criminal Landscapes, 2010
In his photographic series Criminal Landscapes, Gelguda explores the relationship between image and text. He ponders what happens with the illustrations accompanying criminal stories in the press when they are detached from their text and context. Gelguda recreates images from landscapes in which one or another crime has taken place but does not depict the crime itself. The viewer, knowing or sensing that something horrible has happened in a given scene, is left to ponder these seemingly unremarkable landscapes.
A
Museum for All
Accessibility
We strive to make everyone’s visit to MO and their experience of art the smoothest and most convenient possible. We made considerable efforts toward this goal in 2024. We met and interacted with the Department of Disabled Affairs and the Lithuanian Association for the Deaf to listen to their needs and make changes.
Accessible museum spaces
We created a separate page on the MO Museum website where visitors can find all sorts of information about the museum’s accessibility. To avoid any anxiety over visiting a new space, guests can now review the museum’s floor plan, read about its social history, and learn more about what they can expect on their visit.
The museum’s spaces, exhibition halls, and events infrastructure have been adapted for people with disabilities, including through the installation of lifts and special toilets and access to a wheelchair for use inside the museum. We also welcome specially trained guide dogs at our museum.
Check out the MO accessibility page
Adapted events and educational programs
To find ways how we can be more accessible to visitors with different needs, we’ve translated our museum’s description and e-guides to our major exhibitions “We Don’t Do This” and “From Within” into Lithuanian Sign Language. Descriptions of these exhibitions have also been prepared in an Easy Read format. MOrathon announcements about the openings of major exhibitions as well as discussions and conversations with artists have been translated into Lithuanian Sign Language and broadcast live.
We’re very pleased that our museum has three educators capable of conducting educational activities with people with various disabilities.
Future plans
We will continue our cooperation with disabled communities and specialists to better respond to the real needs of our visitors and implement further changes. In the future, we plan to focus our attention on content accessibility: expanding the formats of educational programs and tours and integrating various interactive experiences into our visitor experience.
To ensure excellent interaction with all our visitors, we will conduct training and consultations for our employees and volunteers. We will invest in modern technology to help visitors with sensory or cognitive disabilities to experience the museum’s content in the most convenient and independent way possible.
More than a Museum
Sexual education campaign
A museum can be a safe space for talking about sexuality. We realized this after observing the public debate about sexual education in schools. When we opened the major MO exhibition “We Don’t Do This”, we began this discussion with adults who had grown up in an environment in which “that” wasn’t done, feeling shame and discomfort, and who now looked for an answers about how to properly speak with their children.
Together with social project creator and photographer Neringa Rekašiūtė and the advertising firm Sons & Daughters, we created a campaign to encourage the public to view the subject of sexuality in a simpler way, and to overcome fears and engage in a discussion. In addition, we organized a free series of meetings with Akvilė Giniota – author, sexual development expert, doctoral student in educology at Vilnius University, and the creator of the project “Ne kopūstų vaikai” (Not Cabbage Children).
You can view recordings and transcripts of these gatherings with Akvilė Giniota at:
Our thanks to the contributors to this project:
Akvilė Giniota
Neringa Rekašiūtė
Sons & Daughters
Gabriele Bernotaitė
Agnė Kaveckienė and Aja
Raimedas Latvis
Agnė Papievytė
Lukas Svirplys
Project supported by:
MO Museum on your screens
MO TV
MO Television has been broadcasting for three years now. This year, lovers of culture from around Lithuania continued to enjoy MO exhibitions, behind the scenes stories, and conversations with artists and cultural activities over all Cgates platforms.
LRTU
We began a new collaboration with LRTU, the Lithuanian public television channel for teenagers, which brought MO Museum into the TikTok forum for the first time. The campaign was supported by a live broadcast on the LRTU channel, in which sexual education expert Akvilė Giniota, together with Aisčius and Mija, talked about sexuality topics and broke myths by answering a number of questions that young people have. As we opened the major exhibition “From Within”, we once again invited audiences to take part in virtual TikTok conversations. This time, we were joined by Jaunimo Linija. Together with our conversation partners, we explored themes relevant to teenagers, such as their personal experiences and their relationships with parents – and their own screens.
DraugėsTV
The main MO exhibition “We Don’t Do This” also appeared on the DraugėsTV YouTube channel. Drag queens Aura More and Edma visited the exhibition and shared their views on intimacy and social norms. The visit was full of unexpected discoveries and inspiration, and presenters even wanted to try on some of the pieces or even hang them up at home!
Art stories together with LRT public television
Together with LRT Lithuanian public television, we continued our project about art and its creators. This time, we presented a visual story series entitled „Menas žvilgsniui į save“ – Art for Introspection. We invited viewers to meet artists whose work offers an unexpected glimpse into oneself – into the inner world of both viewers and the artists themselves.
07
Culture and Health
MO Museum’s experience has become an example for colleagues abroad
As we begin our sixth year of activity, the promotion of emotional health and literacy remains a priority for MO Museum, and we are extremely pleased that MO Museum’s director, Milda Ivanauskienė, was invited to share MO’s experience in the development of emotional literacy among children and teenagers at one of the largest international museum sector conferences, MuseumNext, devoted to the issues of health and emotional well-being. In Ivanauskienė’s view, “interest in the potential of museums to improve the emotional health and resilience of contemporary society is constantly growing, which is why it is no coincidence that one of the largest international museum sector conferences was specially devoted to the issues of health and emotional well-being.”
Presenting at the Culture for Health and Wellbeing conference
On November 14–15, 2024, we were invited to share our experiences in the field of emotional health improvement at the Culture for Health and Wellbeing conference in Bielsko-Biała, Poland.
This event, jointly organized by the city of Bielsko-Biała and the Culture Action Europe association, welcomed specialists and artists in the fields of culture and art to examine how culture and art can help improve physical, mental, and social health. In addition, the conference marked the launch of the EU CultureForHealth program.
MO Museum Education Project Coordinator Karilė Mozerytė participated in a discussion on the impact of culture on youth emotional health and shared MO’s experience in this field, reporting on efforts to develop emotional intellect in MO educational programs as well as the studies carried out in 2022 to substantiate the impact of these programs.
Discussions with psychologists
MO Museum invited psychologists, psychotherapists, educators, artists, and other insightful participants to three evening discussions in November organized together with the Jaunimo Linija hotline. Within the context of our exhibition “From Within”, we explored subjects related in one way or another to emotional health: about how art can be helpful during development, searching for one’s purpose, or in critical situations when life seems to have lost its meaning. We talked deeply, openly, sensitively, seriously and not so seriously, hoping to open up new perspectives and meaningful insights.
“Be
neriMO” – activities for seniors
In 2024, we invited seniors to experience a different way of learning about art. These activities were organized for elderly people to help ease their loneliness and improve their psychological well-being.
Through works of art and the help of MO Museum educators and psychologists, we not only created a very special space for interaction, but also showed how art can help improve well-being, control emotions, improve self-understanding, and expand our circle of friends. This project was organized in Vilnius, Marijampolė, Šiauliai, and Panevėžys, and welcomed a total of 150 seniors.
At the closing event in Vilnius, we invited all the project’s participants to join in, and presented the project’s good practices and study results, providing recommendations and having a good time together!
Project financed by
This project was funded by the Public Health Promotion Fund, administered by the Ministry of Health.
Education and MO
This year, after twelve years of debate and work, UNESCO adopted the Framework for Arts and Culture Education, which addresses embedding of cultural development into formal education. This goal is also being
increasingly articulated in Lithuania. MO educational programs and activities are one of the museum’s key points of impact, and we have worked toward this end since the opening of MO.
MO and Erudito Licėjus: A Synergy of Formal and Informal Development
Developing the most important competencies for the 21st century – creativity, critical thinking, and the ability to cooperate and communicate – is one of the fundamental goals of MO Museum. We seek to realize this aim together with a major MO Museum partner, Erudito Licėjus.
This year, we conducted a program for emotional literacy development with lyceum students, devoted to developing social and emotional competencies of school children through an encounter with art. We invited teachers to cultural development activities, where we tried various creative educational activities together and learned to integrate them into development content. In MO Museum’s spaces, students from the main classes presented annual art projects which this year explored various subjects dealing with emotional and psychological health.
This enduring partnership helps us seek out creative innovations in education. It is a kind of laboratory, in which we create and search for new forms and ideas in an effort to make development inclusive and original, and how to provide opportunities for self-expression as part of the development process says Erudito Licėjus Director Nerijus Pačėsa
Major partner
The Millenium Schools Cultural Development Program
The application of visual thinking strategies in literature classes is a cultural development approach developed for MO Museum’s Millenium Schools Program. Its goal is to develop creativity and cultural, social, emotional, knowledge, and communication skills based on visual thinking strategy and applying them in literature classes.
The program devotes considerable attention to the training and preparation of teachers as well as practical knowledge and the ability to consistently apply newly acquired knowledge in the development process, combining different subjects and capturing the attention of students.
Education and MO
Visual Thinking Strategy in schools
MO continued its partnership with the British Council in 2024, which will continue to work with Lithuanian schools and students for three more years. We launched a series of educational modules to continue a program of teacher training opportunities and our work with ethnic minority schools.
From February to May, one hundred teachers from around Lithuania attended MO training classes in the widely applied visual thinking strategy (VTS) method to help develop critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intellect. Students at the Klaipėda Progymnasium, meanwhile, tried this method out in practice, adapting it in their literature classes.
Using VTS, we help students at ethnic minority schools improve their Lithuanian language skills and expand their vocabulary through the analyzing of works of art.
552 teachers took part in this professional development program
I realized that art has no limits.
After these exercises, I learned that we can all work together.
I noticed that, when we’re here, we all feel happy.
Thoughts shared by students
Project Partner
“MOkytojo
pasas”
(Teacher’s Pass) Conference
This is an annual event at MO held for the “MOkytojo pasas” (Teacher’s Pass) community. The gathering actualizes subjects important for education and culture, hosts presentations, and organizes discussions. This year, the meeting addressed the subject “Engaging adolescents in art education through formal development activities”. Teachers heard presentations on creative young people, on the benefits provided by the visual thinking strategy for the improvement of language skills, and about development through theatre and dance. At the end of the program, teachers participated in an experiential education at the museum’s major exhibition “From Within”.
Training for cultural institution employees
This year, we shared our experiences at training exercises for employees of Lithuanian cultural institutions organized by the National Martynas Mažvydas Library. Jurgita Zigmantė, head of education at the MO Museum, and educator Laura Zabilienė spoke about working as teachers and about the educational activities organized for children and youth. The educators talked about the active Teacher’s Pass community, the teacher qualification improvement program, the integration of visual thinking strategies in lessons, and emotional literacy and the Millennium Schools program.
09 Cultural Development
For Families and Children
Family Sundays
At MO Museum, Sundays are for families. This spring, we invited parents and their children to an experiential educational activity about emotions, and in the autumn, we presented an even broader program for a more diverse audience of children. We invited families to bring even their youngest children, from 6 months to 12 years of age, and offered all of them something to do.
We not only continued the educational programs we began in the spring, but we also watched performances for toddlers, played theatre music games, and explored our emotions in educational exercises within the MO Museum’s major exhibition “From Within”.
Through creative exercises and games, we learned about a broader range of emotions and how to recognize them in faces, and we also studied how works of art affect the world of our emotions and created stories and acted them out.
Educational exercises sponsored by MO Museum and the Kazickas Family Foundation
MO Museum and the Kazickas Family Foundation are jointly sponsoring an initiative for socially vulnerable groups of young people, inviting them to take part in free MO educational programs or visit the museum on their own. The initiative’s target audience is young people living in remote areas of Lithuania who may not have the opportunity to visit cultural institutions to learn more about modern art. This includes young people from children’s homes and youth day centers, care home residents, and those living in small settlements, particularly those far away from Vilnius. This joint educational program has already reached over 5,000 young people and visited nearly fifty Lithuanian towns and villages.
Project Sponsor
MO Children’s Summer Schools and Night at the Museum
Children’s camps were organized in June and July – a camp for art and animation and a creativity camp. During the camp program, actors Eimantas and Marija worked with children to explore all sorts of artistic and creative forms, filmed movies, created stories, held a picnic in the city, and created their own games and played them. Children attending the creativity camp not only learned about art stories, but also created their own, learning from examples in film and arranging their own unique film script, improvising and editing. The camp eventually ended in a festival of animated films where each participant had the chance to present their own creation!
Night at MO Museum is a unique evening event for children. We invited our young museum friends to the now traditional night adventure at MO Museum. Participants explored works of art and exhibitions from new perspectives, took part in creative exercises and even a treasure hunt, and listened to music, songs, and stories – all after normal museum working hours. Snug in their pajamas and sleeping bags, everyone was treated to an entirely new way of experiencing art!
Educational activities sponsor
For Adults
“MOmandiruotė” team-building events
MOmandiruotė is a way to build teams through art. It is a journey of discovery, only without luggage, stress, and passports. This trip requires no special preparation or explanation. During a MOmandiruotė we explore works of art and share what we see in them. Using the visual thinking strategy methods, we analyze artwork and link this experience with the basics of team work. By speaking, listening, and paying attention, we learn more about our own colleagues.
MOrathons
The tradition of hosting cultural festivals called MOrathons at the opening of every major exhibition continued this year as well: At the opening of “We Don’t Do This”, we discussed how the depiction and perception of sex, family, and sexuality has changed over half a century, listened to discussions, danced with the drag queens of Balaganza, and sung along with Rūta Mur.
At the MOrathon held for the opening of “From Within”, we began an exploration of various subjects: from art to anxiety, to happiness, loneliness and tears. During Nancie Naive’s performance, we saw an enchanting glamour mask, sung with joy along with the band Garbanotas, and explored our own inner worlds and those of others.
MO Outside
The free summer events series MO Outside, launched five years ago with smaller events, has been expanding its use of the museum grounds during the summer. Poetry readings allow audiences to learn more about the diversity of subjects, forms of expression, rhythm, and harmony of contemporary authors. The largest summer concerts to date featured performances by renowned Lithuanian alternative musicians. The musical pulse around MO Museum was also supported by Radio Vilnius, which established its summer residence in the museum’s sculpture garden.
Back2school with Ričardas Jankauskas
We once again invited visitors to spend their Monday evenings at MO Museum. This spring, we continued our exploration of the expressionist art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lecture series by Ričardas Jankauskas not only taught us the ABCs of expressionism and its origins and best-known representatives, but also broadly explored the influence of this modern art movement on various fields of culture and art. We can find manifestations of expressionism in music, film, photography, and even the art of dance.
Meeting Around Art
Begun in 2023, we once again invited all those wanting to expand their horizons and experience exhibitions in a different way to a date with works of art. The mood for the gathering was set at the MO Bistro and by questions posed by experienced moderators who managed to motivate even the quietest participants. At the exhibition “We Don’t Do This”, we engaged in a lively debate, explored works of art, and discussed how differently each of us sees them, and tried to understand why. And most importantly – we shared our thoughts with one another.
MO Communities and Reviews
Volunteers Guides and educators MO team
Teacher’s Pass community Virtual MO community Families
Patrons, sponsors, partners, ambassadors, friends MOdernists
Families Artists
Art historians, museum professionals
People are talking
The audio guide beautifully focused my attention on the idea itself, leading me through a journey of impressions, guiding me to the main ideas of the exhibition’s creators, and never let me get distracted or lose focus. Those two hours were so enriching for me, a simple consumer of art… The exhibition was wonderful!
The exhibition was impressively subtle and full of expression from a different angle – one I never even knew existed.
This is a place of constantly changing art. Every time there is something surprising, shocking, and inspiring!
I loved it. think, laugh feel sorry, hope, no mood you
Rasa iš Panevėžio
Vidas
Ramutė
Haroldas and Brigita
The “We Don’t Do This” exhibition opened my eyes and showed me who I am. It was beautiful, provocative, relevant and, most importantly, a real exhibition.
it. It made you laugh at yourself, sorry, give yourself no matter what you come in with…
As it has been, MO remains the most progressive museum in Lithuania, constantly surprising with its professionally selected exhibits and exhibitions.
Rytis
WONDERFUL! An emotional jolt! So relevant for women: “Who am I in the family?”
Rūta
Probably my favorite museum in the world. The exhibitions are always perfectly curated and tell you a story about art, often about Lithuania and/or the Baltics, and, of course, about the subject of the exhibition
Everything is in Lithuanian and English, including the amazing audio guide that you can access directly from your phone.
Urdnot Throx
Augustė and Airida
Philanthropy Day
In 2024, we once again devoted an entire week in November to thanking our greatest MO supporters –our community of patrons and donors. But this year was quite special.
Thanks to an initiative by MO, November 15, 2024 was officially declared Philanthropy Day in Lithuania for the first time ever. On November 10, 2022, MO Museum wrote an appeal to the President’s Office, the government, and the Ministries of Culture, Education, Science and Sport with a proposal to mark International Philanthropy Day in Lithuania. November 15 was chosen because it is the day in many countries, including the United States and Canda, when International Philanthropy Day is celebrated.
We hope this will be an opportunity to address the importance of support not only for culture, but for the entire NGO sector.
This year, we took our expression of gratitude outside to be even more visible.
Donors and Partners
Mindaugas Morkūnas MO Development Director, Board Member
This year reaffirmed that MO is much more than a museum and that our activities range far beyond the physical walls of the museum or the limits of the cultural field.
In addition to mounting exhibitions, MO organized social campaigns, earned several significant awards in the areas of marketing and social responsibility, and also actively worked to initiate improvement in the philanthropic field in Lithuania. Efforts undertaken since the museum’s founding produced at least two achievements in legislation concerning philanthropy. Thanks to an initiative by MO, November 15 will from this year forward be officially known as Philanthropy Day in Lithuania. We hope that this will offer new opportunities around the country to speak more about philanthropy and its traditions both among donors and recipient communities.
This year is also historic for another reason. Together with its partners, MO Museum was able to convince the government and parliament to remove the legal requirement of concluding a notarized contract in Lithuania for financial donations up to 100,000 euro. We are grateful that this initiative was joined by the National NGO Coalition, the NGO Law Institute, Blue/Yellow, the Lithuanian Red Cross, the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the Lithuanian football clubs Žalgiris and Vilnius Rytas, the portal Aukok.lt, the M. Ciuzelis Charity and Support Foundation, Jaunimo Linija, UAB Darius Zubas Holding, and the Lithuanian Business Confederation.
We hope that, in the future, with the help of our partners and the MO Museum community of supporters, we will be able to contribute to more initiatives to improve the philanthropic and NGO sector environment in Lithuania.
Only together, with support and encouragement, can we accomplish so much and more. That is what we wish for you and ourselves in 2025.
MO Donor community
Major partners
Institutional partners
Information partners
Partners
* Nearly 50 % of MO museum’s activities rely on support. More about support to MO: mo.lt/support
Major patrons
Arvydas Janulaitis
In memory of MO sponsor Alvyda Janulaitienė
Ekaterina and Žilvinas Mecelis
Patrons
Žana and Vladas Algirdas Bumelis
Staticus Group
Kazickas Family Foundation
Naresta
Ina and Darius Zubas
Supporters
Irmantas Norkus and Žaneta Norkienė
Eugenija Sutkienė
TMV Foundation
Justina and Vladas Jurkevičius
Janina Muraškienė
Roma Puišienė
Aušra and Ričardas Čepas
Aras Pranckevičius
Rytis and Renata
Ramanta Gargasaitė and Rolandas Andrulis
Ambassadors
Asta and Darius Vaičiulis *****
Vilma and Virginijus Strioga *****
Rasa Juodviršienė *****
Remigijui Juodviršiui atminti
Marius Jakulis Jason Foundation *****
Andrius Šlimas *****
Marius Markevičius *****
Sergey and Natallia Avetikov *****
Jurgita Krasauskienė *****
The Bajorunas/Sarnoff Foundation *****
In memory of Irena Galvanauskienė
LitCapital *****
Kęstutis Ivanauskas and Jurgis Jasinskas ****
Vilniaus aukcionas **
Manvesta UAB **
Ramutis Petniūnas and Daiva Tonkūnienė **
Agnė Jonaitytė **
Justas Janauskas and Gabija Grušaitė **
Tomas Banišauskas / Bored Panda **
Renata and Rolandas Valiūnas
Matilda and Tomas Bučinskas
MC Charity Foundation
Kornelijus Čelutka
Magdalena Sabalė
Ieva and Jonas Sabaliauskas
Lietpak
Martynas Samauskas
Vilija and Gintautas Kvietkauskas
Friends
Rasa Klimavičiūtė *****
Justė and Darius Pinkevičius *****
Dovilė Burgienė *****
Viktorija and Simonas Jurgionis ****
Stede Ingram ****
MAGNUS kredito unija ****
Tautvydas Barštys and Neringa Mataitytė ***
Milda and Arūnas Gečiauskas ***
Ieva Koreivaitė ***
Daiva Rakauskaitė ***
Neringa and Rolandas Vingilis ***
Laimonas Belickas ***
Darius Daubaras ***
Vilma Dagilienė **
Greta and Tomas Šidlauskas **
Leta and Gintautas Galvanauskas **
Tomas Krakauskas **
Tomas and Dovilė Virbickas **
Gabija and Mantas Radvilos **
Renatas Andrejevas
Tomas Milaknis
Edita and Domas Janickas
Marijam Kamuntavičiūtė
Aurelija Kazlauskienė
Janita and Tauras Plungė
Simona and Dalius Neliubšys
Monika Skaržauskaitė
Brazzi
Aušra and Arūnas Eitutis
Evelina and Donatas Dailidė
** - ***** Supports MO Mus eum for two - five years in a row More about support to MO: mo.lt/support
12 Budget
Budget commentary
In 2024, MO Museum’s revenue reached 3 million euro. Expenditure increased due to larger exhibition budgets, additional projects such as the exhibition at the Centre Pompidou, the traveling museum program, events devoted to improving the emotional health of seniors, and other undertakings.
We welcome the opportunities provided by public funding to carry out our mission, and we are grateful for the growing support of private donors – all of which allows us to do even more and to be bolder in our plans for the future.
In 2025, we will present one major exhibition and a new multifaceted challenge – a small exhibition dedicated to video games – and we will be particularly focused on working with schools, with the Millennium Schools project reaching its culmination.
Tickets
Other activities
Private donations
Public funding
International donations
* Figures for December are preliminary
Budget 2024* Budget 2025
Tickets
Other activities
Private donations
Public funding
International donations
Photographers featured in this publication:
Adas Vasiliauskas
Dainius Čėpla
Dainius Putinas
Domas Rimeika
Edvardas Tamošiūnas fotopolis.lt
Gediminas Bartuška
Gediminas Gražys
Gediminas Kartanas
Greta Skaraitienė
Judita Grigelytė
Mantas Puida
Radvilė Juozapaitytė
Rytis Šeškaitis
Saulius Prapiestis
Tautvydas Stukas
Ugnė Henriko
Translator
Darius Sužiedėlis
Editor
Audra Kairienė