On Friday, 18 May 2018, at 18:00, a joint exhibition of artists from the three Baltic countries, the 3FREE art project, dedicated to the centenaries of the three Baltic States, is opening at the KCCC Exhibition Hall (Didžioji Vandens st. 2, Klaipėda) as part of the International Museum Night Events.
On Friday night, the graphic artist Jūratė Rekevičiūtė, Latvian artist Vika Eksta, and Estonian Alas Paldrokas, known under the artistic pseudonym Anonymous Boh, will be presenting personal exhibitions at the Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre (KCCC) Exhibition Hall. On Saturday, numerous unique events under the international art project “3FREE” will take place.
“The artists of the three Baltic countries have been cooperating for a long time – the three means more fun,” says Ignas Kazakevičius, the project curator and director of the KCCC, “We, the three rather dissimilar countries, have had long historical interconnections that brought our cultures together. We have always been a part of the map of Europe, yet, the vectors of freedom had been directed towards the west. Today, like a hundred years ago, freedom obviously needs to be fought for. Not by all at once but separately. After all, one’s freedom is not equivalent to the other’s freedom. More importantly, someone’s freedom should not become another one’s captivity. Finding common ground is easier for the three – they just need to talk.”
The KCCC Exhibition Hall will open another joint exhibition, in which works will be displayed by three authors from each of the Baltic states. Participants in the exhibition: Severija Inčirauskaitė, Kristina Inčiūraitė, Žygimantas Augustinas (Lithuania), Kristaps Epners, Ivars Drulle, Vilnis Putrāms & Vladimir Jakushonok (Latvia), Taje Tross, Leonhard Lapin and Peeter Allik (Estonia). The International Museum Night presents: two tours with the curators and artists of the exhibition, surprising performances by Estonian artists, educational programme, and a night live concert.
According to the event curator I. Kazakevičius, the Lithuanian-Latvian-Estonian art project 3FREE is a conversation among the art field players: artists, curators and organizers, journalists and analysts, art experts and art critics, art lovers, observers, and evaluators, about the system and hierarchy of freedom.
“Culture is more than art. Culture encompasses any and all our advancements: science and technology, education and schooling, traditions and ethics, fashion, design, urbanism, mutual respect, and understanding. All of this might be called a social foundation – a culture of communication. It alone is the totality of mutual and international cooperation values, and we are ready to defend them. When developing the 3FREE project, we have considered this aspect of freedom that unites us all,” I. Kazakevičius presents the idea of the event.
“I believe that one can feel inner freedom even in extremely unfavourable external conditions, or vice versa. A great number of current and past examples demonstrate it. Sometimes, a harsh political system, the dictatorship stimulates the formation of a very strong underground culture, for example, Russiatoday or during the Soviet period. Talking about culture, boundaries, and time in the context of our project, my choice is based on a very specific feeling of the Latvian people for the land, their perception of culture and time. I think, the artworks of Vika Eksta and Kristaps Epners are a good example,” says Liena Bondarė, the curator of the Latvian artists at the art project 3FREE curators’ debate on the connection between the phenomenon of freedom and art.
Perhaps, freedom is a matter of arrangement? Sacrificing a part of one’s convictions in the name of freedom? “Actually, I would not call it a sacrifice,” says the head of the Estonian delegation, artist Alas Paldrokas.”In fact, I am here to support the society as much as I can do. If a patient is afraid of treatment and attempts to terminate the process of surgery, the physician must do so under pressure.”
On Friday, 18 May 2018, at 18:00, presentation of the 3FREE project and the exhibition opening at the KCCC Exhibition Hall (Didžioji Vandens st. 2, Klaipėda).
The event will be attended by the Minister of Culture of theRepublicofLithuania Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson, representatives of the seat port authority and culture, artists of theBaltic States.
