Major new modern art museum opens in Vilnius

Lithuania’s latest modern art institution has opened its doors with a four-day event celebrating the country’s best modern artists.

Formerly known as the Modern Art Centre, the new MO Museum will dedicate itself to exploring Lithuanian art from the 1950s to the present day.

MO Museum is the personal initiative of Lithuanian scientists and philanthropists Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus. The collection, contains more than 5,000 works including paintings by Vincas Kisarauskas, Arvydas Saltenis and Kostas Dereskevicius, photographs by Antanas Sutkus and video by Deimantas Narkevicius.

The museum opened its doors to the public on October 18 in the presence of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

“MO Museum is about modernists. It is not about a specific ideology, movement or group. Anyone who is open-minded and forward-looking can be a modernist. The idea behind the opening four-day event is to build an interdisciplinary community based on collaboration and exchange of ideas,” said the museum’s management in a statement.

The new museum building, designed by Studio Libeskind, who describe their work as bringing together the past and the present:

“With a new public piazza located steps away from the historic medieval city, the 3,100 sq m museum stands as an expression of Vilnius’s past and present. MO Museum is conceived as a cultural gateway connecting the 18th century grid to the medieval walled city. The concept is inspired by the historic gates of the city and references the local architecture both in form and materials.”

The opening event programme will include concerts, performances, lectures, workshops, discussions, and meetings with artists as well as the museum’s founders.