Trip to Köln with “10th Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2024”

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10th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2024 
To Be” in Köln

 

Time: 19-20 October, 2024  
Location:  Vilnius – Berlin – Cologne

On the morning of October 19, I loaded the artist’s books in my car and started my journey to Cologne, Germany. It is about 1650 km one way. On the morning of October 21, Monday, I have to exhibit the “10th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2024” at the Art and Museum Library of the City of Cologne, Germany.

After 12 hours of economic driving on Polish roads (140-150 km/h), I arrived at the hotel in Berlin. Driving calmly, I thought about the fact that my cargo of art costs 75,000 euros… and only God protects it from danger. But if He protects, He protects, it’s nothing to worry about. I didn’t sleep well at night in the hotel, it always seemed that those poor people who were sitting in the park drinking beer near my parked car were looking at my cargo of art. Or maybe it was just the full moon looking out the window at the curate, who was distracted in bed. Or maybe I read too much of Hemingway’s stories about smugglers in Cuba and their misadventures.

In the morning, thank God, the cargo was untouched. I came to Berlin not only because it is a city on the way to Cologne, but also to see the exhibition “A Different Impressionism. International Printmaking from Manet to Whistler” at the Graphic Cabinet / Kupferstichkabinett.

What graphics did the Impressionists create? This is a question that interested me. Why I don’t know much about it. And if I don’t know, isn’t it time to find out.

The exhibition is small, but amazing. Well-made exposition, explanatory texts, wonderful prints. An excellent example of how to professionally organize exhibitions. Even after more than a hundred years, the prints look very professional. It is wonderful to discover prints of such art masters as C. Corot, P. Signac, C. Pissarro, E. Manet, E. Degas, J. Pennel and others. They created those prints only because someone invited them to create, to try a new art form, to experiment, to do something they had not done before.

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“It is atmospheric moods that this different Impressionism – beyond painting – brings to paper in new or rediscovered printing techniques. Artists depict impressions of shadows, steam and smog, mist and rain, night and electric light. They experiment with the proto-photographic technique of cliché-verre and use the sun to expose their hand-drawn glass-plate negatives. In the abstract black and white of etching, they draw vibrating lines to capture fleeting reflections of light on a moving water surface. The portrayal of shadows, of immateriality, entices lithographers, in particular, to create picturesque and mysterious impressions.” https://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/a-different-impressionism/

After the exhibition, it was necessary to calm down and drink a double espresso. I was full of emotions.

From Berlin, the cargo of art had to be transported across Germany to the city of Cologne. But no matter how fast you drive on the German autobahn, no matter how fast everyone is driving like they’re being chased by the American police, (and driving in darkness feels like you’re in a movie, in a race where everyone is rushing to the unknown, and you’re in a hurry, but maybe you know where you’re going…), but you still moving too slowly because there’s a lot of road maintenance on the road.

You reach Cologne in the darkness, maybe not in the darkness, because the full moon is shining. Hotel next to the cathedral, next to the Cologne Cathedral mystically illuminated by moonlight.

30 years… 30 years ago I came to Germany for the first time, to an art residency near Berlin. 30 years ago I hitchhiked from Berlin to Cologne. The “West meets East” exhibition was held here in the Museum Ludwig.

And now I’m here again. I make the exhibition, the “10th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2024” in the Library of the Museum Ludwig…

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Tomorrow I will have to install it. In Cologne. In the Library of the Museum Ludwig, in Kunst- und Museumsbibliothek der Stadt Köln.

Driver-Curator Prof. Vasiliunas

 

© Artist’s Book Creators 2024