Exhibitions in the apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys
Author: Dovile Tumpytė
Keywords: abstract art, apartment exhibition, documentary film, poetry, pop art
- Still from the film Opening of the Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė Exhibition at the Apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, 1971. Filmed by Vladas Vildžiūnas (courtesy of Vladas Vildžiūnas).
- Still from the film Opening of the Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė Exhibition at the Apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, 1971. Filmed by Vladas Vildžiūnas (courtesy of Vladas Vildžiūnas).
- Still from the film Opening of the Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė Exhibition at the Apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, 1971. Filmed by Vladas Vildžiūnas (courtesy of Vladas Vildžiūnas).
- Still from the film Opening of the Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė Exhibition at the Apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, 1971. Filmed by Vladas Vildžiūnas (courtesy of Vladas Vildžiūnas).
- Still from the film Opening of the Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė Exhibition at the Apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, 1971. Filmed by Vladas Vildžiūnas (courtesy of Vladas Vildžiūnas).
- Still from the film Opening of the Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė Exhibition at the Apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, 1971. Filmed by Vladas Vildžiūnas (courtesy of Vladas Vildžiūnas).
Date: 1967–75
Participants: Valentinas Antanavičius (1936), Linas Katinas (1941), Vincas Kisarauskas (1934-1988), Vytautas Šerys (1931-2006), Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė (1933-1999), Vladislovas Žilius (1939), and others
Organizers: Judita and Vytautas Šerys
Location: The apartment of Judita and Vytautas Šerys, Vilnius
Exhibitions were held at the home of the museum worker Judita Šerienė and the artist Vytautas Šerys between 1967 and 1975. This was the first private, unofficial, and unsanctioned exhibition space in Soviet Lithuania. Šerienė worked in the exhibition department of the Art Exhibition Hall[1] at the time, and had access to avant-garde works that were inconsistent with the dominant communist ideology and consequently were not included in official exhibitions. These works were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions organized at the home of Šerys, which were open to a circle of like-minded visitors who exchanged information about unofficial cultural phenomena by word of mouth. The exhibitions at the Šerys home featured works by Valentinas Antanavičius, Linas Katinas, Vincas Kisarauskas, Vytautas Šerys, Kazimiera (Kazė) Zimblytė, Vladislovas Žilius, and others, which were stylistically close to the language of Abstract, Op, and Pop art, or explored other modern ideas and forms of expression. In addition to the exhibitions, the Šerys home hosted improvised poetry readings. It attracted students and intellectuals of the time—artists, writers, and theater people.
[1] The Art Exhibition Hall, opened in 1967, was the most modern and important space for rotating exhibitions in Lithuania. In 1992 it was renamed the Contemporary Art Centre.