A forgotten peasant microstate, rap encased in ice, and a salamander colony in Italy: what to expect at the Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art

Curated and Open Call Programmes

This year’s Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art comprises two strands: a programme of invited artists curated by artistic director Neringa Bumblienė, and a programme of works selected through an open call by an international jury. Events will take place at the National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Royal Theatre, the Composers’ House, Art Factory Loftas and Elastica nightclub.

‘This year’s VB programme ranges from musical performances and works rooted in artistic research to conceptual and poetic pieces experimenting with the latest technologies. The artists recognise the complexity of the historical moment we are living through and respond to it. Their work is marked by focus and care, as well as an attentiveness to light, our surroundings and the joy of discovery,’ says Neringa Bumblienė, the biennial’s artistic director and curator.

The Curated Programme features the Italian artist duo Invernomuto, whose work is co-produced with Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, and Raimundas Malašauskas, whose performance is co-produced with the public institution Autarkija and Erik Vojevodin. The Open Call Programme presents works by Joelis Aškinis, Iceboy Violet and Ella Skinner, Gosia Lehmann, and Olia Sosnovskaya.

The open call selection jury comprised Charles Aubin, co-director of Centre Pompidou × Jersey City (US); João Laia, artistic director of the Department of Contemporary Art of the Municipality of Porto (Portugal); and Neringa Bumblienė.

The theme of the second Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art is ‘Glyph’. Derived from Greek, the term refers to a carved or inscribed sign that conveys letter, number, sound or an idea.

Opening Weekend Highlights

The opening weekend of VB26 invites audiences to the National Gallery of Art and Art Factory Loftas. At 21.00 on Friday 20 November, Loftas will host Ecdysis by UK-based rapper and performance artist Iceboy Violet and artist and scenographer Ella Skinner. This ongoing collaboration brings together sound and image in a performance staged inside an ice sculpture that transforms in response to heat, light, and bodily movement. Presented in Vilnius in its second iteration, the performance draws on the controversial British writer Anna Kavan’s 1967 novel Ice, set in an apocalyptic world engulfed by a monolithic ice shelf following nuclear war. Tickets are available at Kakava.lt/en.

On 19, 20, 21, 22 and 26 November, visitors to the National Gallery of Art can experience Dilemma by Berlin-based Polish artist Gosia Lehmann. The installation invites visitors on an interactive walk through a vast blue velvet labyrinth, where they can contemplate a peculiar kind of magic: the mysteries of supply and demand. A performance activating the installation will take place at 18.00 on 19 November. The work can be visited free of charge in the gallery’s main hall during opening hours.

The Culmination of the Biennale – November 26–29

At 18.30 on Thursday 26 November, Vienna-based Belarusian artist Olia Sosnovskaya will present Citing Sources in the auditorium of the National Gallery of Art. In this work, the artist reflects on archival material she encountered at the National Library of Belarus during the 2020 uprising against the country’s authoritarian government. Adopting the conventions of a public talk and drawing on the notion of a movement score, she explores the relationship between performativity, writing and the archive. Admission is free.

At 18.00 and 19.00 on Friday 27 November, Elastica nightclub, near Vilnius railway station, will host two presentations of Any-time-now by Vilnius-based artist Joelis Aškinis. This speech-based performance draws on the history of the Republic of Paulava. A self-governing peasant microstate in the eighteenth-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the republic had its own currency, laws and army, but lasted just 26 years. Admission to both performances is free.

At 18.30 on Saturday 28 November, internationally acclaimed Lithuanian curator and artist Raimundas Malašauskas will present the latest version of Send in the Clowns at Royal Theatre, bringing a trilogy to a close in Vilnius. Its first part was presented at Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris in 2024, followed by the second at the Performa Biennial in New York in 2025. For the Vilnius presentation, Malašauskas will bring together and reinterpret elements of the earlier performances. The event will also mark the launch of his new book, Metai Vilniuje (A Year in Vilnius), copies of which will be available for visitors to take home. The performance is co-produced with the public institution Autarkija and Erik Vojevodin. Tickets are available at Kakava.lt.

At 17.00 on Sunday 29 November, the biennial will close at the Composers’ House with the Italian artist duo Invernomuto, comprising Simone Bertuzzi and Simone Trabucchi. As part of the Curated Programme, they will present Triton, Chapter #1 – Embodied. Co-produced with Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts, the performance is part of Invernomuto’s cross-media project combining sculpture, sound and storytelling. Conceived as a portable device that responds to its surroundings, the work transforms data from a living ecosystem into sound and light, creating a constantly evolving composition. It is connected to a salamander colony inhabiting two ancient rock basins at Pietra Perduca in northern Italy, near the artists’ birthplace. Tickets are available at Kakava.lt.

Back After Three Years

The Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art is an ongoing international event dedicated to contemporary performance art. Its inaugural edition took place in 2023 as part of Vilnius’s 700th-anniversary programme. Over two weeks, 38 artists presented 31 performances at 17 venues across the capital. The events attracted more than 20,000 visitors, including international guests and journalists.

Although the second edition comes after a three-year pause, the biennial has remained active through other artistic events. In 2024, RoseLee Goldberg, founder and artistic director of New York’s Performa Biennial, visited Vilnius for a conversation at MO Museum moderated by Neringa Bumblienė. The visit marked one of the first steps towards developing the Lithuanian Pavilion for Performa 2025. Later in 2024, two films by internationally renowned artists Liam Gillick and Anton Vidokle, co-produced by VB, were presented at Skalvija Cinema Centre. The programme also featured Lina Lapelytė’s new work Collection of Songs. In 2025, VB was invited to take part in the Performissima festival in Paris, where it presented a performance by Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė.

‘We are delighted that VB has grown beyond the biennial format to become a platform that encourages and supports performance art both in Lithuania and abroad. It is a pleasure to see the event evolve and grow in forms and directions that continue to surprise us,’ says VB director Diana Stomienė.

VB26 is organised by Meno Niša gallery.
The event is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and supported by Vilnius City Municipality.
Media Partner: LRT
Main Partner: JCdecaux
Creative Friends: reefo.