We cordially invite you to the opening of Žilvinas Landzbergas’ exhibition “Tell Me Your Name, Sister” on Thursday, June 18, 2026, 6:00 p.m. at the Pranas Domšaitis Gallery (Liepų St. 33, Klaipėda).

Žilvinas Landzbergas (b. 1979) is a prominent Lithuanian artist. In 2017, he represented his country at the Venice Biennale and has participated in numerous other international exhibitions, such as the 2018 São Paulo and Riga Biennales. After completing his studies in sculpture at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where he now teaches, and at the independent artists’ institute “De Ateliers” in Amsterdam, he became best known for his complex installations. These typically combine sculpture, painting, and drawing, and sometimes include moving-image works. Together, these elements create experiences that engage diverse audiences and are always exceptionally personal. Landzbergas also curates exhibitions. From 2011 to 2013, he directed the art project space “Malonioji 6” in Vilnius. The artist is represented by “Meno parkas” in Kaunas.

Landzberg’s approach to the exhibition affords greater freedom of action to him as the artist and to us as viewers and participants in the exhibition. He creates a vision and brings it to life, inviting us to follow along. He seeks to create a total work of art, a Gesamtkunstwerk, which emerges through planning and improvisation, the development of strategies and quick thinking, and the fusion of narrative and atmosphere. His exhibitions have an “analog,” “handmade,” “self-built” feel that encourages us to immerse ourselves in the artistic vision and perhaps even get lost in it. At the same time, they are organized—and organize us—in the present, which is almost always ambiguous, demanding, and threatening. In other words, Landzbergas speaks to contemporary society not only as a free spirit, but also as a socially responsible artist.

A visual artist is a designer who gives form to everyday life. This 20th-century Lithuanian concept still seems relevant, including in Landzberg’s work, and especially because he long ago resisted the temptation to place the artist and his works on a pedestal. A socially engaged artist takes on the responsibility of initiating and sustaining dialogue, as well as convincing society of the value of his artistic vision. Today, this is no longer a top-down demand to give a human face to an inhuman regime, but rather an ethical approach to images and objects, spaces and audiences. It is a political, yet at the same time an artistic, approach to contemporary visual reality.

Like art institutions and the curators who oversee them, the artist works with other people, drawing on them and their work. For him and his works to come to life, viewers and participants are needed. Landzbergas clearly plays with this interconnection. Exhibition visitors are enticed to step into a simplified microcosm of reality, visually and emotionally intensified to resemble a film set, a theater stage, or a cabinet of curiosities. Here, he has chosen what may initially seem like a counterintuitive strategy. To enter this exhibition, we must obtain a lock code from the museum ticket office.

Once inside, we realize that everything is arranged to resemble someone’s living space. Or perhaps this space imitates home life? The artist-designer has realized this idea in a stylized and abstract manner, as if searching for the most precise visual metaphors for the concepts of “house,” “home,” “arena,” or “stage.” We are invited to imagine that a large, multi-generational family lives on the museum’s first floor. Grandma’s room actually resembles a museum—works of art hang on pedestals and on the walls. Dad’s room is his workspace, while Mom seems to always be in the kitchen.

Judging by the overall composition of the exhibition and its title, the main character here is the daughter. Her presence is particularly suggested by the round, soft platform that we are invited to try out. In fact, Landzberg explains that he created the exhibition “Tell Me Your Name, Sister” to recreate the treasure box that many girls keep. We’re allowed to open the box and play with what’s inside, but only by following certain rules of respect and politeness. This encourages us to recognize vulnerability and reflect on people’s need—or, in fact, their right—to feel safe together. What would a family do at home on a day off? How would they spend time together? Unfortunately, in these times of war, such a pleasant routine is no longer a given or guaranteed.

A T-shaped platform leads us from the last exhibition hall into a surprisingly elegant garden that evokes a Japanese style, yet is unmistakably Northern European. Žilvinas Landzbergas wanted to include it in the exhibition, so he built a greenhouse tower there. We exit the garden and the exhibition through a door that leads us past the ticket counter and back out onto the street.

Anders Kreuger

Curator Anders Kreuger

Language Editor Ilona Čiužauskaitė

Designer Eglė Kirlytė