The premises of the VDU Faculty of Arts will be opened in the Old Town

On Wednesday, May 21, at 11 a.m., the official opening of the new building of the VDU Faculty of Arts will take place in the Old Town of Kaunas (Muitinės St. 7). Faculty premises will be theatrically presented by acting students of VMU, Matthew Andrew's MIMESIS exhibition will be open during the opening. The welcome speech will be given by the rector of VMU, prof. Zigmas Lydeka and Kaunas Mayor Andrius Kupčinskas.

Starting from autumn, students of the new study program "Music Production" will move into the building with a unique composition of more than 1,500 square meters, as well as the lectures of the "Creative Industries", "Art Curation", "Menotyros", and "New Media Art" programs.

According to the dean of the VMU Faculty of Arts, Assoc. Dr. Inas Pukelytė, the new faculty building will be used not only for lectures, but also for various public activities. "Since our studies are related to public art activities, we will do various artistic actions in this building. Students of visual arts or art curation will be able to organize exhibitions, create installations, and hold other types of events here. The building has a unique inner courtyard, which will also be open to various artistic activities. Eventually, the entire student body will have a space here to meet and generate ideas. This will be the birthplace of creative ideas," the dean is happy.

The new building will also become a laboratory for undergraduate and graduate students studying creative industries, where research will be developed. "Creative industries research has already been carried out in our faculty before, a map of Kaunas' creative industries was drawn up, in which the Old Town occupied a very active place, so as one of the researchers, we are happy to move to such an active place - we appear surrounded by universities, galleries, other art institutions ", said Assoc. Dr. I. Pukelytė.

In the new premises of the Faculty of Arts of the VMU, the preparation of specialized premises, such as a sound studio and laboratory, equipped photo laboratory, individual workplaces, and a reading room, is already being completed. All necessary new equipment was also delivered.

Although the premises are still quite new and smell of paint, they were already buzzing with the "Design Week" event dedicated to the presentation of the new study program of the VMU Faculty of Arts in English "Fashion Design". Students of this program will be located in renovated and expanded premises on Vytautas prospect.

VDU art gallery "101" will also move to new premises on Muitinė street in autumn. Vice-dean of the Faculty of Arts of VMU, Assoc. Dr. Rūta Mažeikienė noted that the gallery will once again repeat its history: "Gallery "101" once arose from the 101 auditorium. Also in the new premises, where there are also 101 auditoriums, the gallery will continue its educational and educational mission," said the vice-dean.

The first exhibition of the "101" gallery in the new premises will be opened already on Tuesday, May 20, at 5 p.m. An exhibition of photographs by British artist Matthew Andrew "Mimesis" will be exhibited here. The photo series "Mimesis" reveals the author's reflections on what reality is, knowledge about it and its photographic representation. Photographing the motifs of the exhibition, A. Matthew questions our ability to see the difference between original and copy, truth and fiction. Photographed subjects are inversely elevated to simulate lighting and framing. Such a presentation debates the veracity and value of both images and reality.