Temporary Exhibitions - Kauno IX forto muziejus

BAKHMUT. THE FACES OF GENOCIDE 1942 | 2022

From August 23 to October 29, 2024The exhibition “Bakhmut. The Faces of Genocide 1942 | 2022”, organised by the National Historical Memorial Reserve “Babyn Yar”, will be on display at Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum from August 23 to October 29 this year. This is the first exhibition presented in the European Union by the “Babyn Yar”.The exhibition aims to draw parallels between the tragedy of the Holocaust in 1942, during which over 3000 innocent civilians, mostly Jews, were killed in Bakhmut, and the deliberate destruction of the city by russian occupiers in 2022-2023. This exhibition reveals the history of two genocides separated by eight decades, but both committed by repressive regimes: Nazi Germany and modern russia.Historical factsThe exhibition displays documents and photographs from the collections of Bakhmut Museum of Local History, which provide a detailed chronology of the historical events and allow an assessment of the scale of the Nazi crimes of 1942. It includes unique archival material, memories of witnesses and documents that became important evidence in the Nuremberg Trials.On January 11, 1942, more than 3,000 Jews and other peoples were imprisoned in the basement of a former NKVD building in Bakhmut. They were held for several days without ...

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Temporary Exhibitions

ICONS ON AMMO BOXES

February 29 – September 15, 2024The exhibition “Icons on Ammo Boxes” by Ukrainian artists Sofia Atlantova and Oleksandr Klimenko consists of 19 icons from the Pietitus series.In 2014, when Russia’s aggression against Ukraine started, two Ukrainian artists, Sofia Atlantova and Oleksandr Klimenko, conceived a highly original and eloquent artistic project: they started painting icons on ammunition boxes. The artists noticed that the lids and bottoms of the boxes were very similar to the boards on which the icons were painted. This strange coincidence inspired them to start the project. Speaking about the idea, Klimenko said: “The New Testament idea of ‘reforging weapons to ploughs’ was born from the Old Testament motif of getting out of hell (…). However, the exodus from hell could only take place as a victory over death, a victory through death.” The icons created on the parts of the ammunition boxes, like the cross, symbolise the transformation of death into life.The message conveyed by the icons in the exhibition is multi-layered. On the one hand, they are the work of talented Ukrainian artists. The icons combine modernity and tradition, focusing on the work of Byzantine-era icon masters. On the other hand, the story these icons tell ...

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Temporary Exhibitions

STITCHED

During WWII and in the post-war period, large-scale deportations took place in Lithuania. It is estimated that more than 130,000 people were deported from Lithuania between 1940 and 1953. In the face of the threat of extinction, it was important to preserve identity and strengthen the spirit. Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum collects silent witnesses of the exile: unique small handicrafts made by deportees (vizitėlės, which are pieces of embroidery with a short text, memory books – decorative hearts with inscriptions, brooches, etc.). These handicrafts are a material embodiment of memory, resistance and identity. They were brought to Lithuania by the deportees from the harshest parts of the Soviet Union. The textiles contain individual stories and accumulated knowledge, as well as become a message or a sign to be sent and received.Authentic handicrafts of the deportees and their creators’ stories are the foundation of the exhibition at the museum. In the exhibition, the historical perspective will merge with the artistic one as the museum treasures will become a reflection for seven artists: Džiugas Karalius and Giedrius Bučas, Marius Jonutis, Eglė and Rokas Kašėtos, Lina Jonikė and Greta Kardi-Kardišiūtė. Inspired by the handicrafts made in exile, they will create original works that ...

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Temporary Exhibitions

THOSE WHO STAYED by Bruce Clarke

Artist Bruce Clarke (FR) of Litvak origin created a two-part exhibition at Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum, which consists of the mural artwork “When we were Trees,” created for the inner courtyard of the museum, and the installation of sculptural objects “Survivors in Suspension,” exhibited inside the museum.Having raised the question of how art can treat the subject of the Holocaust and honour the victims murdered at the Ninth Fort, Clarke chooses metaphor in his work “When we were Trees.” Using the symbolism of trees and fire, as well as the excerpts from archive sources, the artist conveys painful historical events and reveals the extraordinary resilience of a person in a desperate situation.The installation “Survivors in Suspension” talks about the “in-between” existence of those who have survived traumatic and inhumane experiences.Clarke’s exhibition “Those who Stayed” became a part of the performance “The Wreckage of my Flesh.” It was prepared by dancer and choreographer Tebby W. T. Ramasike (NL) together with an international team. The sensitive performance combined the avant-garde current of Japanese dance butoh, elements of ritual, electronic music and visual art. The synthesis of these elements helped to express human experiences in the whirlwind of dramatic events and resistance to the terror of a ...

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Temporary Exhibitions

LITHUANIAN JEWS WHO RETURNED FROM THE NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMPS by Kęstutis Grigaliūnas

The exhibition will be open until 02.03.2025The part of the artistic research (ongoing since 2008) “Death Diaries” – “Lithuanian Jews Who Returned From the Nazi Concentration Camps”.The author of the exhibition is Kęstutis Grigaliūnas, a laureate of the Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Art.The exhibition consists of the following: a book with the biographies of 2,700 Jewish people and an exhibition with the photographs of 333 faces and short biographies.Jewish people freed from Nazi concentration camps had no documents; therefore, they were interrogated in Soviet filtration camps in order to confirm their identity. Filtration files were opened for all of them.The aim of this research is to collect and present in one publication all the Lithuanian Jews mentioned in the filtration files and cards, which are in the Lithuanian Special Archive, and, most importantly, to compile the biographies of these persons (year and place of birth, place of residence, occupation, places of imprisonment, date of liberation, who liberated them, which filtration camps were used to return to Lithuania and where they settled here), as well as to mention all surviving or deceased relatives of these persons included in the filtration files.The material for this project has been collected from the filtration ...

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Temporary Exhibitions

ANIMITAS by Christian Boltanski

Christian Boltanski (b. 1944 Paris, France, d. 2021, Paris, France)Animitas (Kaunas), 2021230 Japanese bells, Plexiglas, nylonChristian-Liberté Boltanski was born on September 6, 1944, two weeks after the liberation of France in World War II. During the war, his father, a Jew from Ukraine who later converted to Christianity, was hiding in the family apartment so as not to be found by the Nazis and French authorities.For over sixty years, the artist created works that offer meditations on fate, mourning and memory. Following his father’s death in 1987, Boltanski’s work increasingly focused on the Shoah (the Holocaust) as he incorporated the subjects of death and commemoration. Since this time, he also worked outside the museum in symbolic and charged places. When first approached for a commission to commemorate Kaunas 2022, Boltanski was drawn to significant sites associated to traumatic events and Jewish histories. The artist knew of the 900 French prisoners held at the Ninth Fort, who were imprisoned and executed alongside 30,000 other Jews from Lithuania, Austria, Poland, the Soviet Union and Germany. When we consider that his family lived in constant fear of his father being caught, this site also relates to the artist’s personal trauma.For Animitas (Kaunas), Boltanski put himself ...

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