Opening of Christian Boltanski’s installation “Animitas”
Commemorating the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews
2023 June 22 d. 13:00
On September 22, 2023, Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum will commemorate the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews, and the installation “Animitas” (Lithuanian: Souls) by the famous artist Christian Boltanski will be opened. Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum and “Kaunas 2022” are inviting you to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and to participate in the opening of a work of art that has never been exhibited in Lithuania before, which reminds us of those we have lost.
PROGRAMME:
- 13.00 Commemorative procession in the Museum territory
- 13.10 Tribute to the victims of the Holocaust
- 13.20 Opening of Christian Boltanski’s artistic installation “Animitas”
- 13.35 Dance performance | Choreographer and performer Erika Vizbaraitė, music author and performer Domas Aleksa
- 14.00 Presentation of the experiential installation “Hideout at the Ghetto”
In order to remember and honour the victims of the Holocaust, the event will start with a commemorative procession from the Museum’s administration building (Žemaičių pl. 71) to the mass murder site. After the ceremony, Christian Boltanski’s artistic installation “Animitas” will be presented by curator Josée Drouin-Brisebois and Virginija Vitkienė, the director of Kaunas 2022. The presentation will be followed by a dance performance created especially for this occasion performed by Erika Vizbaraitė, the winner of the Golden Stage Cross. The participants of the event will also have the opportunity to visit the experiential installation ” Hideout at the Ghetto” at Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum.
Christian Boltanski is a French artist of Jewish descent, born during World War II. His work is full of reflections on fate, mourning and memory. “Animitas,” the artist’s last work, consists of hundreds of Japanese bells that ring in the wind. The artist himself has compared this sound to “the music of souls.” According to Josée Drouin-Brisebois, the curator of the installation, by “Animitas,” Boltanski “expresses the universal human desire to unite heaven and earth. Through our experience of the music of souls, he invites us to remember those who were lost.” This Christian Boltanski’s art installation is the farewell gift of Kaunas 2022 to the city. The installation can be seen and visited free of charge at any time. For more information about “Animitas”.
The event is a part of the programme commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of Vilnius Ghetto.
The event is open to the public and will be filmed and photographed. By participating in the event, you agree to be featured in photographs and videos of the event and are informed that these photographs and videos may be made public.
Event organiser: Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum
Event partners: Kaunas 2022, Kaunas Jewish Community