The Lithuanian art festival “Flux”, bringing together over a hundred artists and three influential art institutions of Rome, will commence in the eternal city on 4 May 2018. It will present to the public the world famous masters of Lithuanian culture and young generation artists: Jurgis Mačiūnas, Jonas Mekas, Eimuntas Nekrošius, Deimantas Narkevičius, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Justė Janulytė, Kamilė Gudmonaitė, the urban dance theatre “Low Air” and the creative team behind the contemporary opera “Have a Nice Day!”.

Unyielding when faced with external obstacles, free and constantly changing, utilising newest technology and means of communication – these are the definitions of Lithuanian flux culture that will mark the Centennial of the Restored State of Lithuania in Rome.

The Lithuanian art festival “Flux” has been organised in collaboration with three particularly significant cultural institutions of Rome: the multifunctional cultural centre “Auditorium-Parco della Musica”, which attracts over a million visitors each year, the national arts museum of the 21st century “MAXXI” and one of the oldest theatres “Teatro di Roma”. For the first time in their working history, all three institutions came together to collaborate on a joint project. Spaces created by the legendary architects Zaha Hadid and Renzo Piano and theatre stages that saw premiers by Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi have opened their doors to host the festival events.

“We are proud that the Lithuanian cultural attaché in Italy Julija Reklaitė, who initiated the festival, was able to attract such strong partners in Rome. The open approach to collaboration from these cultural institutions on realising the festival proves that, together with the cultural attaché and art curators from both countries, we succeeded in preparing a programme that delivers to the Italian capital audiences’ interest and is consonant with highest cultural standards”, ­ said Aušrinė Žilinskienė, the director of the Lithuanian Culture Institute, expressing her joy. “The successful programming of the festival was also facilitated by visits from cultural professionals, the programme run by the Institute and enabling cultural operators from abroad to choose Lithuanian artists and their works for participation in festivals and events themselves.”

The festival, taking place under the high patronage of the president of Lithuania and the president of Italy, will open with a score of the National Santa Cecilia Academy orchestra concert conducted by M. Gražinytė-Tyla. This orchestra performs exclusively symphonic music and in the past has been conducted by Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Johann Strauss, Igor Stravinski and other renowned masters of the world music. Their ranks have now been joined by the Lithuanian conductor.

Following that, the festival baton will be passed on to artists and performers representing different generations of Lithuanian artist: the media artist D. Narkevičius, the film artist J. Mekas, the composer J. Janulytė and the unwithering jazz legends Vladimiras Tarasovas, Liudas Mockūnas and Eugenijus Kanevičius. Theatre lovers will be able to enjoy a broad panoramic overview of contemporary Lithuanian theatre – from E. Nekrošius and O. Koršunovas to the young theatre director K. Gudmonaitė, the experimentations of the urban dance theatre „Low Air“ and the contemporary opera “Have a Nice Day!”, which blurs the borders between genres.

The Lithuanian arts festival “Flux“ will also feature a retrospective of Lithuanian video art, complemented by conversations with curators, a performance art programme, exhibitions of “Architecture of Optimism” and Vitas Luckus’ photography series “Mimes“, as well as a concert of experimental music, which will feature compositions by J. Mačiūnas. The events of the upcoming festival in Rome are being promoted alongside performances by such world-renown stars as Patti Smith, Steven Tyler and Ringo Starr, causing the ticketed events to be selling out quickly.

“We are delighted that dynamic Lithuanian culture and impressive personalities of Lithuanian artist are equated to the legendary rock stars – that they are known and eagerly awaited on the world culture stage. We also hope that the established partnerships will grow to become a promising collaboration between cultural institutions of Lithuania and Italy”, said the director of the Lithuanian Culture Institute A. Žilinskienė.

The festival will take place under the high patronage of the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė and the President of the Republic of Italy Sergio Mattarella and is dedicated to celebrating the Centenary of the Restored State of Lithuania in Rome. It is financed by the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania.