The exhibition Archivum archaios, organised by Vilnius University (VU) and the Vilnius Academy of Arts, will open at the Museum of Urban Wooden Architecture on 6 November at 6 pm. The exhibition brings together historical natural history collections preserved at the VU Museums of Geology and Zoology and the Herbarium, alongside contemporary artistic interpretations of these collections.
The Latin word archivum reminds us that preservation is never neutral – we choose what to preserve. We also choose what to construct from archival material. The Greek word archaios refers to what came before, to the beginning, when we had not yet been classified or given names. This offers artists an opportunity to approach these collections with care and respect, without losing a sense of lightness or even playfulness.
At the Museum of Urban Wooden Architecture, the exhibition enters its third iteration. It began in spring at the VU Botanical Garden in Kairėnai before spending the summer beneath the domes of the VU Observatory of Ideas, which briefly open to the night sky. Now, after countless moves and installations, there is a desire to pause, to breathe in the possibility of being fragile.
The exhibits welcome autumn within the delicately restored walls of the Museum of Urban Wooden Architecture, walls so carefully protected that they cannot even be touched. The framework of wooden tables, shelves and hanging structures is deliberately assembled with the understanding that, once the exhibition ends, it will be dismantled and taken apart, as though it had never existed. The animals, birds and flowers will return to their storage rooms, where the air they breathe is measured by the number of visits, and time moves in silence.
The exhibition will be open until 17 January 2027.
The exhibition is dedicated to the 245th anniversary of life sciences at Vilnius University and the 10th anniversary of the VU Life Sciences Center.
Participating artists: Elena A. V. Reckevitz, Dagnė Petkevičiūtė, Viktorija Balkutė, Vilius Vingras, Rūta Spelskytė, Fausta Lukošiūtė, Aidas Stončius, Kornelijus Zaleckas, Adomas Mažeika, Anna Chostegian, Austėja Zabulytė, Rima Briškaitė, Gintas Kavoliūnas, Paulė Vaitkutė, Kotryna Navickaitė, Raminta Beržanskytė.
Exhibition curators: Rūta Spelskytė, Mindaugas Rasimavičius
Publication design: Alvė Skauronaitė
Promotional design: Vilius Vingras