the first sculpture you encounter, this one just outside the Europos Parkas sculpture garden
I am not sure that the claim of this museum, also known as Europos Parkas, to be the centre of Europe is geographically entirely correct – although, apparently, the French National Geographic Institute has, in 1989, determined so. But in any case, at about half an hour’s drive north of Vilnius this this is a wonderful open-air museum, or rather a sculpture park, with over a hundred works seemingly randomly distributed across a 55 hectare forest. The works represent artists from 35 countries, of which the majority are, understandably, Lithuanian. Especially Ginteras Karosas, coincidentally also the founder of the park, is well represented, but then, quite a lot of his works are original and interesting, not in the least the ‘Infotree’, claimed to be the largest sculpture with TV sets in the world, using some 3000 of them.
The museums advertises with a few of its top artists, like Sol LeWitt and David Oppenheimer, but many other artists are, let me say, less well known – I certainly recognise none of the Dutch sculptors represented here. Nevertheless, we spend an enjoyable few hours in this museum, admiring a whole range of interesting, thought-provoking art works, once again in beautiful surroundings.
Next: Druskininkai.
just to prove, it is really claimed to be the centre of Europe
the sketch map of the park, not easy to work out
Lithuanian Danatas Jankauskas’s sculpture ‘Bye-byes’ (2013)
also Lithuanian, Elena Urbaitis’ ‘Reflectiveness (1995) – they are not all very recent works, here
one of the main attractions of the park, ‘Chair-pool’ by American Dennis Oppenheim – the pool is in the seat of the chair
I love this one: Magdalena Abakanovich’ from Poland, made ‘Space of Unknown Growth’ (1998)
El Sayed Abdou Selim, from Egypt, with ‘Eve among Trees’ (1997)
another big name, Sol LeWitt (USA) with his sculpture ‘Double Negative Pyramid’ (1998), nicely reflected in the lake
a Dutch contribution, ‘Small Monument for Humanity’ (1994) by Adri de Fluiter
Argentina is also represented, by Matias di Carlo
and his work ‘Gravity Matters’ (2023)
‘Europe’s Bird’ (1993), by Hungarian Zsigmond Szoradi
and the same work, from the other side
detail of ‘Requim for a Dead Pony’ (1994), by Irishman Laurent Mellet
another Lithuanian, Adamas Jacovskis, made ‘Lying Head’ (2001)
a work not yet in our list, to illustrate how recent it is: ‘Coal Forest’ by Jolita Vaitkute and Andrius Marmontovas
by Lithuanian and the main character of the park, Gintaras Karosas
and here he is, Guiness World of Recor sculpture ‘LNK Infotree’ (2000)
the world’s largest sculpture made from TV sets (really…)
rather more subtle, Damien Moreau’s ‘Reclining Woman’ (2010)
some metal circles; I don’t know the artist, neither the title, but I like it
another very visible work, ‘Drinking Structure with Exposed Kidney Pool’ by American Dennis Oppenheim again
