“Stasys Museum” presents a new exhibition

On April 30, “Stasys Museum” will open the exhibition “Another Turning of the Sleeping” by Linas Leonas Katinas. All artworks presented in the exhibition belong to the private collection of Virgilijus Norvaiša, held in Panevėžys.

Linas Katinas (1941–2020) is one of the most memorable modernist artists born and active in Lithuania. His six-decade-long creative career captivates with its distinctive playfulness, vital energy, and unique mysticism.

The artist was deeply interested in existence itself and in transcendence—experiences that lie beyond the limits of ordinary sensory perception and earthly matter. The exhibition invites visitors to explore this intriguing aspect of Katinas’s work. His individual worldview intertwines with fragments of myths and archetypes from ancient civilizations, while transcultural and timeless references and symbols speak of transience, a longing for eternity, and the humanly naïve attempts to unravel the unsolvable mysteries of the universe.

Linas Leonas Katinas. Photo by Jevgenija Levin.

The new exhibition at “Stasys Museum” is curated by art historian, critic, and cultural project initiator Jolanta Marcišauskytė-Jurašienė.

“This is already the second time I have delved into the work and contexts of this much-loved artist, discovering layers that have been scarcely researched and remain largely unknown to audiences. This exhibition is an attempt to tell, through the artworks, the story of a rebel who, in the early 1970s, at a time of dominant atheist propaganda, sought spiritual depth deep in Siberia, in Buryatia, within a tantric Buddhist community.

Most of the works presented in the exhibition were created in the 1970s and 1980s, when the artist’s liberated imagination was filled with vibrant colors and, in his own words, ‘transatlantic cables of ornament’ stretched out, connecting the patterns of Lithuanian folk bedspreads with the colors of chakras,” the curator reveals.

Exhibition curator Jolanta Marcišauskytė-Jurašienė. Photo by Gintarė Grigėnaitė.

The exhibition is complemented by two works created specifically for this project, inspired by Katinas’s art and expanding its context. The first is a documentary narrative about Katinas and the relationship between his work and Buddhism, created by film director and video artist—and Katinas’s student—Gintaras Šeputis in collaboration with J. Marcišauskytė-Jurašienė.

The second is a sensitive sound installation by emerging composer Agnė Matulevičiūtė and actor Gediminas Rimeika. It is based on recordings of Katinas’s heartbeat and his poetic texts, which are made public for the first time in this exhibition. The installation is adapted for visitors with hearing impairments.

The exhibition architecture was created by Ieva Cicėnaitė, who has worked with major Lithuanian cultural institutions and international projects, consistently shaping a contemporary language of exhibition design.

According to the architect, at “Stasys Museum” the exhibition architecture, alongside the expressive and dense works of Katinas, is conceived not as a background but as an equal installation.

“The exhibition architecture becomes not only a composition of works but also a state—entered by crossing a clear boundary, like a threshold between conscious presence and dream. Beyond this boundary opens the embrace of the exhibition—a cradle inviting visitors to immerse themselves and momentarily drift together with the vividly dreamlike paintings,” says I. Cicėnaitė.

Linas Leonas Katinas’s work “Crooked Cloud” (1970).

The exhibition opening will take place on Thursday, April 30 at 6 PM. On Friday, May 1, “Stasys Museum” will be open from 12 PM to 5 PM, and on May 2–3 it will follow regular weekend hours: Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM and Sunday from 12 PM to 5 PM.

The exhibition in Panevėžys (Respublikos St. 40) will run until September 13. The program of events accompanying the exhibition will be announced soon.

The project is funded by the Panevėžys City Municipality.