"Culture Night - 2014" in Vilnius
‘Culture Night’– darkness reveals more!
The best time to enjoy art, music and culture is when it is dark. Cinemas turn off all the lights before the movies, all the lamps are turned off before a play in a theatre, concert halls are darkened before every performance of an orchestra or a band. Only the darkness allows to immerse yourself into culture, let the imagination run free and enjoy the processes around you. Turn on the light and the magic disappears.
This year, one night festival of culture, ‘Culture Night’, will keep the lights off and will invite the visitors to enjoy the culture and arts in the darkness of the night. Around 200 various projects and events will spread around Vilnius during the night from 20 to 21 of June, lasting from 6 pm to 2 am.
2014 is the Theatre Year, so a lot of attention during the ‘Culture Night’ organized on 20 June, will be given to theatres: besides various plays and performances, the visitors will be able to see the performance of a travelling theatre and the project of the National drama theatre: ‚Cosmos‘. Also, this year even more attention will be given to our little visitors: a special families’ area will settle in Bernardinai garden, where children will find various creative workshops, concerts and plays. Besides the traditional projects, such as ‘Black and White’ and ‘Go gaga’, this year the event will enter unfamiliar and deserted areas of Vilnius (e.g. Vilnius catacombs), a lot of performances will be held by Neris river or even in the river itself, the visitors will immerse into exceptional visual artistic projects, 3D projections in unexpected spaces and, of course, concerts of classical music.
All the events of the ‘Culture Night’ are FREE. It is a gift to Vilnius and its visitors from artists and the cultural and educational organizations.
Visitors ant journalists about the Culture Night
„The city in the night becomes alive – there are places to go to, events to visit, people to meet. It is especially important in summer, when Vilnius is deserted“ – Dovilė, age 18, Vilnius.
“People need a lot of things. Just a few hours ago they were looking for a shelter from a real summer rain, and now in the backyard of the Academy‘s old palace, they are walking under an artificial rain. Some of them are even walking under the rain fountains, created by the French artist Pierre Ardouvin, without their umbrellas. I am also tempted to try it. I go in dry and go out all wet. Who says that contemporary art does not change anything in a human being?“- Ramūnas Gerbutavičius. www.lrytas.lt
„Not even the ‚Nuit Blanche‘ in Brussels has such a variety of events“- Gabrielė, age 26, Vilnius
„From dancing to woman act painting, from songs to light shows, from dreamcatcher making to clowns disturbing the traffic. The capital city was enjoying the traditional cultural event, which this year is part of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.“ 2013-06-05, www.15min.lt
„That particular night, the city is alive, and not only its clubs and bars“ - Ugnius, age 24, Rokiškis
About the festival in brief:
During the Culture Night (former Let it be Night!) the squares, streets, parks, and the most unexpected spaces in Vilnius are filled with the projects of various types of artistic projects: music, dance, theatre, cinema, photography, state-of-the-art installations, etc. A one-night festival was first organized in Lithuania in 2007 preparing for the events of Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009. Although, during the very first year only 40 events were hosted in Vilnius, subsequent festivals have involved more and more events and gathered more and more artists as well as participants – last year the festival of culture and art has invited the guests and permanent residents of the city to see 167 projects, presented by 700 artists from Lithuania and foreign countries. It was estimated that the events were attended by approximately 100-150 thousand people.
Initiator of the festival – Daina Urbanavičienė, the Chair of the Lithuanian Council of Culture and the Member of the Council of Vilnius City Municipality.
http://www.kulturosnaktis.lt/en/pages/about