Eglė Budvytytė to represent Lithuania at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with 'animism sings anarchy'
For the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2026, Eglė Budvytytė will represent Lithuania, exhibiting a new multi-channel film installation animism sings anarchy. The work will be shown at Fucina del futuro, Castello 5063/B, 30122 Venice and a preview of the exhibition will take place on Wednesday 6 May at 1pm for media and guests.
The project has been commissioned by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art under Commissioner Lolita Jablonskienė, Director of the National Gallery of Art, a subdivision of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. It is being curated by Louise O’Kelly, a London based independent curator and founding Director of Block Universe, a leading international performance art festival and commissioning body. Eglė Budvytytė is an artist based in Vilnius and Amsterdam working at the intersection between the visual and performing arts. Her practice, spanning song, video and performance, explores the persuasive power of collectivity, vulnerability and permeable relationships between bodies, audiences and the environment.
Inscribed on 16mm, animism sings anarchy is a performative and poetic attempt to translate archaeological research and materials into songs, feelings, movement, and altered states. The film draws on the late Lithuanian anthropologist and archaeologist Marija Gimbutas’s research into Neolithic matrilineal, animist societies—a source of inspiration for artists, academics, and environmentalists associated with second-wave feminism. Filming to date has taken place in the southeast of Italy near Grotta Scaloria, the site of a Neolithic water cult where Gimbutas undertook excavations in the late 1970s. Building on her practice of working through the body and with place, Budvytytė structures the film’s scenes around museum interiors and an Apulian coastline populated by ancient caves and watery burial grounds. Shaped by these places, the sequences unfold like ritual movements: a form of animist prayer tethering the choreography to natural landforms and remnants of the past. Facsimiles of anthropomorphic deities – rendered as 3-D printed figurines and modest photocopies – offer a devotional locus for tender, trembling choreographies: gestures that suggest states of trance, ecstasy and surrender.
Louise O’Kelly, Curator, said „I am honoured to work with Eglė in the creation of this major new work, one of her most ambitious and significant pieces to date. Filming on 16mm for the first time, animism sings anarchy imbues archaeological artefacts, polyphonous melodies and trembling choreographies with anarchic possibility. Through the process of working with her community of creative collaborators, I feel something special has been brewing: a much-needed medicine for our times.”
Lolita Jablonskienė, Commissioner, said, “The Lithuanian National Museum of Art is delighted to share the news that Eglė Budvytytė will present new work for the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. One of the artist’s most ambitious works to date, it draws upon ideas and theories across time and geography and brings to the surface forgotten or suppressed connections between the visible and the infinite”
Lithuania has participated in the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia since 1999. The Lithuanian Pavilion has been awarded a special mention four times, and in 2019 it won the Golden Lion for Sun and Sea (Marina).
Accompanying the project will be a catalogue co-edited by Louise O’Kelly and Virginija Januškevičiūtė, designed by Goda Budvytytė, with essays by Amelia Groom and Louise O’Kelly, as well as an interview between Eglė Budvytytė and Virginija Januškevičiūtė. Published in partnership with the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Vilnius, Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art, Middleburg and BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOIT, Berlin.
Exhibition and spatial design has been conceived by Marija Olšauskaitė, an artist who employs various modes of collaboration in her practice.
#BiennaleArte2026
Credits:
LITHUANIA
animism sings anarchy
Commissioner: Lolita Jablonskienė
Curator: Louise O’Kelly
Exhibitor: Eglė Budvytytė
Venue: Fucina del Futuro, Castello 5063/B
Eglė Budvytytė is an artist based in Vilnius and Amsterdam. Her work has been presented internationally, including Le Plateau, FRAC, Paris (2024); Canal Projects, New York; Vleeshal, Middelburg (2023); the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia; Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA) (2020); Renaissance Society, Chicago (2019); Baltic Triennial (2018); Lofoten International Art Festival; Block Universe Festival, London (2017); De Appel Arts Centre; CAC, Vilnius (2016); 19th Biennale of Sydney (2014); and Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam (2012) amongst others. Budvytytė has been artist in residence at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Nida Art Colony, Lithuania; OCA, Norway and WIELS, Brussels.
Louise O’Kelly is an independent curator and arts professional specialising in contemporary art and performance. As the founder of Block Universe (2015–2022), London’s leading international performance art festival, she curated over 60 productions—including 30 new commissions and 14 UK premieres—partnering with Tate Modern, the Royal Academy of Arts, the British Museum, ICA, Whitechapel Gallery, and others. She also presented international programmes in Italy, Germany, the UAE, and online. O’Kelly has lectured at institutions including Goldsmiths, Boston University, and the Guildhall School (with the Barbican). She co-hosted Soho House’s Art Talks series (2013–2019) and contributed to sector research, serving on the Live Art Sector Review (LADA & Arts Council England, 2019–2021), co-founding the Performance Research Network (UK), and working as an Associate Researcher for Precarious Movements: Choreography & the Museum (2022–2023).
Lolita Jablonskiene (PhD) is an art historian and curator based in Vilnius, Lithuania. She is the director of the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius, a subdivision of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, in charge of its diverse exhibitions’ program which included partnerships with V&A, London, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, The Jewish Museum, NY, Tate St Ives, and other institutions. Jablonskienė is an ex-commissioner of the Lithuanian pavilions at the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 1999 and 2005; has curated modern and contemporary art exhibitions in her home country and abroad, contributed art critical texts to Lithuanian and international press; associate professor at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.
Marija Olšauskaitė (b. 1989, Vilnius) is an artist who employs various modes of collaboration in her practice. She has participated in exhibitions internationally, including solo exhibitions The Softest Hard, Carré d’Art, Nîmes (2024); Never act in haste, PM8/Francisco Salas gallery, Vigo (2024); sekretas, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz (2023); Witness on our behalf, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (2019). Projects with Eglė Budvytytė include Song Sing Soil, Vleeshal, Middelburg (2023); Songs from the Compost: Mutating bodies, imploding stars, the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2022). Represented by PM8/Francisco Salas.
The Lithuanian National Museum of Art (LNMA) is one of the largest national art museums in Lithuania, with a mission to preserve artistic heritage and highlight its importance in making a positive impact on people’s lives. The museum is renowned for its rich collection of fine arts, applied and folk art, rare amber and jewelry specimens, as well as other museum objects. The LNMA consists of eleven divisions, including nine museums and galleries, as well as two national competence centers.
The National Gallery of Art (NGA), a subdivision of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, houses the LNMA’s collection of Lithuanian modern and contemporary art. Taking over the Modernist building of the former Museum of Revolution, it operates as a multifunctional centre for arts and culture. Along with its collection display and temporary exhibitions, the NGA offers a variety of educational programs and cultural events that engage diverse audiences with art and creativity.
The combined viewing time across all screens is approximately 40 minutes, with the 16mm film transferred to 4k projection.
Organised by Lithuanian National Museum of Art
Financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Film produced in collaboration with Kanal – Centre Pompidou and EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, with support from the Saastamoinen Foundation
Filmed in collaboration with MUCIV – Museo delle Civiltà, Roma
Film production supporters: Mondriaan Fund, Amsterdam; Block Universe, London; aketuri, Vilnius; Cosmica servisas, Vilnius; Andrius Urniežius
Sponsor: Girteka, Vilnius
Publication partners: Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art, Middleburg; BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOIT, Berlin
Partner: Upė Foundation, London
Media partners: Lithuanian National Radio and Television, JCDecaux Lithuania
