The world of today allows us to travel more and farther than ever before. We think about the ecological footprint of travel and look for ways to travel more sustainably and slowly. Sometimes, in our search, we forget to enjoy the enchanting in-between state. Between being here and there, somewhere between the tracks, somewhere between the gravel stones, somewhere between (un)countable footsteps. That state that takes over when you look out the window, and the landscape begins to blur and become a watercolor spot. That time when it seems possible to bring all your questions and thoughts and let them drift along uncombed meadows. Time flows differently when travelling – it closes in like a vacuum and passes very slowly, but when you arrive at your destination, it seems that everything happened in the blink of an eye.

means of travel is an interdisciplinary art exhibition that invites visitors to linger in that hazy intermediate state and experience how artists perceive, feel, and see it. The exhibition emerges in the hangar of the Railway Park, located next to the busy railway station, which feels existing but hidden, seemingly also trapped somewhere in between: between outside and inside, between light and darkness, between here and there. The soundscape seems so ordinary that it is unnoticeable, so fleeting that it is forgettable; it consists of announcements about arriving and departing trains, the clatter of railroad tracks, and the signals pressed by train drivers. The artists try to empathise with the space of the hangar and adapt to its intricacies, the existing exhibits, details, objects – part of the Railway Museum’s Railway Park.

The title of the exhibition, means of travel, can be deciphered using three keywords: trajectory, travel, and method. In the context of the exhibition, trajectory encompasses not only the curves and lines along which movement and transfer take place, but also a location or space that is sometimes a destination and sometimes a search. Travel encompasses movement with a specific goal and wandering without much explanation or meaning, perhaps finding it along the way, directions and tendencies. Method encompasses different methods of travel, as well as the specifics of space or environment, materiality. This hangar accommodates the artists’ relationship with travel and modes of transport, offering a perspective from the position of the explorer, empirical experiences, the materiality of travel, or the materials of means of transport or tools. The exhibition is like a map that guides us through the artists’ actions, observations, recordings, and ideas.

Exhibition curator Emilija Zakarauskaitė
Graphic designer Tomas Kavarskas
Exhibition architect Vilius Juozapas Vingras

Artists: Anastasija Fokša, Anna Chostegian, Austėja Skrupskaitė, Emilija Zakarauskaitė, Ettoja (Artur Širin), Justina Gražytė, Marija Šnipaitė, Rūta Spelskytė, Titas Antanas Vilkaitis, Tomas Kavarskas, Vitalij Červiakov, Vygintas Orlovas.

Partners: Vilnius Academy of Arts Departments of Photography, Animation and Media Art, Graphic Art and Site- Specific Art, LTG Railway Museum.

Day photos: Viktorija Balkutė
Night photos:  Anna Chostegian