"The Story of One Letter"
"The Story of One Letter" is an exhibition about kindness and help. This story invites us to look at the possibilities of one person and realize how much we can do and how much it will mean in the future. At the exhibition, we present a great example of art patronage and, using the concept of Fluxus mail art, we encourage every visitor to believe in the power of solicitude - to write and send at least one letter of kindness themselves.
On February 16, 1999 George Maciunas' Fluxus Room was opened at the Kaunas Picture Gallery on the initiative of the then director of the M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art Osvaldas Daugelis. After setting up the cabinet, a campaign was planned to appeal to George Maciunas' friends and colleagues for help in preparing a Fluxus art mail campaign dedicated to G. Maciunas Fluxus Room in Kaunas.
Jonas Mekas was sent a request for help in finding artists' addresses. The filmmaker responded to this appeal not only by sharing his contacts but also by sending a bunch of copies of his letter with an appeal to support G. Maciunas' Fluxus Room, which he offered to distribute together with postcards prepared by the museum. Together with the postcards made by the artists, that were sent back to the museum, a flux of various exhibits for the Fluxus Room arrived. Gifts were sent by celebrities such as Jon Hendricks, one of the most influential Fluxus researcher and curator, composer Philip Corner, artist, academician Prof. Marianne Eigenheer (1945-2018), and others.
A friend of the museum, the artist Saulius Valius, inspired by the Fluxus collection, invited the Japanese Fluxus artist Ay-O to the museum. In 2001, he installed his famous interactive installation "Black Hole" in the Kaunas Picture Gallery and donated it to the museum. Also, thanks to S. Valius, Japanese artist Takako Saito visited Kaunas in 2002. Impressed by the idea of supporting Mačiūnas' Fluxus Room, she also installed and donated two installations to the museum - "You + Me Shop" and "Mano mano Theatre". Finally, in 2009, Mr. Mekas, invited by the same S. Valius to the exhibition "Rain Meets Sun" organized by him, donated his famous film "Destruction Quartet" to the museum.
The tradition started by Jonas Mekas of supporting "Čiurlionis Museum and Maciunas City" continues to this day. Thanks to the museum's supporters and benefactors, our collections continue to grow today.
That is why a real post office will be operating at the Kaunas Picture Gallery during J. Mekas' exhibitions! Inspired by Mr. Mekas' letter, you will be able to create a postcard, write a letter and, after purchasing a postage stamp in the Gallery, put it in a real mailbox. Your letters will be sent to the recipients. It is important that you know the recipient's real (not e-mail) address!
Exhibition curator: Eglė Komkaitė-Baltušnikienė
Exhibition architect: Sigita Kundrotaitė
Exhibition designer: Milda Kairaitienė
Sponsor: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
The project partner is Jonas Mekos Visual Arts Center, Vilnius.
Friends of the project: Lithuanian Post, Wallpen.lt
