For the first time, Biennale Gherdëina is joining forces with Kaunas Biennial — a landmark collaboration that brings together two vibrant European contemporary art platforms. Founded in 1997, Kaunas Biennial stands as the largest and longest-running contemporary art festival in the Baltic States. Initially focused on textile art, it has since evolved into a dynamic forum embracing a wide range of artistic practices, fostering international dialogue, and addressing pressing social and cultural issues—values that strongly resonate with Biennale Gherdëina’s own mission.
Running from September 12 to November 23, 2025, the 15th edition of Kaunas Biennial invites visitors on a journey through art, nature, and imagination with its satellite exhibition Echoes Between Forests and Mountains, which includes an Italian artist selection by Lorenzo Giusti, curator of Biennale Gherdëina 9, and a Lithuanian artist selection by Neringa Kulik, director of Kaunas Biennial. Bringing together the voices of Lithuanian artists, Maximilian Oprishka, Aisté Ambrazevičiūté, and Andrius Arutiunian, and three remarkable Italian artists from the 2024 Biennale Gherdëina — Atelier dell’Errore, Ruth Beraha, and Arnold Holzknecht — the show creates a vivid dialogue between landscapes, cultures, and creative visions.
Set within the evocative spaces of Meno parkas Gallery and the Kaunas City Museum’s Town Hall branch, the exhibition blossoms from a vibrant network of international collaborations, linking Kaunas with the Lyon Biennale and CHRONIQUES – the Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques. A dynamic cross-cultural encounter, Echoes Between Forests and Mountains resonates far beyond borders — a celebration of shared imagination and artistic exchange between Italy, Lithuania and France.
The exhibition explores the intricate interplay between nature, myth, technology, and human intervention. Rooted in their respective landscapes—from the Lithuanian forests to the Alpine valleys—the artists offer sculptural and sensorial experiences that reflect a shared concern for our relationship with the natural world and its ongoing transformations. Across sculpture, film, installation, and sound, the exhibition unfolds as a conceptual landscape where ecological processes, human histories, and speculative futures converge.
From May 30 to September 13, 2026, three outstanding Lithuanian artists — Andrius Arutiunian, Eglé Kulbokaité, and Augustas Serapinas — will bring their unique voices to Biennale Gherdëina 10. Selected by Samuel Leuenberger, curator of the upcoming edition, following his inspiring research journey through Vilnius and Kaunas in January 2025, their participation marks a vibrant new chapter in the dialogue between the two biennials.
This creative exchange thrives thanks to the joint vision and collaborative support of the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Lithuanian Culture Institute and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Italian Republic, forging bridges between the Dolomites and the Baltic — where ideas, cultures, and imaginations freely intertwine.
Echoes Between Forests and Mountains is part of the Lithuanian Culture in Italy 2025–2026 program. The Lithuanian Culture in Italy 2025–2026 program is implemented by the Lithuanian Culture Institute and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Italian Republic.