Litouwse cultuur uitgebreid gepresenteerd aan heel Europa (en)

Wednesday, December 18, Brussels - President Dalia Grybauskaitė i participated in the closing cultural event of Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union - audio-visual performance "Sandglasses" by composer Justė Janulytė which took place at the Flagey Art Centre in Brussels. Lithuanian culture and art were distinctly presented in Europe and beyond during the past six months - almost 500 cultural events have been held, four Lithuanian exhibitions toured 15 countries.

"This half-year has demonstrated not only Lithuania's ability to undertake responsibility for important decisions but also revealed to Europe the best of everything in our culture. Lithuanian people introduced their talents on major stages, exhibition halls and cinemas of the European continent. We have shown our ability to create and do it inventively," the President said.

During the Presidency the official cultural programme in Belgium included around fifty events of classical and contemporary music, visual arts, cinema, theatre, literature, poetry and interdisciplinary arts, the partners of which were the prestigious cultural and art institutions BOZAR, Flagey, CINEMATEK, the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Klarafestival and Flanders Festival, and EU institutions.

The Lithuanian EU Presidency's cultural programme was opened with a gala concert of the world-famous opera singer Violeta Urmanavičiūtė-Urmana and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels.

Lithuanian culture was also presented in Berlin's City Hall, Orange Park in Strasbourg, Belém Tower in Lisbon, national theatre Nová scéna in Prague, and Prague Castle. The famous little boy statue in Brussels was wearing a Lithuanian basketball t-shirt, the London Design Festival featured a Lithuanian design exhibition, Lithuanian film evenings were organized in Ispra, Rēzekne, Sofia, Ventspils, the World Litvak Congress took place in Vilnius.

"Sandglasses" is a musical creation by young Lithuanian composer Justė Janulytė and Italian artist Luca Scarzella for four cellos, live electronics, light and tulle installation. Images of the performance are projected onto four giant cylinders - tulle installations turning into hourglasses. The composition explores the audio, visual and symbolic meaning of sand timers. This is the first large-scale Lithuanian musical project included in the major European contemporary music festival network Réseau Varèse.