HU XIANGQIAN, Xiangqian Museum, Mindaugas Triennial, CAC Vilnius

Mindaugas becomes the Director of the Xiangqian Museum for a day. The Museum is in fact an ongoing collection of artworks that exists in Hu's mind and that will continue to grow throughout his life. The idea behind the piece came out of a simple conversation in which an artist friend introduced him to another artist friend, who began explaining his work. This was the starting point for Hu Xiangqian to think about how we collect works in our memories, the ones that have left an impression on us, and how we share our experiences through language and body. In Hu's words, "I think the best thing about art is that we are able to carry it around to wherever we go."
The 11th edition of the Baltic Triennial of International Art is taking a 12 day event focused exclusively on performance and film. Countering the general tendency of biennials to be pluralist, all-encompassing multi-platforms, the curators choose to channel the contributions of artists through a radically minimized vessel -- one human being. The Triennial is entitled after its medium who in his own right carries one of the most common Lithuanian names, Mindaugas.