Once again: Graphic department students and Kestutis marched to conquer Germany

Text: Dainora Vingyte – student, traveller to Leipzig

A trip to Leipzig, which became a beautiful tradition during the past several years, happened again. On March 13rd to 19th, graphic department students from Vilnius Academy of Arts, with Prof.  Kestutis Vasiliunas, rolled to Leipzig Book Fair 2018 to get inspired, in addition to visit galleries, museums, and to meet neighbouring Berlin.

A first mission, that we needed to complete, was to safely exhibit wonderful artist’s books in Leipzig Book Fair, participants of the “8th International Artist’s Book Triennial Vilnius 2018”, in a theme called “Memento Mori”. Right before exhibiting, we went to taste gigantic Turkish kebabs, therefore students had loads of energy to help Kestutis and get some practice at exhibiting valuable artist’s books.

After quick and successful work, our first day in Leipzig ended by unexpected appearance in GfZK gallery, and grocery store.

At second day we went back to Leipzig Book Fair, to explore everything we can catch for this day. The most visited area was The Best Book Design From All Over The World 2018, there students spent a lot of time figuring out interesting and innovative designs, but surely did not forget to visit wonderful artists, including Barbara Beisinghoff, Sabine Golde and Patrizia Meinert.

The third day was destined to visit Leipzig Spinnerei, Leipzig Museum für Druckkunst, and Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, where we compared the old masters with contemporary, virtual, youth art. Between these locations, students visited gigantic art supplies store, and then went bankrupt. (:

On the fourth day we prepared our sandwiches and travelled off to Berlin. At first we visited “Surreal Worlds” exposition at Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, starring René Magritte, Salvador Dali, Yves Tanguy etc., then we went to Hamburger Bahnhof, where we meditated near the works of Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly. Also, we took a long walk in the streets of Berlin, wandered in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and with a pleasant exhaustion, we travelled back to Leipzig.

The last day in Germany ended up in Leipzig Book Fair. This time – to observe everything we missed or accidentally walked by and to touch our beloved books once again. As the time went by, our hearts were full of inspiration and happiness. Sadly, the last minutes of the fair went too quickly, and we had to take Artist’s Book Triennial back to Lithuania.

This expedition to Germany is one of the most valuable opportunities to a graphic art student, who is interested in artist’s book, book design, illustration, printmaking, and the creativity itself. And now, as we process what we saw and experienced, let’s wait for another trip to Leipzig. Together we had wonderful time!

Photo: Prof. 2Cent.

© Circle “Bokartas”