PUTVINSKIS STREET DAY: A living street

Host: Marija Stanevičiūtė

Time: 12-3 PM

Location: A. Žmuidzinavičius Museum Courtyard

Immerse yourself in creative printing activities together with the Slow Printing Club! During the linocut workshop, a large-format Putvinskis Street poster will be created. In the workshop: 

• You will get acquainted with the linocut technique and learn the secrets of this printing technique. 
• You will create your own symbol, figure or phrase and leave your original mark in a collective poster. 
• You will print ready-made clichés with elements of Putvinskis Street: houses, doors, windows, trees and sculptures. 
• You will contribute to the joint impressive process of creating the great Putvinskis Street poster, and you will be able to take a piece of your creation home! 

The workshop is open to everyone – both beginners and those who just want to try a new creative technique. You can join anytime between 12:00 and 15:00 p.m., there is no registration.
Note: children under 6 years old are welcome to participate with their parents (sharp tools are used during the workshop).

Host: Dominykas Andriuškevičius

Time: 12-3 PM

Location: Sculptors' Antinis square

In the workshop an already shot (blank) film strip will be used, and participants will be able to retouch it, turning the empty strip into a live animation. By drawing on the film, introducing street motifs, creating short segments, and inspiring the activity of movement and form to the still relics of Putvinskis, the participants will replace the blank film. At the end of the day, all the film segments will be glued into one film, which will be shown through a specifically designed film projector at Putvinskio g. 54 from 16:00 p.m.

The workshop is open to everyone – both beginners and those who just want to try a new creative technique. You can join anytime between 12:00 and 15:00 p.m., there is no registration.

Host: Marijonas Verbel

Time: 1-5 PM

Location: KAH lawn

During the workshop, Marijonas will introduce the weaving process, inviting participants to discover a personal connection with this craft. Participants will have the freedom to choose how much time they want to spend weaving. The finished weaving works can be taken home by workshop participants.

The workshop is open to everyone – both beginners and those who simply want to try a new creative technique. You can join at any time between 13:00 and 17:00 p.m., there is no registration. Important: the number of looms is limited – up to 14 people can weave at the same time. Recommended age – from 16 years.

Host: Ieva Baltrėnaitė-Markevičė

Time: 2-4 PM

Location: KAH terrace

The workshop is open to everyone - both beginners and those who simply want to try a new creative technique. Important: the number of participants is limited, registration: https://forms.gle/ctsETd1yQz1Nw4vh6

During the workshop, you will be invited to create a waterproof garment design similar to the one that small children have when learning to eat. It protects against all failures (food not getting into their mouths) and gives a lot of self-confidence when doing things that are difficult.

The artist and the leader of this workshop, Ieva, believes that such a super-powered garment would be useful to everyone. All means for the creation of this garment will be taken care of. You just need to come! The final garment will be the size of a child's garment, so you may not be able to wear it, but you should definitely be able to have a great time.

We will create by drawing inspiration from the theme "Motherhood Madness" - talking about the difficulties, joys, being a parent for the first time, preparing for it or not being able to come to it at all. It can also be about the free choice not to become a mother or father and the feeling that accompanies this path. I think there is no person untouched by this theme. We will discuss together, share experiences and paint on the scraps of the future garment. We will be able to easily wash the painted works from the special fabric and paint again or leave the created visual to dry. After the creative workshop, Ieva plans to sew real products from the patterns created for clothes and exhibit them at the exhibition together with the participants' stories (only with their permission). For those who do not want to share their creations, the painted patterns will be available to take home. And for those who agree to become part of the exhibition, Ieva will return all the works after the said exhibition.

The project is partly funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture

Host: Marija Oniščik

Time and location:
12 PM starting point: Funicular
3 PM starting point: Šilelis stairs
Duration: approx. 1 hour

Important: the guided tour will be in Lithuanian. The number of participants in the excursions is limited. Registration: https://forms.gle/8MjRAfKsAby1hZ778

Every street in Kaunas is special in some way. What is so special about this street, nestled on the slope of Žaliakalnis, once called Kalnų? We will talk about this when we celebrate Putvinskis Street Day.

When Kaunas became the temporary capital, there were only two or three brick houses on this street, and only one of them was two-story. All other buildings were wooden, surrounded by gardens and orchards. As the young Lithuanian state grew stronger, the street gradually turned into a prestigious, even “diplomatic” street. The wooden houses were replaced by large modernist houses, the barns by garages, the rustic road by “Bitukas” bricks, and instead of the “goat path”, a fast and convenient connection to the growing Žaliakalnis appeared - a funicular. Only the green terraces of the hill remained an integral element of this street, providing an opportunity to talk about its architecture merging with nature. Back then, in the interwar period, special attention was paid to the “aesthetics” of facades, and the facades and heights of newly built houses were required to be in harmony with those already built. Today, we can only dream of such conditions.

The most famous Lithuanian architects of that time contributed to the new appearance of the street: Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis, Stasys Kudokas, Dovydas Leiba Zimanas, Bronius Elsbergas, Aleksandras Gordevičius, Mikas Grodzenskis, Leonas Ritas, Adolfas Netyksa. We will examine and discuss the houses they created during two different excursions.

During the first excursion, we will examine two works by Landsbergis-Žemkalnis (one of which “grew” during the Soviet years, while the other, unfortunately, “shrank”) and two works by Bronius Elsbergis. The house by the funicular designed by Leiba Zimanas has suffered in our time: due to the poorly presented “mezzanine”, the modernist house lost its “European Heritage Label”. At the end of the tour, we will marvel at the first apartment building on this street – the fantastic “Bank House” by Aleksandras Gordevičius, whose garden inspired Julijus Kaupas, who grew up here, to write the fairy tale “The Witches’ Feast on Kalnų Gatvė”. 

During the second tour, we will explore that section of the street, which was particularly popular with various foreign missions. We will admire the “second face” of the Vytautas Magnus Museum – the facade of the Culture Museum, designed by Dubeneckis, resembling Čiurlionis’ “crown”. We will find out how many relatives of Vladas Putvinskis lived on this street. And, of course, we will continue to examine the peculiarities of the styles of our great architects – houses designed by Stasys Kudokas, Mika Grodzenskis, Adolfas Netyksa, Vytautas Landsbergis-Žemkalnis, Bronius Elsbergas, Leonas Ritas, Aleksandras Gordevičius.

Hosts: Indrė Liškauskaitė ir Nadežda Pavliuček

Times: 12 PM and 4 PM

Starting point: upper area of ​​the sculptors' Antinis square

Duration: approx. 1 hour

Dogs adapt to living in urban spaces designed for human needs and intended for human habitation. They get used to the hustle of the city, use public spaces with their owners, and are increasingly seen in cafes, museums, or at exhibition openings. Walking along gray sidewalks, they sniff out tribal messages left on concrete buildings, iron poles, or sculptures, looking at the city from perspectives that are unusual for humans. If vision is one of the main tools for humans to navigate in space, dogs learn about the world primarily through smells, sounds, and textures. What does the city look like through a dog’s nose, ears, eyes, and paws?

We want to invite dog owners and anyone interested to experience Putvinskis Street anew, trying to understand what maps of sounds, smells, and textures dogs use to guide their owners through the city. We invite human participants to rethink the meanings of urban places from non-human perspectives, thinking about their needs and experiences, and non-human participants of the session – dogs, are invited to have fun playing, walking and learning together with their human companions.

You can participate in the session with or without a four-legged companion.

We invite dogs with basic obedience knowledge, who can work and concentrate in a group with other dogs, to register for the session. The number of dogs participating in one group is up to 8.

Registration form for participants with dogs: https://forms.gle/BoBoq6GFmy4Jppgy5

Participants of the session without four-legged companions will also be actively involved in the activities and will be able to complete the tasks.

Observer registration (participation without pets): https://forms.gle/VcaJgRcY869MkXMH6

The activity will be led by artist Indrė Liškauskaitė and dog training school assistant-trainee Nadežda Pavliuček. During it, the focus will be on ensuring good or neutral experiences for dogs, positive incentives and rewards will be used - toys and treats.

Important: the number of participants in the excursions is limited, registration is required. The language of the activity is Lithuanian.

Host: Lukas Mykolaitis

Times: 1 PM and 3 PM

Duration: approx. 1 hour

Starting point: Kaunas Artists’ House

Important: the language of the tour is Lithuanian. The number of participants in the excursions is limited. Registration: https://forms.gle/5E5zB5g813piRAsBA

Artist and urban explorer Lukas Mykolaitis invites you on a hike along the little-known but story-filled Žaliakalnis slope – a forested area in the very center of the city. The slope, formed more than 12,000 years ago when glaciers retreated, now slopes directly down to Putvinskis Street. For a long time, it marked the outskirts of the city, was sparsely populated, and old photographs show that there was almost no vegetation here. However, the seemingly insignificant, rarely visited space not only preserves many stories, but also remains vibrant today – wild city animals find permanent shelter in the shade of the trees, and young people spend their free time hiding from the gaze of passers-by. During the walk, mysterious objects hidden on the slope will be visited: the remains of the Kaunas Fortress fence, the Lenartavičiai family chapel, a World War II bunker, and historical figures who lived nearby will accompany you on the journey - Faustas Kirša, Antanas Ingelevičius and others.

Participants are asked to wear comfortable footwear and be prepared for physical challenges - in some places the slope is steep and can be difficult to overcome. It is recommended to take protective gloves and tick repellent.

Host: Agnė Bagdžiūnaitė

Time: 4 PM

Duration: up to 1 hour

Location: Gallery of Kaunas Artists’ House

The group exhibition "Sparta" is open at Kaunas Artists' House as part of the program "Obscene West. BMW". We invite you to a tour of the exhibition with the curator of the entire program and the exhibition, Agne Bagdžiūnaitė, who will introduce the exhibition and tell you how the study of masculinity in the 1990s is going.

Important: there is no registration for this tour, but the number of tour participants may be limited. The language of the tour is Lithuanian.

Artist: A-XY Gallery and Architect-Urbanist Algirdas Ramonas

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: near the BLC building and near the funicular near Putvinskis St. 26

The pop-up experimental architecture gallery A-XY returns this year directly to Putvinskis Street Day, where it will present architect-urbanist Algirdas Ramonas and his developing project “Friendly Stop”. This will be the gallery’s 10th event.

The goal of Algirdas’ project is an easily manufactured, freely buildable (without foundations and earthworks), assembled and reconfigured object that anyone could construct for their own needs using easily accessible materials and tools. With such minimal means, a modular object is created that can be used to form combinations of structures of different sizes and purposes. This way, these stops can be used for different activities for people of all ages – from community meetings to play areas, from individual benches to a dinner table, from a vertical garden to just a stop.

During this event the first prototypes of the stops will be tested in practice. The first stop on Putvinskis St. will be located near the BLC building, where the A-XY gallery itself will be located. Here, it will be possible to get to know the project better, try it out, and there will also be a bookstore of architectural publications and a reading area. The second stop will be located closer to the funicular, where artist Saulė Igarytė will hold creative workshops together with the street community.

Artist: Marius Paulikas

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: on the sidewalk section between the intersection of A. Mickevičius and V. Putvinskis streets and P. Mažylis Maternity Home

The street is a silently existing body, on whose surface run: ants, pigeons, houses, people, dry leaves from last year, a lost ball from the neighbor's yard... The street has its own voice, lungs, wrinkles and tendons. The street was born a hundred years ago, and will live for at least a thousand more.

When we walk down the street, do we hear its breathing, whispering, morning yawn? Do we read stories imprinted in the folds of the tired pavement, or do we catch the longing reflection of the street's gaze in the windows? What do the cold walls and the sidewalk trees, heated by the spring sun, remember and dream about?

During Putvinskis Street Day, sound artist Marius Paulikas (Entropija) will fill V. Putvinskis Street with sounds, as it is and as it could be – ordinary, unnoticed, unseen, playful, boring, musical, aging, traveling into the future. The artist will invite you to stop for a moment, look around and become rooted in the everyday life around you – here and now.

The project is technically supported by the Public Institution Kauno Tvirtovės Parkas and Electron Transition.

Artist: Domantas Bagdonas

Time: 12-4.30 PM

Location: Sculptors' Antinis Square

Two mirrors in front of each other. I place reflections into the words and write a poem for you. Everything happens in a simple way: we chit chat, open our hearts, look at each other, fall in love and I start writing.

Between 12:00 and 16:30, we invite all guests of the celebration to climb a little higher in the Antinis’ Sculpture Square and sit on a chair in front of artist Domantas Bagdonas, who will create a personal poem for you.

Artist: Alina Pilecka

Time: 2 PM

Location: Šilelis stairs

My bones are full of hope again

My nails are painted gold

Breasts jumping lightly in the air

Reminds you of baroque

 

My feet are rooting for your songs

Support from underground

The melody that’s not yet told

Assembling all year round

 

My belly’s full of secret force

And germinating sprouts

And buttocks growing spikes that know

If they should stab or rouse

 

I squeeze your face between my legs

Because I love you so

But please be kind, let me remind

My thighs can also choke 

 

And teeth can bite if you ignite

And nails can slice your clothes

But we can dance and dry your cries

If you will hold me close

songs of lungs, squeezing thighs, love you so, you never know, was inspired by unwritten pasts and lives that couldn’t fit into the dominant narratives of history. For this performance, I borrowed the principle of “interpretative archaeology” which I found when researching Lithuanian archeologist, Marija Gimbutas, who claimed that in ancient Europe, a female–centered society, peaceful, living in harmony with nature, existed. This theory was critiqued by many, but it also gave hope for many feminists, ecologists and spiritual workers that another world is possible. I wanted to speculate what energy another world could translate, what body and what dance could appear. I wanted this utopia not to be isolated from the outside world; therefore, I decided to make it in a public space. In this piece, I invited three of my friends to dance and my mum (who is a musician) to play an accordion with me. In this way, power of community and friendship, connections of different generations and maternal lineages were incorporated into the site. The whole piece was improvised based on a score that was adapted to the site, including its landscape and materials it holds, trying to transform everyday space into a sacred place.

Alina Pilecka together with Aurelija Jakimavičiūtė, Ugnė Lučauskaitė, Sandra Konovalova and Žibutė Valkaitytė.

Costumes: Patricija Grabauskaitė
Mentor: Andrius Katinas
Producer: Gabrielė Golubovičiūtė
Scenography: Ella Skinner
Author of the performance visual: Jurga Sako.
Special thanks to friends and workshop participants.

Host: Saulė Igarytė

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: In the installation “Friendly Stop” at Putvinskio st. 26

We invite all residents, visitors, artists and passers-by of Putvinskio street to create a living, collective street story. This will be an improvised “writing stop” for a fairy tale, where everyone who visits will be able to add one sentence to the already written text by writing it down on an old typewriter. The sentence can be realistic or fantastic, serious or funny – the most important thing is that it continues the fairy tale as a person imagines it at that moment, because Putvinskio street is not only an architectural gem, but also an intersection of everyday events, thoughts and imagination.

Later, the created fairy tale will be available to read in a bound book and heard in audio format at the Kaunas Artists’ House Media website page.

Host: Karolina Povilaitytė

Times: 12 PM and 3 PM

Location: in the front of M. K. Čiurlionis Museum entrance

Join the Interwar Dance Workshop! It doesn't matter if you are a dancer or have never danced before, the most important thing is the desire to feel the spirit of the interwar period and create a crazy and lively energy together. We - Karolina and Rūta, two interwar ladies who have come from 1936 to modern times, will help everyone who wants to learn two easy interwar dances. You can bring some interwar attributes (cap, jacket, shoes) when you come - this will help you feel the interwar fashion and style even more. We will dance with the breeze on May 17th from 12:00 and 15:00. No advance registration is required, just come, bring your friends, we will meet on the street right in front of the Čiurlionis Museum.

Host: Tomas Pocius

Time: 2.30 PM

Starting point: KMN amphitheater

Together with nature scientistTomas Pocius, we will explore the inhabitants of Putvinskis Street - insects, plants, mushrooms and other organisms that we often don't even notice.

Not only will we make sure that even in an urban environment there is life, but we will also create an interactive map of the biodiversity of this area together. We will be able to continue to fill it in even after the event is over.

To ensure that the activity runs smoothly, we recommend:

• bring a charged smartphone with internet access with you.
• download the free iNaturalist app in advance, register and, if possible, try it out yourself before the event (if something goes wrong, naturalist Tomas will help during the event).

No pre-registration is required for participation. The activity will be in Lithuanian language.

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: In front of M. K. Čiurlionis museum

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: Next to BLC building

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: In front of Funicular

Time: 12-5 PM

Place: V. Putvinskio str. 23

Time: 12-3.30 p.m.

Location: V. Putvinskio str. 3

Opening at 12 PM

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: V. Putvinskio str. 36

Time: 12-5 PM

Location: TBA

A celebration where all those who are capable and willing to go out and play music in the streets, squares or even public transport in various cities of Lithuania and abroad. On this day, the city streets sink in the sounds of music and viewers enjoy the performances created by musicians. Whether you are a professional musician or an amateur; play metal or country - everyone can participate!