The Contemporary Art Center (CAC) in Vilnius, Lithuania, has named Valentinas Klimašauskas and João Laia the curators of the Fourteenth Baltic Triennial, to take place in 2021 across Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Klimašauskas, a former program manager at Kim? Contemporary Art Center in Riga who curated the Latvian pavilion at last year’s Fifty-Eighth Venice Biennale, was also a curator at CAC between 2003 and 2013. Laia, who was born in Portugal, is currently chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki. 

“The decision to invite Valentinas Klimašauskas was made after estimating that now more than ever the Triennale needs a curator with an international network who is very knowledgeable about the Lithuanian art scene,” Kuizinas said in a statement, adding that Klimašauskas extended the invitation to Laia in order to further develop a creative dialogue. The two recently co-organized an ongoing exhibition titled “Mascara” at Porto City Hall Gallery in Portugal.

“Contemporary art has been perceived as a critical tool for the modernization of our region,” Klimašauskas said. “However, given the growing autocratic, nationalist, homophobic and neoliberal tendencies in the region, the question arises as to what impact the changing political winds may have on the region’s art scene and, conversely, what impact the art scene may have on these processes.”

The introductory events of the triennial, which was founded in 1979 and funded by the Lithuanian Culture Council, will take place in the CAC sculpture yard from July 22 to July 24. The Thirteenth Baltic Triennial (2018) was titled “Give Up the Ghost” and curated by London-based curator Vincent Honoré.