Tag Archives: Karen Vanhercke

An Ecological Journey of Artistic Discovery at Europos Parkas

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For their fourth Slow Art Day, the Open-Air Museum Europos Parkas, in Vilnius, Lithuania, organized a plein-air slow looking session with their participants.

Europos Parkas is a 55 hectare (136 acre) open-air museum situated in the center of Europe that began as a relaxing place in the forest where artists, sculptors, and people around the world could meet, and eventually transformed into an open-air museum with modern sculptures and landscape art.

Slow Art Day at Europos Parkas

On the 15th of April, participants where invited to slowly experience three different sculptures:

  • “Gintarė/electricity” by Evaldas Pauza (Lithuania)
  • “Conjuror” by Magdalena Abakanowicz (Poland)
  • “Space of Unknown Growth” by Magdalena Abakanowicz (Poland)
“Gintarė/electricity” by Evaldas Pauza
“Conjuror” by Magdalena Abakanowicz
“Space of Unknown Growth” by Magdalena Abakanowicz

Participants were encouraged to pay close attention to their breathing, all while taking note of the colors, sounds, and smells surrounding them – and even being blindfolded so they could focus on touch.

After the slow viewing, art facilitator Karen Vanhercke led a discussion encouraging participants to make mindful connections between themselves and the surrounding nature, art, and other participants. To make the event more inclusive, discussions were conducted in English with Lithuanian translation. Tea and biscuits were also served.

Participants engaging with sculptures and nature on Slow Art Day

At Slow Art Day HQ, we love the creativity of the Europos Parkas team and look forward to seeing what they come up with in 2024.

– Jessica Jane, Johanna, Ashley and Phyl

P.S. Here you can find their Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Open-Air Slow Art at Europos Parkas

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For their third Slow Art Day, Europos Parkas, or the “Open-air Museum of the Center of Europe”, held an in-person event hosted by Lina Karosienė of the European Park, and Karen Vanhercke and Justina Kaminskaite of Easel World, an agency focused on connecting people through art.

Located in the geographical center of Europe, near Vilnius, Lithuania, the European Park is an outdoor museum of modern and contemporary art that has been operating since 1991.

Location of Europos Parkas

Their Slow Art Day featured sculptural works by Marius Zavadskis and Adomas Jacovskis, seen below.

Photography courtesy of Gintare Užtupytė
Photography courtesy of Gintare Užtupytė
Marius Zavadskis, Carousal, Photography courtesy of Gytis Juodėnas
Adomas Jacovskis, Lying Head, Photography courtesy of Gytis Juodėnas
Photography courtesy of Gintare Užtupytė

We love sculpture parks and would have enjoyed slowly walking around and inside some of these sculptures.

Participants of the Slow Art Day seemed to love it too – and reported that slowing down changed their relationship to the park and to the art. “Earlier I just saw this park as the place full of objects, and now I see the artworks in a whole new light,” said one. Yes!

The team at European Park also produces year-round Slow Art programming and has created a special route through the park that encourages participants to look at art (and nature) slowly.

This beautiful video in Lithuanian (below) on their YouTube channel gives an idea of how they have done this.

It’s great to have this central European art park participating, especially during this difficult time for the region. We look forward to seeing what they come up with for their fourth Slow Art Day.

– Robin, Ashley, Johanna, Jessica Jane, and Phyl

P.S. You can visit European Park’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.

Multi-lingual Slow Art Day at MO Museum

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For their first Slow Art Day, the MO Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, organized a free multi-lingual international event on Zoom as part of their MO Conversations program. On 10 April 2021, the museum hosted five conversation groups throughout the day to discuss ‘Interior XI,’ an artwork by Romanas Vilkauskas, in English, Russian, or Lithuanian.

Participants were invited to join a session in their preferred language and look slowly at the artwork before joining a discussion with one of the facilitators: Karen Vanhercke for English; Simona Košinskaitė and Justina Kaminskaitė for Lithuanian; and Irina Leto for Russian.

ROMANAS VILKAUSKAS, Interior XI, 1997 – 1998, oil on canvas, 105,5 x 125 cm. Copyright MOMuseum, Vilnius

The aim was to encourage participants to connect with a single artwork for an entire hour, and no prior knowledge of art was required. The facilitators were well versed in the “visual thinking strategy” (VTS) discussion technique, which they used for the sessions.

Staged picture with art on view and facilitator Karen Vanhercke, Educational Curator at MOMuseum

Participants loved the event and left positive feedback:

Looking at, instead of reading about, the art: the practice of  ‘slow art’ transformed my experience and gave me a deeper connection.

Participant’s quote

Actually, the major takeaway from today’s Zoom call, was my change of perception! In one hour the artpiece changed in front of my eyes. In the beginning it was just an artwork, but in the end it was a story.

Participant’s quote

The discussion made me appreciate it on different levels: peeling away at the layers of expression… It is truly a great piece, and great to see how timeless and flexible art can be.

Participant’s quote

At Slow Art Day HQ, we are excited that the MO Museum designed such an inclusive slow art event in three different languages. We encourage museum educators to consider multi-lingual options for future Slow Art Day events, and we look forward to whatever they come up with in 2022.

Johanna, Jessica, Ashley, and Phyl

P.S. You can follow updates from the MO Museum on their Facebook and Instagram pages.