On the former site of an aviation factory, where the Kaunas City Municipality is developing the Aleksotas Innovation Industrial Park, the idea of the one of the longest outdoor art galleries in the Baltic States, “No-Fly Zone”, was launched with the aim of communicating freedom and the brutality of war. The initiative is curated by the international project “T-factor” and the congress “CoHappiness. Rewilding & Rethinking”, which is part of the Kaunas 2022 programme.
With Russia committing genocide in Ukraine and the world increasingly coming to terms with the idea of war in this country, the organisers of the project in Lithuania and the Kyiv-based Karas Gallery hope to draw the world’s attention once again to the brutal acts of war that are being waged in the midst of Europe in the 21st century.
The 1 km long open-air gallery “No-Fly Zone” is located in the symbolic former military aviation site in Aleksotas, Kaunas. The gallery is created by local, international and Ukrainian artists and Ukrainian communities. Both professional artists and Ukrainian families with children who have migrated to Lithuania have joined forces, involving them in street art education.
Internationally acclaimed Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi has already provided the gallery with drawings that testify to the absurdity of war. Artists from Ukraine, Maria Oscpischeva and Mariko Gelman, as well as Scott Hattox, a pop artist from Los Angeles, USA, have captured their experiences live on the wall. The visual representation of the war in Ukraine was also expressed by Baby Aleksa, an artificial intelligence visualization curated by Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, whose work was transferred onto the wall by a graphic artist Tadas Šimkus.
Selected drawings by Ukrainian children have also become part of the No-Fly Zone gallery. On the 1st of June, the International Children’s Day, the VDU Botanical Garden hosted an educational drawing workshop for them and their families. The selected works were transferred onto the wall by graphic artists.
Partners of the No-Fly Zone open-air gallery: the international project T-Factor (partners KTUaunas University of Technology, Kaunas City Municipality, Kaunas Fortress Park), Vytautas Magnus University, Karas Gallery (Kyiv), Kaunas European Information Centre.
