Fluxus Festival invites Kaunas crowds to climb Parodos Hill

Kaunas will host its traditional Fluxus Festival on Saturday, inviting visitors to take part in a “Big Bang” theme and climb Parodos Hill, LRT reported.

Festival producer Monika Citvaraitė-Lansbergienė said this year’s theme reflects Fluxus ideas including accessible art, its connection with everyday life, play, chance and creative freedom.

“The Big Bang is the moment from which everything begins again,” she said. “We want to imagine a Fluxus in which there is no single star, most important work or only one way to participate.”

The festival will begin at 9 p.m. in Jurgis Mačiūnas Square. Participants dressed in costumes will then head towards Parodos Hill, with the climb having become one of the event’s central traditions.

Organisers are encouraging visitors to imagine themselves as individual planets and express that idea through their appearance. Citvaraitė-Lansbergienė said elaborate costumes would not be necessary, as imagination, play and creative freedom were the most important elements.

The programme will include LRT Opus’s “Ritmogandos Ring”, a performance by the Vilnius JJazz Ensemble led by Jievaras Jasinskis, and percussion workshops. Visitors will also see performances by acting students from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, work by the Kaunas slam community, street art workshops and visual installations.

The programme will also feature a tribute by Jonas Mekas to Jurgis Mačiūnas, including a screening of the film “Zefiro Torna”.

Fluxus is an international artistic movement that emerged in the 1960s. It challenged traditional values, sought to erase the boundary between art and life, and based creativity on chance, irony, play and experimentation. The movement’s group was founded in 1962 by Lithuanian-origin artist Jurgis Mačiūnas.

The Fluxus Festival has been held in Kaunas since 2018.