OREANDA-NEWS. On March 31, 2008 Ukio bankas became the main patron of the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Centre’s exhibition “Imagining the Future: Architects Proposals for a New Museum in Vilnius“. Three internationally acclaimed architects, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and Massimiliano Fuksas, will unveil their proposals for a new museum in Vilnius, reported the press-centre of Ukio bankas.

The exhibition will include a competition during which a jury will determine the winning proposals. The jury will consist of Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, Thomas Krens, the Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, Peter Schmal, the Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, Mayor of the City of Vilnius Juozas Imbrasas and Gintaras Caikauskas, Vice Chairman of the Lithuanian Architects’ Association.

“We support the initiative of the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Centre to establish a museum of art in the capital city where visitors could familiarise themselves with the works by artists of international recognition. We believe that our country has matured for the international art and this initiative will be another step towards the transformation of Vilnius into a cosmopolitan, open and democratic city capable of accepting the latest tendencies of art and culture. This is beneficial for the whole of the country but not to Vilnius alone,” Zivile Geralaviciute-Davodov, the Director of Ukio bankas Private Banking Department, said.

The architectural competition is part of a Feasibility Study being conducted by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in cooperation with the State Hermitage Museum. The study is evaluating the feasibility, from an architectural, economic and cultural perspective of establishing a new museum in Vilnius. The Feasibility Study was commissioned by the recently established Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Centre in Vilnius and is expected to be completed by mid-June this year.

In the words of Z. Geralaviciute-Davodov, the new museum would grant the exceptional status of a city of culture to Vilnius. “The possibility of displaying world’s famous expositions would raise the cultural level of the city and of the entire country and at the same time would help the national business by popularising Lithuania in the world and increasing flows of tourists,” Ukio bankas Private Banking Department’s Director noted.

All the architectural models will be on public display from April 10 through the end of June 2008.