Post-abstraction
July 16–October 25, 2026
M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art presents the exhibition “Post-abstraction,” featuring artworks by Barbara Kasten, an American artist of Lithuanian origin and one of the most prominent figures in contemporary abstraction.
The architecture of light
Barbara Kasten belongs to a generation of artists who expanded photography into a sphere of experimentation with space, light, and perception. Her studies in painting, sculpture, and textile art, as well as the ideas of the Bauhaus, Eastern European Constructivism, modernist and postmodernist architecture, grew into a significant foundation for her work. Featuring approximately 80 artworks, including photographs, sculptures, and installations, the exhibition spans nearly six decades of Kasten’s career (1971–2026). Here, light is not a means of illumination; it becomes the material itself. Mirrors, colour filters, and geometric forms create situations where boundaries between real and imagined space, seeing and perceiving, disappear. Barbara Kasten will be present in Kaunas on October 7–10. For more info, please visit ciurlionis.lt.
The catalogue “Post-abstraction”
The exhibition comes to Kaunas from Zachęta – National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, where an extensive catalogue was published in Polish and English. It features in-depth essays examining Kasten’s practice written by Agnieszka Pindera, Alex Klein and Charlotte Cotton, as well as a comprehensive presentation of her artworks, archival photographs, and installation views of the “Post-abstraction” exhibition. A bilingual English-Lithuanian edition will be available in September.
“The Phenomenon of the Polish School of Textile Art” public programme
Kasten's interest in the Polish School of Textile Art—Ewa Jaroszyńska (Pachucka), Jolanta Owidzka, Wojciech Sadley, Zofia Butrymowicz and Magdalena Abakanowicz—led her to spend 1971–72 in Poznań as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow, pursuing her textile practice at the State School of Fine Arts. “Post-abstraction” includes a sisal sculpture she made there. The programme (October 7–10) will celebrate this legacy with lectures, films, educational events and a discussion with Barbara Kasten.
Curator: Agnieszka Pindera
Organized by: M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in collaboration with Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Partners: Galerie Kadel Willborn, Philara Collection, The BlueKnowledge Art Collection
Funded by: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania
Supporter: Polish Institute in Vilnius
Media partners: LRT, Reklamos Arka
The programme “The Phenomenon of the Polish School of Textile Art” is co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the Inspiring Culture 2026–2027 Programme.
