"See you soon. Love!" – presentation of a literary sensory exhibition

"Viciuka, I want to tell You that we are terribly rich, millionaires, multimillionaires! With our love! In these days, from the tragedies of my friends, I have experienced again and again that love is everything in this world." From a letter by Unė Babickaitė-Graičiūnienė to her husband Vytautas Andrius Graičiūnas Paris, July 22, 1932 Tragic circumstances often highlight what has the greatest meaning in life. Logotherapist Viktor Frankl sought meaning in war and exile, and we decided to look for love specifically in the testimonies of such experiences – letters and diaries. "Today, letters are a forgotten form of communication. It was more sensitive, more intimate, and, unfortunately, it has been replaced by fast, more efficient, more business-like communication. Letters helped maintain the thread of life during those difficult times, the illusion of closeness necessary for it; they reflect not only external but also internal human struggles," shares curator of the literary sensory exhibition Akvilė Jankauskaitė. "See you soon. Love!" – say the exhibition's creators, presenting stories of historical figures who experienced extreme situations. We invite you to meet on September 24 at 6:00 PM at the Ąžuolynas Library Gallery (Radastų St. 2, 4th floor), where the presentation of the literary sensory exhibition and the discussion "Is love necessary for survival?" will take place. The conversation will be moderated by sociologist Dr. Ieva Dryžaitė, with exhibition curator Akvilė Jankauskaitė, exhibition installation director Greta Gudelytė ("Apeironas" Theatre), historian Skaidra Grabauskienė, and clinical psychologist, Vilnius University researcher Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jonas Eimontas. Together we will consider: does love motivate us during extreme experiences, protect us, or perhaps make us even more vulnerable? The exhibition will also be available for viewing before the event from 5:00 PM. About the exhibition Prepared together with the "Apeironas" Theatre team, the traveling literary sensory exhibition "See you soon! Love" is based on the principles of bibliotherapy – text as a tool with emotional and psychological value. In the exhibition, we observe the role of love in the face of exile and war, and examine how love and devotion, encoded in letters and diaries, provide the determination to resist and stoically accept fate. The exhibition will introduce fragments of love and survival letters and diaries of 20th-century Lithuanian personalities in an unconventional way, through six experiential exhibits. You will be able to experience the extreme situation of each famous or lesser-known personality through different senses – by touching, listening, seeing, and smelling, you will feel the emotions of each letter and get to know its author. "Writing this now, I hear the forest roaring, leafless and empty. A small fire is burning in front of me, and leaning against my husband's knee, I am writing you a letter." Partisan Diana Glemžaitė's letter to her sisters, November 9, 1949 Thoughts and feelings of the exhibition creators This is an exhibition about love and suffering, but suffering not because of love, but because of other circumstances beyond the control of an ordinary person. Love here is a source of resilience, the gears turning with the last of one's strength, leading forward. There are a multitude of circumstances we cannot control, in the face of which we can feel so insignificant. They are frightening – and not without reason. For some time now, we have been living with constant anxiety about the threat of war, and one of the ways to deal with this is to develop emotional intelligence, resilience in our hearts and minds. We get to know the world through our senses, so it is not in vain that we can communicate more through them than usual. We can convey a feeling, transport a person to another era, place, or embody another person. Exhibition curator Akvilė Jankauskaitė The sensory installation exhibition "See you soon! Love" is a touch of an extremely personal, spiritually intimate moment that a person unknown to you experienced in the past present. While creating the exhibition, we chose a "secret" (sekretas) as the form of artistic solution. This romantic game – from love letters in a bottle to mosaics of dried petals laid out under glass and buried underground – served as a form of transmitting highly personal experience. It is paradoxical that in this way, the most personal experiences were transmitted to strangers who would discover that secret by accident – at a different time, on the other side of the ocean, in different life circumstances. This exhibition is a touch of a vibration that is recognizable in all times, in all lives, in every person. It is a moment where different times and worlds connect. "Apeironas" Theatre director Greta Gudelytė From September 25 to October 15, the exhibition will be displayed in the Ąžuolas Hall (Radastų St. 2, 2nd floor). The traveling literary sensory exhibition "See you soon! Love" is partially funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture. "And if by chance fate would like to physically destroy me, then You, Niliukas, make me exist somewhere happy, by creating a happy life for yourself again. It is not impossible that I, too, might turn into the dust of our homeland's bloody earth (...)". From a letter by Juozas Lukša-Daumantas to his wife Nijolė Bražėnaitė-Lukšienė, August 1950 Exhibition organizer: Kaunas County Public Ąžuolynas Library Exhibition creators: "Apeironas" Theatre Exhibition funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture Project partners: cultural publication "Nemunas", AB "Lietuvos geležinkeliai", Raseiniai Marcelijus Martinaitis Public Library, Kėdainiai Mikalojus Daukša Public Library, Vilkaviškis District Municipality Public Library The event will be photographed and/or filmed, so you may be visible in event photos or videos, which may be published in various media outlets.