Žilvinas Kempinas (born 1969 in

Plungė Plungė (; Samogitian: ''Plongė''; ) is a city in Lithuania with 17,252 inhabitants. Plunge is the capital of the Plungė District Municipality which has 33,251 inhabitants (2022). Two parts of the city are separated by the Babrungas River and ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

) is a contemporary visual artist. He lives and works in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Biography

Zilvinas Kempinas studied at the

Vilnius Academy of Art The Vilnius Academy of Arts (, previously ''State Art Institute of Lithuania'') in Vilnius, Lithuania, grants a variety of degrees in the arts. History The Academy traces its roots back to the creation of the Architecture Department at Viln ...

s during the time when

was one of the first republics to declare sovereignty from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1990. He graduated the Academy in 1993. Kempinas exhibited works that merged paintings, sculptures, performance art and installations. He collaborated with

Oskaras Koršunovas Oskaras Koršunovas is a Lithuanian theatre director. Biography Oskaras Koršunovas was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. He began his career as a theatre director in 1994 at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he obtained his maste ...

and created set designs for " The Old Woman 2", " Hello Sonia New Year", "

The Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' () is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the sea forever. The myths and ghost stories are likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Dutch East India C ...

", and " PS Byla OK" which won him the 1998 Kristoforas Award for Best Drama Theater Stage Design. Kempinas moved to New York at the end of 1997 and received an MFA in combined media from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

, City University of New York in 2002. His first New York show took place at PS1 Contemporary Art Center in 2003. In 2007, Kempinas was featured by ''Art Review Magazine'' as one of its 'Future Greats'. In the same year, he was awarded th
Calder Prize
and a residency a
Atelier Calder
in Saché,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 2008, the artist exhibited at the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

and, in 2009, in a solo show at the

Kunsthalle A kunsthalle () is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated ...

, Vienna. In 2009, Kempinas represented Lithuania at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

53rd International Art Exhibition in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In 2012, Kempinas was awarded the

Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts The Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts (), established in 1989, is an award granted for achievements in culture and the arts. It has been awarded annually in six categories since 2006 (between 1989 and 2006 there were nine categories). ...

Works

"Mr. Kempinas has an unusual ability to derive the maximum effects from the slightest of means. It gives his work a resonant economy and, for all its banality, a poetic relationship to the world at large." –

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position at the Times. Education and early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawre ...

Kempinas employs nontraditional materials to create active and dynamic exhibits, most commonly as installations. In many of his works, Kempinas utilizes his signature material, unwound

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...

. The use of the tape affects the viewer through various senses; visually, aurally and physically. In his work ''Double O'' from 2008, he directed two large electric fans at two loops of magnetic tape causing them to seemingly perpetually fly and dance between the fans. At the

2009, Kempinas presented ''Tube''. Located in the Lithuanian Pavilion at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, ''Tube'' consisted of magnetic tape strung parallel to the ground creating a large translucent tube or tunnel that viewers can walk through. The work addressed the physical and optical experience of the viewer, the passage of time, and the perception of the body and architecture." “Utilizing industrial fans in his installations to undulate loops of videotape, Žilvinas Kempinas creates gracious gestures in space that are at once minimalistic and yet keenly present. What is most fascinating about Kempinas is not the materials he employs but the transformative experience that his work evokes through its immateriality. In response to the expanse of Calder’s studio and the surrounding hills, Kempinas began working on a much larger scale in Saché. The dimensions of his now famous ''Tube'' (2008), a shimmering walkway of magnetic tape that ultimately filled the Lithuanian Pavilion in the 2009 Venice Biennale, was maximally scaled to fit the volume of the Saché studio. Kempinas is the only resident whose work has registered those ideal proportions that Calder designed for himself in 1962. – Alexander S. C. Rower "I am attracted to things that can transcend their own banality and materiality to become something else -- something more. I am going for something fundamentally natural. Looking at one of my works can, I hope, be like watching a flame or a running river. I want people to forget for a second what they are looking at and inhabit a parallel world, where abstract things make perfect sense as long as you are willing to take the time to look." – Zilvinas Kempinas, interview with Veronica Roberts, Museo Magazine.

Notable exhibitions

* 2019 Zilvinas Kempinas, Liberté! Saison Culturelle 2019,

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, France * 2019 ''Negative Space'', ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany * 2018 ''Action-Reaction 100 Years of Kinetic Art'',

Kunsthal Rotterdam The Kunsthal (; ) is an art space in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It opened in 1992. Overview The museum is situated in the Museumpark of Rotterdam next to the Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam, and in the vicinity of the Museum Boijmans Van Be ...

, Rotterdam, Netherlands * 2016 ''Tube''
Kunstraum Dornbirn
Dornbirn, Austria * 2016 ''Zilvinas Kempinas'',

IKON Gallery The Ikon Gallery () is an England, English art gallery, gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Listed building, Grade II listed, neo-Gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henr ...

, Birmingham, United Kingdom * 2016 ''Calder Prize'',

Pace Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US *Pace Airlines, an American charter airline * Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

London, London, United Kingdom * 2016 ''

Sculpture by the Sea The Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Sydney and Perth is Australia's largest annual outdoor sculpture Art exhibition, exhibition. This exhibition was initiated in 1997, at Bondi Beach and it featured sculptures by both Australian and overseas ...

: Cottesloe'', Cottesloe Beach, Australia * 2015 ''The Kaleidoscopic Turn'',

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

, Melbourne, Australia * 2014 ''Scarecrow'',

Socrates Sculpture Park Socrates Sculpture Park is an outdoor museum and public park where artists can create and exhibit sculptures and multi-media installations. It is located one block from the Noguchi Museum at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in ...

, Long Island City, New York, United States * 2013 ''Fountains'',

Reykjavik Art Museum Reykjavik Art Museum ( ; founded in 1973) is the largest visual art institution in Iceland. It occupies three locations in Reykjavík; Hafnarhús by the old harbour Kjarvalsstaðir by Klambratún and Ásmundarsafn in Laugardalur The Museu ...

, Reykjavik, Iceland * 2013 ''Darkroom'',

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in th ...

, Düsseldorf, Germany * 2013 ''Antigravity'',

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art The is an art museum located in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. History The museum features works by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Edvard Munch, and others. The museum building was constructed by Yoshio Taniguchi, who also renovate ...

, Toyota, Japan * 2013 ''Slow Motion'',

Museum Tinguely The Museum Tinguely is an art museum in Basel, Switzerland that contains a permanent exhibition of the works of Swiss painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely. Located in the Solitudepark by the Rhine, the museum was designed by the Ticinese architect ...

, Basel, Switzerland * 2012 '' Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2012'', Niigata, Japan * 2011 ''Exhibition of the permanent collection (from 1960 to present),''

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, Paris, France * 2011 ''Still,''

Garage Museum of Contemporary Art The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, also referred to simply as ''The Garage Museum'', is a privately funded art gallery in Moscow, Russia. It was founded by Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich as the ''Garage Center for Contemporary Culture'' ...

, Moscow, Russia * 2011 ''Vartai 20 Years: Zilvinas Kempinas'', Vartai Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania * 2011 ''Our Magic Hour''
Yokohama Triennale
Yokohama, Japan * 2011 ''On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century'', Museum of Modern Art, New York City, United States * 2010 ''Airborne'', AV Festival,

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (also known simply as (the) Baltic, stylised as BALTIC) is a centre for contemporary art located on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. It hosts a frequently changing variety ...

, Gateshead Quays, United Kingdom * 2010 ''I Believe in Miracles: 10th anniversary of the Lambert Collection'',

Yvon Lambert Gallery Yvon Lambert Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Paris founded by Yvon Lambert in 1966. History In 1966, Yvon Lambert opened his first gallery on the rue de L'Échaudé in Paris, France where he began to exhibit American artists. He showed f ...

, Avignon, France * 2009 ''53rd International Art Exhibition, The Venice Biennale'', Venice, Italy * 2008 ''Zilvinas Kempinas'',

Kunsthalle Wien Kunsthalle Wien is the city of Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city ...

, Vienna, Austria * 2008 ''NOW JUMP'',

Nam June Paik Art Center Nam June Paik Art Center is an art gallery in Giheung District, Yongin, Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. It opened in 2008 and hosts both permanent and temporary exhibitions. It is named after the Korean American artist Nam June Paik, whose work i ...

, Seoul, Korea * 2008 ''New Work: Zilvinas Kempinas, Alyson Shotz, Mary Temple'',

, San Francisco, United States * 2007 ''Parallels/Flying Tape'', Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania * 2007 ''Collected Visions: Modern and Contemporary Works from the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection'',

Pera Museum Pera Museum () is an art museum in the Tepebaşı quarter of the Beyoğlu (formerly called ''Pera'') district in Istanbul, Turkey, at Meşrutiyet Avenue No. 65, adjacent to İstiklal Avenue and in close proximity to Taksim Square. It has a parti ...

, Istanbul, Turkey * 2006 ''Flying Tape'',

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

, Paris, France * 2003 ''Still and 186 000 mi/s'', P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, New York City, United States

Selected Collections

, Paris, France *

Collection Lambert Yvon Lambert Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Paris founded by Yvon Lambert in 1966. History In 1966, Yvon Lambert opened his first gallery on the rue de L'Échaudé in Paris, France where he began to exhibit American artists. He showed f ...

, Museum of Contemporary Art, Avignon France * Credit Agricole Art Collection, Paris, France
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection
New York, United States
Lewben Art Foundation
Vilnius, Lithuania * Lio Malca Collection, New York, United States *

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, also known as the Louisiana, is an art museum located north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Attracting over 700,000 guests annually, the Louisiana is Scandinavia's most visited museum for Modern art, modern and contempor ...

, Humlebæk, Denmark * MUDAM Musée d'art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (The Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art), Luxembourg City, Luxembourg *

Museum of Old and New Art The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an art museum located within the Moorilla Estate, Moorilla winery on the Berriedale, Tasmania, Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in the South ...

, Tasmania, Australia *

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

, Ottawa, Canada *

, Melbourne, Australia *

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galle ...

& Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia * The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, United States

References

External links

Artist personal website: zilvinaskempinas.com
*

Bitforms gallery Bitforms Gallery (stylized as bitforms gallery) is a contemporary art gallery in New York City devoted to new media art practices. It was founded in 2001 by Steven Sacks, and represents established, mid-career, and emerging artists critically en ...

Galeria LemeGaleria Vartai
* ttp://vernissage.tv/blog/2009/07/10/zilvinas-kempinas-tube-lithuanian-pavilion-venice-biennale-2009/ Vernissage video and information on ''Tube'' from the Venice Biennale 2009
Drawing in Motion Double O at MoMA 2010

Video of Double O by Zilvinas Kempinas in Art DaysSlow Motion Zilvinas Kempinas at Museum TinguelySculpture by the Sea A View from Zilvinas Kempinas

he process itself becomes an art piece Arterritory Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempinas, Zilvinas 1969 births Living people People from Plungė Lithuanian artists Hunter College alumni Vilnius Academy of Arts alumni