Algimantas Žižiūnas
Music > Politics
Lithuanian Photographers’ Association and Lithuanian Central State Archives invite you on October 15, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. to the Algimantas Žižiūnas exhibition Music > Politics, to be held at the Vilnius Photography Gallery (Stiklių St. 4, Vilnius).
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The experience of the Sąjūdis movement is today no longer just history – it once again inspires resistance to what seems like an inevitable geopolitical shift toward authoritarianism. As we did then, we recognize that democracy, freedom of speech, and diversity of thought must still be defended. The cultural community rose against the ambitions of populist forces to impose their will and reshape Lithuanian culture after the model of Eastern autocracies. On October 5, when we all listened to M. K. Čiurlionis’s symphonic poem The Sea, we heard one another and remembered the unity of that time. From the tribunes, words are once again spoken openly – words the authorities, having learned to feign and lie over thirty-five years of freedom, prefer not to hear. We do not yet know how it will end, but now is the time not just to remember the movement, but to examine how we looked then when gathering in the thousands.
Like many photographers, Algimantas Žižiūnas was at the center of events and documented the process of liberation, whose outcome was uncertain then and is still contested. As now, waves of resistance to Soviet oppression were stirred by cultural figures – artists, art historians, philosophers. Their speeches at rallies called us back to feeling like a nation rather than a faceless Soviet mass. The sheer possibility of voicing opinions publicly was intoxicating. In Vilnius, at Konstantinas Sirvydas Square, a “Hyde Park” was even created where anyone could speak. The awakening civil society increasingly gathered in squares to voice its will. All in unison chanted the precious word “Lithuania”, and shouted the word “shame” to local authorities who pandered to the occupiers. Above the crowd, posters expressed people’s thoughts and aspirations, the principal one being: “A free Lithuania – among the nations of Europe.”
We have been a free Lithuania within the family of European nations for thirty-five years now. And we cannot be returned to wherever we were. This exhibition reminds us how powerful the will of free people is – everything becomes possible when we support one another and boldly speak the truth.
Prof. Dr. Agnė Narušytė
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Algimantas Žižiūnas (1940–2023) was a Lithuanian photographer, photojournalist, and public figure. He was born in Kaunas, began his creative path in Anykščiai, later worked in press in Vilnius, photographing various events, landscapes, and portraits, capturing cultural and political moments. Among his notable series are Faces and Thoughts, Women of My Visions, Ančiškis – Middle of Lithuania, etc.
In 2014, he was awarded the title of honorary member of the Lithuanian Photographers’ Association. In 2015, he received the 1st class badge “For Merits to Lithuania” from the Union of Political Prisoners and Deportees. Also in 2015, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania presented him a certificate of appreciation for his long creative career, contributions to preserving cultural history in photography, and for nurturing the profession.
The exhibition’s title is borrowed from Žižiūnas’s photograph Vytautas Landsbergis. Music > (greater than) Politics from the series Faces and Thoughts.
At the opening, the artist’s wife Pranciška Regina Liubertaitė will present her book The Fate of Being a Photographer, which describes Algimantas Žižiūnas’s biography and includes many of his photographs.
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The exhibition runs until November 8. It is organized in collaboration with the Lithuanian Central State Archives.
The activities of the Lithuanian Photographers Association are funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
The website photography.lt is partly financed by the Media Support Fund.
Vilnius Photography Gallery opening hours:
Tue–Fri 12:00–18:00; Sat 12:00–16:00.
