The beginning of June in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, and Telšiai is traditionally marked by one of the most anticipated cultural events for students and lecturers of the Vilnius Academy of Arts – the Graduation Show, taking place for the fourth consecutive year. The exhibition introduces the public to a new generation of artists, designers, architects, conservators, scenographers, curators, and art historians.
From June 2–13, the VDA Graduation Show 2026 will present creative projects by Bachelor’s and Master’s graduates of the Academy. This largest showcase of emerging creators in Lithuania will bring together more than 400 graduates across Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, and Telšiai.
For students, the Graduation Show marks both the completion of their academic studies and their first step into the professional art world. Hundreds of Bachelor’s and Master’s projects reflect contemporary issues, experimental thinking, and current directions in creative practice.
“This year’s final projects explore themes of personal identity, social processes, technology, ecology, memory, and contemporary culture. Some works are characterised by sensitive aesthetics and subtle storytelling, while others speak directly and critically, yet all of them reveal the unique and independent voice of young creators and their active relationship with today’s world,” says prof. Ieva Skauronė, Rector of the Vilnius Academy of Arts. She adds that each project demonstrates not only the knowledge acquired at the Academy, but also the ability to think independently, raise questions, and formulate a personal position.
Among the student works are self-regulation tools for adults with ADHD, emotional regulation and time-management solutions, social initiatives for young people, and many other projects. Many of them focus on emotional well-being, psychological sensitivity, and the growing attention young creators pay to human experience and mental health.
Themes of inner states, vulnerability, and self-reflection also emerge strongly throughout the exhibition. Young artists explore emotional tension, loneliness, disappearance, human fragility, and the relationship between the individual, the self, and society.
Visitors will encounter works reflecting on humanity’s relationship with nature, local memory, and the idea of home. These projects explore ecological, historical, and emotional connections with the environment, particularly through photographic research and artistic practices.
Sustainability is another important theme. Young designers search for ways in which creative practice can contribute to more responsible relationships with materials, the environment, and consumption. The exhibition features numerous educational and socially engaged projects, addressing bold topics and exploring how design might help build a more sensitive society.
Highlights include a racing simulator, a portable outdoor lighting object, and a laser demonstration centre. Alongside these are investigations into brutalist aesthetics, post-art deco interpretations, furniture longevity, and inclusive design in public urban spaces.
Interdisciplinary works reveal the influence of the digital world on human identity. Artists address the impact of technology on emotions, self-perception, and everyday life.
Architecture and interior design projects reflect community needs, contemporary lifestyles, and urban transformation. Projects include a multifunctional market, a contemporary library and media centre, a centre for intergenerational dialogue, the adaptation of student housing to modern needs, a therapy centre for children with disabilities, and the conversion of an old town station into a creative industries hub. These works demonstrate a strong ambition to create spaces that are not only aesthetically engaging, but also empathetic and responsive to human needs.
In textile and fashion projects, creators analyse the relationship between the body, clothing, and personal experience, addressing themes such as the dissonance between the female body and garments, the boundaries between public and private, tactility, and self-therapy, while emphasising inclusion and collective creativity. Fashion design projects engage with collective memory, contemporary emotional states, and architectural heritage, seeking not only visual expression but also emotional and historical narratives.
Painting and visual arts projects explore existential themes, particularly focusing on anxiety, inspiration, creative crisis, and the tensions of the contemporary world.
Scenography students reinterpret classical literary and theatrical works through contemporary visual language. The exhibition includes scenographic projects inspired by Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim, Lanark by Alasdair Gray, and Up at the Villa by W. Somerset Maugham.
Conservation and restoration projects connect historical heritage with the present day, while jewellery and metal art projects reveal personal experiences, material investigations, and conceptual relationships with objects. In these works, objects become not only aesthetic artefacts but also carriers of emotional states and experiences.
In art history and curatorial studies, students analyse changes in architecture, photography, contemporary art, and public spaces, critically reconsidering cultural history and its relevance today.
Graphic arts students present works characterised by a sensitive engagement with personal experiences, memory, identity, and observations of everyday life. The projects combine visual storytelling, text, research, and experimental artistic expression, exploring themes ranging from ecological anxiety, fear, and authenticity to cultural memory, the body, relationships with the environment, and the perception of art.
Graduation Show in VDA Faculties
In Vilnius, the Graduation Show exhibitions will take place across VDA spaces, including the "Titanikas" exhibition halls, the Site-Specific Art and Scenography department, the Old and New Palace buildings, galleries "Akademija", "Artifex", "5 Malūnai", the Anastasija and Antanas Tamošaitis gallery "Židinys", and the outdoor exhibition space "Lauko ekspo +1000".
In Kaunas, exhibitions will be presented at the VDA Kaunas faculty, "Muitinė" gallery, "Meno parkas" gallery, "Balta" gallery, the project space "Avietė", and the temporary M. K. Čiurlionis Art gallery.
In Telšiai, the exhibition will take place at the VDA Telšiai gallery, the Samogitian Museum "Alka", and the VDA Telšiai faculty.
In Klaipėda, works will be exhibited at the "Daržų" gallery of the VDA Klaipėda faculty.
The exhibition is free of charge and will include guided tours, meetings with the artists, and public events inviting visitors to engage more closely with the works and creative processes of emerging creators at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.
