{"id":25318,"date":"2026-06-22T13:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/vytauto-kasiulio-dailes-muziejus\/parodos\/nijole-sivickas-de-mockus-the-universe-from-a-spiral\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T13:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:42:11","slug":"nijole-sivickas-de-mockus-the-universe-from-a-spiral","status":"publish","type":"paroda","link":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/vytautas-kasiulis-museum-of-art\/exhibitions\/nijole-sivickas-de-mockus-the-universe-from-a-spiral\/","title":{"rendered":"Nijol\u0117 \u0160ivickas de Mockus. The Universe from a Spiral"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nijol\u0117\u00a0\u0160ivickas\u00a0de\u00a0Mockus\u00a0(1925\u20132018)\u00a0was a Colombian artist of Lithuanian descent whose life and work spanned the dramatic historical turning points of the 20th century, the experience of emigration, and a unique artistic path.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in the\u00a0K\u0117dainiai\u00a0district, near the\u00a0Nev\u0117\u017eis\u00a0River, she grew up in independent Lithuania, but her youth was marked by the events of World War II and the Nazi and Soviet occupations.\u00a0She attended school in\u00a0K\u0117dainiai,\u00a0Raseiniai, and\u00a0Panev\u0117\u017eys, where she also began taking painting lessons. In 1944, as the second Soviet occupation approached, she fled to Germany with her sister\u00a0Aldona. There she worked in a metalworking factory, but even under difficult conditions, she never stopped drawing and sketching; she was later admitted to the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart.\u00a0During her studies, influenced by postwar European artistic ideas and the revival of the Bauhaus tradition, she created drawings, portraits, landscapes, and her first more abstract works.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While living in Germany,\u00a0Nijol\u0117\u00a0met\u00a0Alfonsas\u00a0Mockus, a Lithuanian who became her husband. In 1950, the couple emigrated to Colombia and settled in Bogot\u00e1.\u00a0During her first years there, the artist worked as an illustrator, creating more than 150 illustrations for major Colombian magazines and newspapers.\u00a0In 1955, her first solo exhibition, held at the National Library of Colombia, received positive reviews from critics, but the artist herself felt she had not yet found her own artistic voice. The result of her search was clay \u2013 a material that would define\u00a0all of\u00a0her\u00a0subsequent\u00a0creative work. After being introduced to ceramic techniques by the Lithuanian artist\u00a0Juozas\u00a0Bagdonas, she began creating not only utilitarian objects but also distinctive sculptural forms.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After her husband\u2019s tragic death in a plane crash in 1966,\u00a0Nijol\u0117\u00a0took sole responsibility for her\u00a0daughter\u00a0Ismena\u00a0and son\u00a0Antanas. The \u201cAkmuO\u201d studio\u00a0that she founded\u00a0became a significant centre\u00a0for design, crafts, and artistic creation.\u00a0The studio produced ceramics,\u00a0metal\u00a0items, furniture,\u00a0chandeliers, and decorative objects, but over time, individual artistic expression\u00a0came to play\u00a0an increasingly\u00a0important role.\u00a0From the beginning of the 1970s, she turned more decisively toward the visual arts, and her\u00a0creative\u00a0work began to be dominated by organic, nature-inspired forms \u2013 moons,\u00a0gaps, riverbeds, angles, indentations, and their interconnections\u00a0in space.\u00a0Exhibitions held\u00a0from\u00a0the 1980s in\u00a0Colombia, as well as in Venezuela, Ecuador, Australia, France,\u00a0and Germany\u00a0revealed a mature phase in the artist\u2019s work, in which sculptures and objects merged into spatial compositions, which the artist herself referred to as installations.\u00a0Over more than six decades of her creative work,\u00a0Nijol\u0117\u00a0\u0160ivickas\u00a0de\u00a0Mockus\u00a0has held more than twenty solo exhibitions and\u00a0participated\u00a0in over a hundred group exhibitions in various countries worldwide. Her oeuvre is distinguished by its\u00a0visionary thinking,\u00a0expressiveness, inner freedom, a sensitive relationship with the medium, and a reflection on universal human experiences.\u00a0The artist left behind a rich legacy of drawings, paintings, sculptures, and installations that blend the cultural experiences of Lithuania, Europe, and Latin America.\u00a0She is today regarded as one of the most important artists of Lithuanian origin in Latin America and a significant figure in the cultural history of the Lithuanian diaspora.\u00a0Laura Moreno Barbosa, a scholar of\u00a0Nijol\u0117\u2019s\u00a0artistic legacy and curator of the exhibition, encourages viewers to develop their own perspective on the artist\u2019s work, perceiving it as a cyclical and spiralling phenomenon.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2026, the family of\u00a0Nijol\u0117\u00a0\u0160ivickas\u00a0donated to Lithuania a\u00a0portion\u00a0of her artistic heritage,\u00a0comprising\u00a0209 artworks\u2014sculptures, paintings, graphic works, and drawings\u2014from\u00a0different stages\u00a0of her creative career. The collection was transported from Bogot\u00e1 and reached the Port of\u00a0Klaip\u0117da\u00a0in the second half of January.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organiser Vytauto Kasiulio dail\u0117s muziejus<\/p>\n

Supporter Lietuvos kult\u016bros taryba<\/p>\n

Media Partners: Delfi, JCDecaux<\/p>\n

Curator Laura Moreno Barbosa<\/p>\n

Architect Tomas Valentinaitis, RESH | Architecture & Design<\/p>\n

Designer Ula \u0160imulynait\u0117<\/p>\n

Translators: Egl\u0117 Ozolin\u010di\u016bt\u0117, Aleksandra Fominait\u0117<\/p>\n

Copy editors: Ieva Puluikien\u0117, Ilona \u010ciu\u017eauskait\u0117<\/p>\n

Conservators: Paulius Zov\u0117, Lukas Rakauskas, Algis Vaineikis, Egl\u0117 Pi\u0161\u010dikait\u0117<\/p>\n

Coordinators: Ilona Ma\u017eeikien\u0117, Birut\u0117 Pank\u016bnait\u0117<\/p>\n

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