{"id":24353,"date":"2025-10-10T09:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T06:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/taikomosios-dailes-ir-meno-muziejus\/renginiai\/different-tastes-of-the-history-of-tea-at-the-museum-of-applied-arts-and-design\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T09:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T06:12:07","slug":"different-tastes-of-the-history-of-tea-at-the-museum-of-applied-arts-and-design","status":"publish","type":"renginys","link":"https:\/\/lndm.devmerit.com\/en\/museum-of-applied-arts-and-design\/events\/different-tastes-of-the-history-of-tea-at-the-museum-of-applied-arts-and-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Different tastes of the history of tea at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For those who feel like caught in the whirlwinds of daily errands, the National Museum of Art (LNMA) provides an escape opportunity from these cares, inviting to discover peace in a cup of tea. October 17, at 5 p.m., the Museum of Applied Arts and Design opens an exhibition that offers to reflect on tea beyond its function as a beverage and to appreciate its role as a cultural phenomenon fussing tradition, ritual and aesthetics.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople we invite for a cup of tea are usually our actual or prospective friends, we do not drink tea with foes. Tea is not only a beverage, but a staple of many cultures, with deep historical and ritual traditions, diverse ways of tea making in different countries worldwide. That is what our exhibition <\/span>Peace in a Cup of Tea. The Culture of Tea Consumption<\/span><\/i> is about,\u201d says D\u017eiuljeta \u017diug\u017edien\u0117, director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rereading the history of tea culture in Lithuania\u00a0<\/h6>\n

\u201cThese days it sounds natural to ask \u2018Would you like tea or coffee?\u2019, but Lithuania had to walk a long way to reach this point of balance. In the past, tea was a rarity, nearly a luxury, giving in to the profuse coffee drinking culture. We have experienced this first hand when putting the exhibition together \u2013 it has taken a lot of diligence to trace the route tea drinking took to arrive in our country. Yet it was exactly this scarcity that led to an intriguing story of tea slowly making its way to our tables \u2013 from the mansions of the nobility to teahouses in small towns, and the interwar saloons, with their steaming tea cups and conversations over them about culture and life,\u201d Dr Marius Dara\u0161kevi\u010dius, curator of the exhibition, gives a glimpse of the story of tea in this event.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tea drinking rituals integrate the experience, histories and worldviews of different cultures. On its arrival from the Far East in Europe, including Lithuania, tea ushered in also a new cultural taste, bringing along also the finesses of table culture with its luxurious tableware, polished manners and rituals of socializing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gra\u017eina Gurnevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117, curator of the exhibition, invites to discern aspects of tea culture in the works of art: \u201cThe exhibition makes the history of tea culture manifest through diverse forms of art. Visitors can explore shiny silverware from the celebrated world\u2019s workshops, to marvel at the subtle ceramic pieces, translucent colours of bone china and exquisite textiles \u2013 these artefacts reflect both, the manufacturing traditions and aesthetic ideals. The paintings, engravings and archival photography reflect the practices of tea drinking and teahouses that operated back in day, both in visual terms and as records of cultural\/social rituals connected with tea consumption.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Visitors of the exhibition will be able to explore the little-known history of tea drinking culture in Lithuania \u2013 from the first tea leaves steeped in hot water to contemporary rituals. The display spans different traditions and tastes from the habits in the mansions of nobility to 20th-century townfolk\u2019s \u201cafternoon teas\u201d, and the echoes of subtle Japanese ceremonies in our culture. Thereby tea is conceived as an art of living that helps to achieve an equilibrium with one\u2019s self, with the others and nature.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Presentation from Japan \u2013 hinting at the story of tea\u2019s arrival\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/h6>\n

At the opening event, visitors will have an opportunity to marvel at the finely crafted Japanese confectionaries by <\/span>Kazuyuki Miura. One of the leading masters of Japanese <\/span>wagashi<\/span><\/i> (traditional Japanese confectionary) with over 30 years of experience and a dedication to the fostering and proliferation of Japanese confectionary will demonstrate his technique of wagashi. Kazuyuki Miura\u2019s exquisite artefacts reflect his deep sensibility of the seasons and his elaborate craft. Having introduced his skills in Italy and the USA, Kazuyuki Miura arrives in Lithuania for the first time to present his fine wagashi inspired by the seasons of the year to the exhibition visitors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly following the opening night, Wednesday, 22 October, at 4 pm and 7 pm, the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA will host a performance by Saruhachiza, Bun\u2019ya-style puppet theatre troupe from Sado Island.\u00a0 They will show <\/span>Taema<\/span><\/i>, a classical play of N\u014d theatre. N\u014d is the oldest surviving Japanese theatre branch that includes acting, music, dance, and the art of masks. N\u014d performances frequently depict spiritual transformations and supernatural phenomena. The puppets of Bun\u2019ya-style puppet theatre are manipulated by a single puppeteer, thus retaining an intimate bond between a performer and their character. The tradition, which previously fell into oblivion on Sado Island, has now been revived by the founder of the troupe Nishihashi Hachirob\u0113, who will present this art to the viewers in Vilnius.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The performances are open to all museum visitors.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibition will run through 30 March 2026.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Project Manager D\u017eiuljeta \u017diug\u017edien\u0117<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Curators Marius Dara\u0161kevi\u010dius, Gra\u017eina Gurnevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coordinator \u017divil\u0117 Intait\u0117<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Architect Tomas Valentinaitis<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Designers Ieva Bastyt\u0117, Lina Bastien\u0117<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coordinating architects Egl\u0117 Jagmin\u0117, Ma\u017evydas Truklickas<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lighting designer Mantas Markevi\u010dius<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Partners: Embassy of Japan in Lithuania, M. K. \u010ciurlionis National Museum of Art, \u201eTos arbatos\u201c, \u201eTea Gong\u201c<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Special thanks to: Haruka Seto, Aldona Snitkuvien\u0117, Tadas \u0160aulys, Egl\u0117 Tarvainyt\u0117, J\u016brat\u0117 Kau\u010dikait\u0117, Milda \u0160iaulytien\u0117, Dalia Bernotait\u0117-Beliauskien\u0117, Monika Gedrimait\u0117, Dainius Labeckis, J\u016brat\u0117 Meil\u016bnien\u0117, Giedr\u0117 Uzielien\u0117, Gediminas Mikelaitis, Vadim \u0160amkov, Andrius Melys, Aist\u0117 Bimbiryt\u0117, Tadas Bl\u0117dis, Vytautas Narbutas<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Project by the Museum of Applied Arts and Design of the LNMA\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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