One more new mural can be found in Vilnius - a square in pastel colors is hidden in a charismatic courtyard of the capital near the trains of the station. This mural is part of the international Ubuntu project by the Spanish artist collective Boa Mistura, which connects 36 collectors and 36 locations around the world.
The message: we are all connected
36 squares painted in various countries of the world form a total picture that shows six overlapping letters U+B+U+U+N+T+U. As the artists say, the project was inspired by the African philosophy of "ubuntu", based on the individual's relationship with his community and its relationship with the environment: "you are, therefore I am, and I am because we are".
Painted murals are part of the project. First, the artists decided to involve collectors, who could purchase 36 squares of the original printed work, an individually framed part of the 30x30 cm painting. One collector could acquire only one fragment of the work, the fresco of which was located in a certain place in the world. In this way, the individual was linked to the environment and the collectors and different parts of the world were linked together.
The word ubuntu, which comes from the Xhosa and Zulu languages, refers to a traditional African concept that the artists were introduced to during a 2011 visit to South Africa. "This idea of the collectivity of African peoples has accompanied us since that trip until we finally matured the concept of the project last January. We came up with the idea of breaking the piece into separate parts to reveal diversity and commonality at the same time," says Pablo Ferreiro, one of the creators of Boa Mistura.
Lithuania is the only one in the region
36 square murals were painted on different continents: Africa, Europe, North and South America, Australia. They can be found in Iceland, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Portugal, JAV, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, India, Palestine, Thailand, as well as in Lithuania. The places for the murals were not chosen by chance - they had to reflect the peculiarities, uniqueness, aura of a certain area, culture.
"The first choices of places were clear - we wanted to return to places that left an impression on us in one way or another. The first was Cape Town, where it all began. Also Sao Paulo in Brazil, Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, Ecuador. Then we just used our intuition to place the remaining squares as wide as possible around the world and to cover as wide a view as possible of the various city scenes. Vilnius was a special place for us, because it is here in 2021. In November, we created a large-scale mural "Heartbeat of the Oceans". It is an exciting and wonderful city. At the same time, it helped geographically reflect the Eastern European context, the old, consolidated and wintry urban reality characteristic of this area," says P. Ferreiro.
I was impressed by the ancient, undiscovered places of Vilnius
The square of the "Ubuntu" puzzle can be found in one of the charismatic courtyards of Vilnius - Geležinkelio Street. 1, where there are ancient, unrenovated buildings. 1879 can be seen here. built house of atypical construction - a former hotel, an exclusive tower, XNUMXth century. pavement. ESO transformer was decorated in Ubuntu puzzle.
"Beautifying public spaces and nurturing them is an acceptable way for us to contribute to creating a more pleasant and visually attractive city. We are happy to have contributed to this project, in which artists have revealed their vision while safely using ESO's infrastructure", - Rasa Juodkienė, public relations representative of "Energy Distribution Operator" (ESO).
Although the mural in Vilnius was painted in winter, the real finish of the project took place only this summer, when an exhibition of the project's photographs took place in Madrid and a book of the project's photographs was published. The artists worked on the concept of the Ubuntu project for two months and completed the project in more than a year. Most of the frescoes were painted by the artists themselves, in some places they used help. Evelina Žičkienė helped implement the project in Vilnius, the mural was painted by artist Tadas Vincaitis, and Dalius Pacevičius took photographs. The photos also had to meet the strict requirements of the artists.
This project is the second work of "Boa Mistura" in Vilnius. The first one is in Karoliniškės on Janusio 13-osij st. The nine-story one at 7 has a giant mural "Heartbeat of the Oceans" painted on it. "At that time, the Spanish artists were really impressed by the beauty and uniqueness of Vilnius, as well as the hospitality and help, so it is not surprising that the creators decided to return with another project", says E. Žičkienė.
The international group of developers "Boa Mistura" is one of the most famous in its field all over the world. in 2001 The team created in Madrid implements impressive projects all over the world and participates in social projects. Their works mainly include the decoration of public spaces (frescoes).
