Vilnius Gallery Weekend 2026 Announces Dates and Invites Galleries to Participate

2026-06-03

In September 2026, the eleventh edition of Vilnius Gallery Weekend will take place in Vilnius. The annual contemporary art festival brings together the city’s galleries, art spaces, artists, curators, cultural professionals, and visitors. Traditionally marking the opening of the autumn exhibition season, the festival invites both residents and visitors to explore contemporary art spaces across the city. Vilnius Gallery Weekend is now inviting contemporary art galleries, project spaces, and artist- and curator-led initiatives operating in Vilnius and contributing to the city’s contemporary art scene to join the 2026 festival programme.

Over the past decade, Vilnius Gallery Weekend has become one of the most important events marking the beginning of the city’s exhibition season. In recent years, around 40 galleries and art spaces have participated in the programme. Each year, the festival showcases Vilnius’s contemporary art landscape, encourages audiences to discover new venues, and fosters a habit of visiting exhibitions more regularly.

The 2026 edition marks a new stage in the festival’s development. Educator and cultural projects curator Daura Polonskytė has been appointed as the new director of Gallery Weekend. Following its tenth anniversary, the festival will place greater emphasis on the history and culture of Vilnius galleries, the art market, and broader discussions around how galleries operate and the importance of international perspectives. The programme will explore what a gallery is today, the role it plays within the city’s art ecosystem, how galleries differ from other contemporary art institutions and museums, and how they collaborate with artists, curators, collectors, and audiences.

The 2026 edition will be curated by Drifts Gallery and its founder, art historian Jolanta Chockevičiūtė Laurent, who has been working with contemporary art galleries since 2010. The programme she develops will present Vilnius’s gallery scene within both regional and international contexts, drawing connections with neighbouring countries, the broader European art field, and the local development of galleries.

For the first time, this year’s festival will more clearly distinguish between the core programme of galleries and project spaces and a separate programme for museums and other institutional art venues. The festival programme will include public discussions, conversations with Lithuanian and international art professionals, thematic tours in Lithuanian and English, educational activities for families, self-guided routes, exhibition openings, artist talks, performances, workshops, and a community gathering.

Open Call for Galleries

Vilnius Gallery Weekend invites contemporary art galleries, project spaces, and artist- and curator-led initiatives operating in Vilnius and enriching the city’s contemporary art field to participate in the 2026 festival programme. Participants are encouraged to propose exhibitions, openings, guided tours, performances, artist talks, workshops, or other events that help visitors better understand the diversity of the city’s galleries and contemporary art spaces, as well as their modes of operation.

To participate, please contact: Vilniausgalerijusavaitgalis@gmail.com

The organisers of the 2026 edition aim to strengthen collaboration with galleries and jointly develop a programme that presents not only individual exhibitions and events but also broader questions concerning the role of galleries in the city’s cultural life, their visibility, relationships with audiences, and international potential.

The programmes of participating galleries will be developed in collaboration with the festival’s artistic director, Jolanta Chockevičiūtė Laurent. Galleries are encouraged to propose events that are relevant to their programmes, artists, and audiences while contributing to the festival’s shared goal of increasing the visibility of Vilnius’s gallery landscape both in Lithuania and internationally.

Vilnius Gallery Weekend also seeks to make galleries more accessible and discoverable for diverse audiences—from regular contemporary art visitors to those entering a gallery for the first time. The festival’s 2026 educational and guided tour programme will help audiences better understand how the gallery ecosystem functions, how exhibitions come into being, and the relationships connecting artists, gallerists, curators, collectors, and visitors.

The festival is organised by Gallery Weekend, a public institution, in partnership with the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association. The festival is financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Vilnius City Municipality.

The exhibition Perforation at Drifts Gallery. Photo by L. Skeisgiela.