Zilvinas Kempinas

Plunge, Lithuania, 1969.
Lives and works New York, USA.

Zilvinas Kempinas is a worldwide reference in kinetic art. Kempinas employs nontraditional materials to create active and dynamic exhibits, most commonly as installations. In many of his works, Kempinas utilizes his signature material, unwound magnetic tape. The artist fully uses its physical properties – its weightlessness, mobility and transparency. Kempinas plays with the graphic qualities of the magnetic tape inherent to its color, texture and reflectiveness. These installations fully inhabit the exhibition area creating a mysterious and poetic universe where the viewer can interact.

By playing with scale and the duality of perception and experimenting with the possibilities of movement, Kempinas’ works addressed the physical and optical experience of the viewer, the passage of time, and the perception of the body and architecture. In spite of the playful form in which they are presented, his works are filled with symbolism, even by the simple use of forms such as the circle or the allusion to the infinite symbol. The artist was a representant of his country in the 53rd Venice Biennial and winner of the Calder Prize.

Plunge, Lithuania, 1969. Lives and works New York, USA

EDUCATION

1998-02

MFA, Studies in Combine Media at Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, USA

1987-93

BFA, Studies of Painting, Art Academy, Vilnius, Lithuania

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Zilvinas Kempinas, alerie Frey, Salzbourg, Germany

2023

Light Sculptures (curated by Skaiste Marciene), Lietuvos Nacionalinis Dailes Muziejus, Lithuania

Portraits-Fossils 2023 (curated by Migle Survilaite and Ausra Trakselyte), MO Museum, Lithuania

2022

Works on paper, Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2021

Analog, BitForms Gallery, USA

2018

Zilvinas Kempinas, V Formation, Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, USA

2017

Zilvinas Kempinas, Dartmouth college, Hanover, USA

2016

Zilvinas Kempinas, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, Lithuania

The Big O (installation), National library, Vilnius, Lithuania

Zilvinas Kempinas, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England

Zilvinas Kempinas, Tube, Kunstraum Dornbirn, Dornbirn, Austria

2015

Lio Malca, Airborne, New York, USA

Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Zilvinas Kempinas, Santorini Arts Factory, Santorini, Greece

2014

Fifth Wall, Kunsthalle Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

Scarecrow, Socrates Sculpture Park Public Artwork Comission, New York, USA

2013

Darkroom, Laboratory K20, Kunstsammlung, Dusseldorf, Germany

Fountains, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

Zilvinas Kempinas, Slow Motion, Museum Tinguely, Basel, Switzerland

2012

Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2011

Lucid Dream, Yvon Lambert, Paris, France

Still, Garage Centre For Contemporary Culture, Moscow

Vartai 20 Years: Zilvinas Kempinas, Gallery VARTAI, Vilnius, Lithuania

Zilvinas Kempinas, Yvon Lambert, Paris, France

2010

Ballroom, Yvon Lambert, New York, USA

AV Festival, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Quays, England

Zilvinas Kempinas, Galeria Leme, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2009

53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2008

Zilvinas Kempinas, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

Zilvinas Kempinas, Galerie des Franciscains & Le Grand Cafe, Saint-Nazaire, France

Open Studio, Atelier Calder, Sache, France

2007

Parallels/Flying Tape, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

White Noise, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA

2006

Flying Tape, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

Columns/Bike Messenger, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA

2004

Flying Tape, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA

2003

Still and 186 000 mi/s, site specific installations, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island, New York, USA

1996

The New Year of King Nebuchadnezzar, site specific installation, Vilnius, Lithuania

Portraits-Fossils, Jutempus Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania

1994

Painting from Nature, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022

ThisPlay (curated by Emre Baykal), Arter Museum, Instanbul, Turkey

Parallel Time (curated by Birute Pankunaite), Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum, Lithuania

2021

Calder Now (curated by Dieter Buchhart, Anna Karina Hofbauer and Calder Foundation), Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands

Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE

2020

The Art of Diminished Difference (curated by Petr Ingerle), The Brno house of Arts, Brno-stred, Czech Republic

2019

Words in Motion (curated by Lisa Baldelli and Marie-Noelle Farcy), Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Zilvinas Kempinas & Juste Janulyte: Skycity, Waves (curated by Remigijus Merkelys), National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, Lithuania

The Origins of Species: 1990s DNA (curated by Vaidas Jauniskis, Rimantas Kmita, Mantas Pelakauskas, Migle Survilaite, Aurimas Svedas, Tomas Vaiseta and Renata Valcik), MO Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania

EXTENSION.LT: parallel narrations (curated by Kristina Romanova and Egle Mikalayune), National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia

Liberte (curated by Jose-Manuel Goncalves), Bordeaux, France

Negative Space (curated by Peter Weibel, Daria Mille and Anett Holzheid), ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany

Between Us, Kunsthalle Mainz, Mogota, Germany

EXTENSION.LT: Parallel Narratives, Triumpg Gallery, Moscow, Russia

magnetic_T, New Media Gallery, New Westminster, Canada

2018

Re: work, The Holden Gallery, Manchester, England

Action – Reaction (curated by Serge Lemon e Marianne Le Pommere), Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2017

YOU’VE GOT 1243 UNREAD MESSAGES. Last Generation Before the Internet. Their Lives Latvian National Museum of Art, Great Exhibition Hall, Riga, Latvia

2016

Set in Motion, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand

From Realism to the Object. Lithuanian World Art in the Collection of the Lithuanian Expatriate Art Foundation, Lewben Art Foundation, Kaunas, Lithuania

A World View. The Tim Fairfax AC Gift, Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia

Laboratoires de l’art, Musee des arts et metiers, le Cnam, Paris, France

Willow, Galerija Vartai, Vilnius, Lithuania

Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney, Australia

Se souvenir des Belles Choses, Musee regional d’art contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Serignan, France

The Calder Prize 2005-2015, Pace Gallery, London, UK

2015

The Art of Experimentation – Art and Technology, A shared Sphere, Musee des arts et metiers, Paris, France

FIRST CUT, TEBA Factory, Arad, Art Encounters Foundation, Romania

Konkret Mehr Raum, Kunsthalle Osnabruck, Osnabruck, Germany

Invento | As Revolucoes que nos Inventaram, curated by: Agnaldo Farias & Marcello Dantas, OCA, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Sculpture by the Sea, Public Sculpture Biennial, Aarhus, Denmark

Walk the Line. New Paths in Drawing, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany

2014

Solides Fragiles, MUDAM Luxembourg – Musee d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg

Sublime: Contemporary works from the Collection, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

The Shine, National Art Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania

The disappearance of the fireflies, Prison Sainte-Anne, Avignon, France

On what there might be not, MARSO Galeria Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico

2013

Mindwalk, Galerija VARTAI, Vilnius, Lithuania

De leur Temps 4: Nantes, Centre d’art Le hangar a Bananes, Nantes, France

Theatre du Monde, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France

Projections, Le Musee de L`abbaye Sainte-Croix, France

Part of a Larger Whole. Lithuanian Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania

TURBULENCES II, Foundation Boghossian/ Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium

Pattern: Follow the Rules, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, USA

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, USA

Slow Burn, Railway Zone Tilburg, The Netherlands

Dynamo – A Century of light and motion in art 1913 – 2013, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France

Anti-Gravity, Toyota Municiopal Museum of Art, Toyota, Japan

Film as Sculpture/ Sculpture as Film, Wiels Contemporary Art Center, Brussels, Belgium

2012

Exhibition of the permanent collection (from 1960 to present), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

Echigo-Tsumari Triennale 2012, Niigata, Japan

Trait Papier, Musee des Beaux Arts, Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Festival Via, Maubeuge, France

The Exit Festival, Creteil, France

Lightness?, Maison Particuliere, Brussels, Belgium

Beaufort 04, Triennial of Contemporary Art by the Sea, Belgium

Perfoming Abstraction, Galeria Luciana Brito, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Oh, you mean cellophane and all that crap, A Calder Foundation project, The Mckittrick Hotel, New York, USA

Tapis Volants, Academie de France a Rome, Rome, Italy

Pink Caviar, Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

Sculpture is Everything: Contemporary works from Collection, Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Stanley Place, South Bank, Queensland, Australia

Masterpieces of The Yvon Lambert Collection, Collection Lambert, Museum of Contemporary Art, Avignon, France

Turbulences, Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris, France

Synergy, Hybrid Art 2012, Design Center Artplay, Moscow, Russia

Prestige (Phantasmagoria of Our Times), Culture Communication Center, Klaipeda, Lithuania

Moving is Living, Art Stations Foundation, Poznan, Poland

Silence, Collection FRAC Basse-Normandie, Normandie, France

2011

Nuit Blanche Paris 2011 (Paris White Night), Paris, France

1.2 Volume, Polyforum Emergen Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico

Our Magic Hour, Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama, Japan

Number Five: Cities Of Gold And Mirrors, Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany

The Matter Of Air, Gertrude contemporary, Melbourne, Australia

Play Time, Yvon Lambert, New York, USA

Who Runs The Space Now?, ECOH Galeria, Mexico City and Neue Galerie, Switzerland, Mexico City

…so beautiful, NKV, Wiesbaden, Germany

Hohenrausch 2 (Trill of Heights 2), OK Centre, Linz, Austria

Parcours Formes Olimpiques, LAM Lille Metropole Musee d’arte contemporain et art brut, Lille, France

2010

I Believe in Miracles – 10th anniversary of the Lambert Collection – Collection Lambert, Avignon, France

Mostre in Corso. Spheres 2010, Galleria Continua, Boissy-le-Chatel, France

Sarabande. Zilvinas Kempinas and Deimantas Narkevicius, FRA -Basse-Normandie, Caen, France

City Without Walls. 10th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, England

Lithuanian Art 2000-2010: ten years, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

Contemporary Art from Lithuania, European Central Bank, Frankfurt, Germany

Sketches of space – MUDAM, Musee d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg

From Artists’ Workshops, Gallery VARTAI, Vilnius, Lithuania

Listen to your eyes, 49 Nord 6 Est – Frac Lorraine, Metz, France

Transmediale.10 – Future Obscura, Hause der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany

On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, MoMA, New York, USA

2009

Locus Solus, Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris, France

Fall In/Fall Out, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto, Canada

ZEROplus, 401 Contemporary, Berlin, Germany

Go East II, MUDAM, Musee d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg

Nightmare Full of Things Unspeakable, Concept V, New York, USA

Das Fundament der Kunst – Die Skulptur und ihr Sockel seit Alberto Giacometti, Stadtischen Museen Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Germany

The Immediate Future, Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden

Especes d’espaces, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York, USA

We Go Round in Circles at Night, Contemporary Art Museum Rochechouart, France

2008

NOW JUMP, Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin/Seoul, South Korea

New Work: Zilvinas Kempinas, Alyson Shotz, Mary Temple, SFMOMA, San Francisco, USA

Go East, Musee d’Arte Moderne, Luxembourg

MANIFESTA7, Bolzano, Italy

Permutations, at the Musee des Beaux Arts et d’Archeologie, Valence, France

De Realite, Ecole Regionale des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France

MANIF D’ART 4, La Biennale en Art Actuel de Quebec, Canada

2007

Collected Visions: Modern and Contemporary Works from the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

Voyage Interieur, FRAC-Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France

StereoVision: From 2D to 3D, University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, USA

The Last Seduction- A Welcome Surrender To Beauty, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, USA

Chateau de Tokyo/Tokyo Redux, Centre International d’art et du paysage de l’ile de Vassiviere, Ile de Vassiviere, France

Ready-Made, Yvon Lambert, New York, USA

2006

Les Fils de Marcel, CRAC LR Art Center, Sete, France

Hapax, APERTO, Montpellier, France

2005

Red, White, Blue, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA

Drawings / Works with Paper, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York, USA

2002

MFA Thesis Show, Time Square Gallery, New York, USA

1999

Prague Quadrennial 1999, Prague, Czech Republic

Lithuanian Art 1989 -1999, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

1998

After Painting, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

1997

Footnotes, Reykjavik Municipal Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

1996

Holy Lie, press project, Vilnius, Lithuania

1995

Whales Stomach, site specific installation, Vilnius, Lithuania

Recent Documents, Balzekas Museum, Chicago, USA

1994

Lithuania Art, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

For Beauty, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

1993

Kultr, Gallery Arka, Vilnius, Lithuania

1992

Good Evils, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

Advent Bunch, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania

AWARDS

2007

Calder Prize and Atelier Calder Residency Award, Sache, France

1998

Kristoforas Award for best Drama Theater Stage Design, Vilnius, Lithuania

1994

Westerly Trust Grant, London, England

Academie Schloss Solitude Grant, Stuttgart, Germany

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

CNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques), France

FRAC-Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France

FRAC Basse-Normandie, Caen, France

JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, USA

Jumex Collection, Mexico

Julia Stoschek Collection, Germany

Lusiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark

MUDAM, Musee d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Societe Generale d’art contemporain, France

The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, USA

The Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic

Spin, 2019

V Formation, 2018

Tube Dornbirn, 2016

Light Art Museum

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