The Ivan Luckevich Belarusian Museum in Vilnius invites visitors to a new exhibition titled "1926: An Exhibition about the Future." The exhibition features Belarusian books published in 1926, love letters written that year by students of the Belarusian Gymnasium in Vilnius, and postcards from Belarusian poets, " Budzma " writes.
"In fact, 1926 is not particularly remarkable," admit the VBM staff. "Of course, all the stars of contemporary linguistics are gathering for a conference in Minsk, and the Soviets are splurging on new typographic fonts, and Belarusian books published in Vilnius and Minsk from this year on will never again conform to a single style. But in reality, this year is another year of striving to return to normality after the decline of the First World War, unaware of the monstrous decline that awaits soon, during the second."
The exhibits shown at the exhibition offer an opportunity to see what concerned Belarusians of that time.
"Therefore, we believe this exhibition is about the future. Everything we do, we do for the future, and the only way to understand the past is to understand what futures they imagined, what they feared, and what they longed for," say the exhibition's creators.
Thus, the viewer is invited to reconstruct the contemporary ideas about the future based on textbooks on the Old Testament and basket weaving, and photographs of the opening of new institutions in Vilnius, such as the Skaryna Belarusian printing house and the Belarusian Institute of Economy and Culture.
"In a hundred years, we will make an exhibition about 2026," the museum staff ominously warn, making one wonder what will be shown at such an exhibition.
The exhibition can be viewed during the museum's working hours — from Wednesday to Sunday, 14:00-20:00. Admission is free. The museum is located in the courtyard at Vilniaus g. 20.
For those not in Vilnius, the museum invites you to explore the exhibition's exhibits on its virtual archive, where you can flip through the displayed books and examine the letters more closely.
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