Generation Z Voices in Art: New Exhibition Opens in Vilnius

Gen Z is coming of age in a period marked by geopolitical conflict, climate anxiety, mental health pressures, and economic uncertainty. Opening on 18 April at MO Museum in Vilnius, Gen Z. All at Once brings artists born between 1993 and 2001, who look at what it means to grow up in a world where fear and pleasure, and the online and the real no longer remain separate.

As the world experiences turmoil and crisis, no generation feels this more acutely than Gen Z: 6 in 10 report feeling overwhelmed by news and events happening in the world. Yet, according to UNICEF report, Gen Z actively consumes news more than any other type of content – driven by a strong sense of accountability for shaping the future.

Opening April 18th in Vilnius, Gen Z. All at Once at the MO Museum brings together twenty artists born between 1993 and 2001 from eleven countries across Central and Eastern Europe, exploring what it feels like to grow up in a world where nothing stays separate – not fear and pleasure, not private and public, not online and real.

The exhibition is curated by Michal Novotný, curator at National Gallery Prague with co-curation by Marius Armonas. "Over time, it became clear to me that this was the first generation to spend most of their adolescence on social media. I could see how profoundly this shaped their self-perception," said Novotný.

„When making this exhibition, it was important to ask how – and indeed whether – both generational and geographical criteria could meaningfully shape it. We responded to these questions by focusing on the artists’ individual perspectives and adopting a flexible yet workable understanding of both generation and territory. For MO Museum, this reflects a desire to open new dialogues – to move beyond dominant Western art narratives and explore artistic processes along less familiar paths,“ says Milda Ivanauskienė, director of MO museum.

The exhibition features artists who are born, live and/or work in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Hungary. Rather than constructing a single narrative or thematic structure, it functions as a survey, allowing visitors to recognize recurring attitudes emerging from the diversity of artistic approaches.

Among artists, there is Tornike Gognadze from Georgia, whose film opens with two costumed figures at a table, sharing childhood memories – until the conversation tips into accusation and shame, ending with aerial footage of the Georgian Parliament.

Dominika Kováčiková’s (from Slovakia) paintings look almost sweet at first – dreamy, hyper-feminine, soft – until something shifts and her girls don't stay pretty and passive.

On the other hand, Mara Verhoogt from Romania presents video and ceramic works that pull together the holy and the grotesque, the tender and the overwhelming – an atmosphere that is difficult to look away from.

Madlen Hirtentreu from Estonia constructs cybernetic creatures and damaged infrastructures that collapse past, present, and imagined futures into one – unsettling, but strangely alive.

Lithuanian artist Morta Jonynaitė turns to weaving – tapestries that resist the speed of everything around them, holding the painful stories of women quietly and powerfully, giving form to shame and the things that often go unspoken.

Finally, there is Olga Krykun from Ukraine, whose paintings look light at first glance – dolls, flowers – but they slowly reveal themselves as portraits of time passing and things left unresolved.

The ambition of the exhibition is to bridge widening generational divides in a time of accelerated change. It seeks to bring the perspectives of the youngest generation into closer dialogue with broader audiences, while reminding us that the world in which they now search for their voice was largely shaped by those who came before them.

Gen Z. All at Once is on view at MO Museum in Vilnius until 30 August 2026.