Exhibition space confirmed

Having decided the Europa shopping centre is the ideal place to hold an exhibition thanks to the irresistible combination of its glass roof and a good mix of visitors from all social backgrounds, yesterday I went back to case the joint. Realising from my earlier visit that almost every space in the building is wrong for exhibiting photographs, I got the idea that doing an exhibition/installation inside one of the centre’s two hanging pod-cafés was the way forward, so I cycled down there with a bag full of prints to take some photographs and to look at some of my work on site. The two pods themselves are identical, both being about five metres by three metres and shaped a bit like a coffee bean. The best one to use is the one nearer the main entrance, so I photographed it from a few angles then went there for an espresso. The curvy skeletal form of the pods is hardly what you need as exhibition space, so just how to build the pictures into the place is a challenge in itself (and thankfully not my challenge as somebody else is going to do that part of the job for me). I also noticed that four of the six round, glass-topped tables have got spaces inside them for exhibiting things. So, two options, plus the rather eccentric idea I had the other day of turning menus (or at least one side of a menu) into a photographic exhibition. Where was I? Ah yes, so I paid and asked the waitress if she had the contact details of her boss. Thankfully not only did she have details but the boss in question was in the building, so I ran upstairs to introduce myself. I’ve now got full permission to hold an exhibition in the Ore (In the Air) pod in the Vilnius’ Europa shopping centre towards the end of the year. Now all I’ve got to do is find the money to pay for it and take some more photographs. It’s pissing with rain today, but I’ve decided already to take the train 100km west to Lithuania’s second city Kaunas and see if I can find some characters there to photograph.

See the pod pictures below.