Contemporary Music Festivals in Lithuania: from Action to Concept

УДК 7.072.2:7.036 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31500/2309-8813.15.2019.185925

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVALS IN LITHUANIA: FROM ACTION TO CONCEPT

VITA GRUODYTĖ

Abstract. At the time of the Independence of the 1990s Lithuanian music was marked by a short but very important period which saw the rise of new multidisciplinary approaches, namely happenings, actions or performances. This new wave, initiated by young composers and musicologists, attempted to delineate the break with the aesthetics imposed by the ideological Soviet system, even if that was not valid any longer at that time. Keywords: Lithuanian music, happening, action, performance, contemporary music festivals.

This article was written as a part of the project Collective actions «Music of Change: Expression of Liberation in Pol- After looking around the spectrum of the musi- ish and Lithuanian Music Before and After 1989» (Nr. cal scene of the time it becomes clear that this period P-LL-18-213), funded by the National Science Centre was ripe with collective activity rather than individual (Poland) and Lithuanian Research Council (Lithuania). choices, hence the function of rupture was most ev- idently performed not by separate works but by col- We must admit that throughout the whole period lective artistic actions. In this respect, non-academ- after the restoration of independence in 1991, the Lith- ic music festivals initiated by young composers pro- uanian music scene did not experience any significant vided the best niche for this kind of creative expres- aesthetic turn. During the last years of the Soviet era sion. The list of festivals is as follows: Lithuanian music was far from any kind of a stylistic – The Youth Festival «Chamber Music Days» dead end as the majority of the progressive compos- [Jaunimo kamerinės muzikos dienos] in Druskininkai ers, for example, Bronius Kutavicius, Feliksas Bajoras, (from 1985) founded by composer Ričardas Kabelis; and Osvaldas Balakauskas, had already formed their – The Festival of Creative Youth [Jaunimo kūrybos musical language in the 1970s and the younger ones festivalis] in Panevėžys (1987–1988) which has later were actively experimenting with new forms of com- become The Festival of Musical Action [Muzikinio position from the beginning of the 1980s. veiksmo festivalis] as well as The Avant-garde Art However, political change undoubtedly had an im- Festival [Avangardinių menų festivalis]) in Panevėžys pact on everyone, and the consequences were inev- and Vilnius (1989–1997) founded by composers itably reflected in the music scene through various Liutauras Stančikas and Snieguolė Dikčiūtė; forms: if not through the emergence of new alter- – Free Sound Sessions [Laisvojo garso sesijos] tak- natives, then through certain signs of a new artistic ing place at the Lithuanian Conservatory (Vilnius), identity that were supposed to signify and articulate Panevėžys and Kaunas (1987–1988) organized by com- the political change in society. posers Tomas Juzeliūnas, Arūnas Dikčius and musi-

113 СУЧАСНЕ МИСТЕЦТВО 2019, випуск п’ятнадцятий cologist Giedrius Gapšys; and other disciplines were being treated in unprec- – Happening Seminars in Anykščiai and Nida edented ways. The audience that was lucky to have (AN-88, AN-89, NI-90) organized by composer Gin- been engaged in these artistic experiments not only taras Sodeika; had a chance to reconsider its understanding of ideol- – and The New Music Festival [Naujosios muzikos ogy-free contemporary art but also helped the young festivalis] in Kaunas House of Architects (1987, 1988, artists to assess their ideas. 1989) founded by composer Vidmantas Bartulis. For the young creators of the time, the genre of per- The very titles of these festivals were already hint- formance was like a certain tool that helped them find ing at their content: «youth», «new music», «happen- answers to pertinent questions such as: ing», «free sound», «musical action», «avant-garde – What are the limits of creative freedom after art». Even though the festivals were happily attend- the restrictions of ideological censorship have been ed by mature and established composers and musi- abandoned? cologists, these epithets were referring to the initia- – What are the boundaries between the artistic tives of the youth. disciplines? At the end of the Soviet occupation, Lithuanian – Can the verbal, visual and musical gestures have music was not deadlocked, but it didn’t have every analogous capabilities of site-specific expression, opportunity to try out freely the non-conventional and can they collaborate and form a unified content? forms and acoustic experiences. The spontaneous – What is an artwork itself? character, the immediacy of execution, the collective actions of performers and the active role of audiences Non-formal spaces have helped to give priority to the experimentations As far as spontaneous artistic action is concerned of concepts and ideas instead of aesthetics or materi- during the Soviet era the artistic environment did not al concerns. So, happenings and performances were exist. Art was legally bound to designated spaces, and its the most appropriate way for Lithuanian composers purpose was to reflectthe specific aesthetics regulated and musicologists to mark that period and to par- by the totalitarian system. However, regardless of these ticipate instantly in political and aesthetic changes. restrictions, musical context as a whole was far from monolithic: if we were to analyze the situation of Lith- Questioning the notion of artwork uanian music during the second part of the 20th centu- The majority of the pieces played during the fes- ry we would notice that artists lived in a stratified re- tivals still retained the conventional forms, but some ality, where some were creating ideology-friendly art, of them already reflected the changing attitude towards others were cautiously critical towards the ideology, the creative process (which was considered as a certain while the rest were trying to create music that both re- open workshop) as well as towards the musical piece flectedon national identity and encompassed the signs itself (as a more or less spontaneous, interdisciplinary of modern and, later, postmodern eras in the West. performance with the uniqueness of the happening). During the times of the Lithuanian Independence The intermediary position was taken by the piec- Movement in the late 80s, young musicians were es that had theatrical and/or absurd elements; they not only able to assimilate the public space anew, were different from actions and happenings by be- but they also felt free to rethink their whole environ- ing less spontaneous and by not turning the audience ment aesthetically by discarding its neutrality, getting into participants of artistic action. However, their rid of the ideological restrictions, and thus turning goals were similar: questioning the notions of the art- statics into dynamics. The figureof an artist had ac- work, performance space and the reaction of the pub- quired new functions and became, to use Frank Pop- lic. Within the Lithuanian context, things like instru- per’s insight, «more of a mediator rather than cre- ments, musical scores and the relation between music ator», while an artwork lost its previous forms be-

114 Contemporary Music Festivals in Lithuania: from Action to Concept VITA GRUODYTĖ cause «active participation on the part of a spectator From action to concept stipulated the disappearance of a traditional art ob- The phenomenon of artistic action is a hard one ject» [1]. Reactive (in the sense of their realization) to analyze because it can be both spontaneous and pre- happenings, performances, and actions were turned determined. However, what is important here is that into artistic heralds of independence precisely be- at the time the very object of art — an artwork — because of their abilities to express spontaneous reac- came deprived both of its objectifiable value (it could tions to the changing times. not be bought nor sold) and its substance, because The fact that artists left academia for a non-formal the aesthetic value became substituted with a concept space signified not only conscious opposition towards (and artistic performance was the only way through institutional and official art but also the affirmation which it could be realized). of the importance of the historical change that was «The Sovietism of the 80s was one huge shabby happening at the time. What was specific to Lithu- bag with countless holes from which absolutely ev- ania and other Soviet Bloc countries, was that this erything was leaking. The fact that everyone was tak- was an expression of an opposition not only towards ing advantage of that had an enormously joyous ef- certain stylistic paradigms, the academization of art fect. No contemporary canons or standards can do or the art tradition as such — the very same concerns justice in describing it because it was an era of non- were also tackled in the West — but (and this is cru- economic relations. We were isolated within the ter- cial!) it also marked opposition towards the ideolo- ritory of Lithuania but we were not seeking to export gization of art. our ideas and turn them into some commodities. That The prevailing ideology was easily rejected by young was simply impossible» (Šarūnas Nakas) [3]. artists because it was not part of their choice, nor This era marks a transitory period in Lithuanian was it the choice of the previous generation; it was history («we found ourselves caught in some sort artificially imposed from outside as an aesthetically of a transition» [4]) — a transition from the State limited compositional thinking — «Genghis Khan- as a sovereign commissioner and customer of art style, fascist, normative idealism» (as musicologist to the world of free markets where an artwork be- Vilija Aleknaitė wrote in 1989) [2] — that the major- came a commodity. That was the reason why young ity of composers has continuously been trying to cir- artists of that time became more like a spatio-tem- cumvent for decades. poral experience because the material used in artis- After leaving the institutional environment of Vilni- tic action acquired the status, not of a form or con- us where development was restricted by governmental tent, but that of experience: this is precisely what can censorship, cultural initiatives found new possibilities be called a materialization not of an artistic object, in the informal peripheries of Druskininkai, Panevėžys, but that of the artistic concept. «At that time The Fes- Anykščiai, and Kaunas, where artistic and non-artis- tival of Anykščiai purposefully engaged in a concep- tic spaces were not predetermined by strict control. tual discourse with its audience, and that was exactly This allowed for various symbolic places of art distri- what the audience needed» (A. Dikčius) [5]. bution to emerging — a factor that fostered the im- The sign that Lithuanian music came within plementation of new ideas and opened up new per- the proximity of the artistic processes of the West spectives for understanding how art should function. was that it had turned towards its inner purely aes- In the physical sense, the establishment of ephemeral thetic resources instead of fighting with the external and short-term art spaces were necessary for the ac- ideological imperatives. The conceptual dimension tualization of the essential fact of the time — name- of the performances of that period was firmly estab- ly, the dissociation from a hierarchical system regu- lished and it had become clear that art as the embodi- lated by censorship — and the implementation of its ment of aesthetic value finally found its main justifi- critical assessment. cation in the eyes of the public.

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The period of interdisciplinary events in Lithuania The forms of Lithuanian performance demonstrate did not result in a substantial gamut of structurally a certain historical continuity of this genre: onomato- finished projects that would enable us to highlight poeic poetry or synthetic single-idea actions would the independent trends, like Land art or Body art refer to futurism; utilization of real space and real that emerged in the West. These trends were devel- objects — to Russian constructivists; concern with oped more by Lithuanian visual artists — groups such the creation of a new society through artistic forms, as Green Leaf (Žalias Lapas) and Post Ars. However, expressive primitiveness, the insistence on tabula rasa there were hints among composers as well. For ex- and linguistic purification through, again, onomato- ample, «The Garden of Oracle» («Orakulo darželis»), poeia — to Dadaism; non-provocative search for spa- «The Opening of the Sixth Valve» («Šeštojo klapano tial possibilities — to Bauhaus aesthetics. Surrealism atidarymas») and «Rockabye Stones» («Liūliuojantys with its perfected theatrical forms remained the least akmenys», AN-88) were happenings that transformed close to the tradition of Lithuanian performance art their environment into an artistic space, while in works (with an exception of, perhaps, some of the opuses like «The Last Supper» («Paskutinė vakarienė») by Vidmantas Bartulis). Therefore, we might argue or «Bureaucratic Hitch-hike» («Biurokratinis au- that the majority of these works had returned to their tostopas») the body was used as the central element origins and held on to the ideas of the early perfor- of action. However, the sound remained a key factor mances of the 20th century. in the majority of the site-specific projectsby composers that employed the synthesis of disciplines, Social role elements of musical theatre or political caricature. Happenings and performances allowed artists Their aim was not to create and purify certain syn- to rethink and — with the help of improvisational cretic tendencies, but to test the forms of artistic forms — articulate the changes not only in the aesthet- synthesis that would reveal the abilities of the forms ic realm but also in terms of the social role of an art- and materials of parallel disciplines to be absorbed ist. During the Soviet era, we had artists who either through sonorous thinking. «Was it evident that performed or imitated their ideological function the majority of the participants were musicians?» — or remained neutral. With the coming of indepen- asked Austėja Nakienė when reviewing the First Sem- dence this state of events was disturbed and, inevi- inar in Anykščiai. «Yes, because the majority of hap- tably, the social role of an artist shifted. Those who penings were constructed according to the princi- lost their status of a well-paid functionary of the sys- ples of musical composition and the actions were ar- tem were forced to find another — undoubtedly ranged according to strict timing. Performers had more dynamic and innovative — form of existing to join in time, play their parts and finish on time, in society. The change also impelled artists to be- as if they were in a musical ensemble or a small or- come the creators of new values on the crossroad chestra» [6]. of two opposing trends: tradition (national identi- As the least restricted forms of artistic expression ty) and the contemporary mindset (Western artis- that came from the West, happening and performance tic practices). Each and everyone had to reconsider turned out to be the most suitable for the time of In- their creative motivations. Therefore,by establishing dependence. They enabled adequate reflections on ar- new ethical landmarks this period did not, howev- tistic intentions and technical possibilities of the time: er, change aesthetic tendencies: contrary to the vi- they inspired spontaneity and uniqueness, eclectics sual artists, none of the Lithuanian composers re- and interdisciplinarity, the simplicity of expression mained faithful to this transitory period longer than (which is one of the characteristics of the Lithuanian was needed, and none of them capitalized on it in any mindset), the search for new sounds, and more inti- significant way. Arūnas Dikčius described this phe- mate relation with the audience. nomenon rather succinctly:

116 Contemporary Music Festivals in Lithuania: from Action to Concept VITA GRUODYTĖ

«Truth be told, we all admired the Fluxus-style This situation only affirmsthe polyphony of the dif- ways of life and creativity. However, all the composers ferent values and views that existed simultaneously and musicologists of the time chose academic work. at the time. We see it in the reminiscence of Arūnas <…> [W]e told each other that the essence of our Dikčius who recalls the artistic action by «Oracle’s Gar- work is not just happenings, but something more. den» in Anykščiai: <…> Unfortunately, now I am unable to remember [W]hile demonstrating the new almanac published what we meant by saying that and what this «more» by our young philologists, professor V[ytautas] Lands- was supposed to signify. <…> All these AN Festivals bergis gave an evaluation of our action: «Here’s what were like some sort of Fluxus sanatoriums for the im- your colleague philologists accomplished while you provement of our creative health» [7]. were tangling your little bells». At the time I was im- During Soviet times the practice of artistic ac- pressed by this remark, I felt a gust of pathos of civ- tion did not exist at least because the self-expressive il affairs. A new tone. But now I think — maybe it spontaneity of these actions was incompatible with wasn’t worth it [9]. the artistic policy regulated by state censorship. How- ever, Lithuania still held the memory of the modern- 20 years later ists of the interwar period, and the practices of West- The period of the 90s has sown some seeds. Around ern music were also known — at least in the form 2 decades later, in 2008, another youth festival ap- of information — during the whole postwar period peared, New Opera Action, which can be considered thanks to the musicians who had a chance to travel as the most innovative contemporary music festival around the world, and — last but not least — thanks in Lithuania. It was also initiated by a group of young to the correspondence that escaped censorship. Au- creators, sometimes still students: composers, sce- diences were acquainted with the work of the Fluxus nographers, singers, directors, conductors, chore- founder George Maciunas, partially thanks to his cor- ographers, etc. This new framework invites young respondence with Vytautas Landsbergis. Therefore, it composers, once again, to experiment with the hy- is rather logical that during the Druskininkai Festival brid forms, and to further erase the borders between ‹89 Mačiūnas› letters to Landsbergis were published genres. Among their concerns we can find the same in the Young Music brochure, and the Druskininkai axes of reflection as in 1990, that is: using non-for- Festival ‹91 was entirely dedicated to the 60th anniver- mal spaces, questioning the notion of the artwork sary of Mačiūnas› birth. In her review of the aforemen- and setting up new ideas through collective actions. tioned festival, musicologist Živilė Ramoškaitė wrote: We note here an obvious desire to take the opera Everything seemed to be clear in the description, out of its institutional and conventional framework. however in fact… there were instances of total misun- We see the desire to loosen the constraints of aca- derstanding. Some examples: during the discussion ev- demic codes and to make not just an aesthetic turn, eryone was sticking to their song by totally disregard- but also a fundamental one. Their goal is to preserve ing everyone else — a real cacophony; …or, say, water the freedom to move in different spaces,to adapt swims in the swimming pool by itself as the «swim- spaces to ideas and not the reverse. mers» are skulking in some recreational base, etc. If you Just by its name New Opera Action emphasizes want some evaluation of all this, a remark made by one a junction between opera and action, and above all, freshman might come in handy: «I didn’t like the most between the opera and its time. Short or very short op- of it, but in general I liked it» [8]. eras such as nano operas make it easier to test and re- From the perspective of time, such critique (bor- new ideas and their components. We note the individ- dering on desperation) looks almost like the highest ualization of the role of the performer, as in musical compliment and proof that the festival was a suc- theatre, but at the same time a search for homogene- cess because it reflectedthe zeitgeist so effectively. ity between different constituent parts: music, sing-

117 СУЧАСНЕ МИСТЕЦТВО 2019, випуск п’ятнадцятий ing, dance, new technologies… The composer can be 2. The 1990s were marked by spontaneous ac- at the same time the interpreter, the director, the sce- tions in the short term without the worries of to- nographer and/or the choreographer. Such conditions, morrow, because nobody knew, for financialor polit- which facilitate the mastery of the different disciplines, ical reasons, whether this or that festival would con- allow the creator to express more freely and authen- tinue the following year. The establishment of a for- tically his artistic temperament and his stylistic per- mal framework, that is to say, the production house, sonality. The architectural space appears as an ac- named «Operomania», that frames the NOA, allows tive, organic element, as an extension of the gener- not only the emergence but also the continuity and du- al idea of the work, sometimes as its unique «enve- rability of such projects. lope», not adaptable to other creations. 3. The performances and actions of the 1990s were, By transgressing the boundaries of the genre, NOA overwhelmingly, «dematerialized», that is, they do not has upset the codes of Lithuanian opera. Without exist as an artefact that can be «transmitted» or repeat- seeking any institutional support, it has invented new ed on another occasion. Whereas the most successful perspectives. In fact, the founder of this movement, creations of NOA have a long life. And at the same Jonas Sakalauskas, himself an opera singer and com- time, they preserve the nature of their performance, poser, makes opera work like a start-up, with the mul- which means, they are not finished. For example, tiplication of directions and forms of activities, col- «Sun & Sea», is a flexible performance opera, which lective inventions, or structures with little or no hier- changes and adapts to various conditions while pre- archy. Theatre for Sakalauskas is a cultural platform serving its quintessence. that reacts actively to his environment: it has taken To sum up, the period of artistic action in the 90th, a cultural and social form. helped Lithuanian music to escape the system, by giv- The political and social criticism, the current-ori- ing a sense to the political changes and thus enlarg- ented view of the first festivalsof the 90s, echoes some ing significanceand enriching the language of con- of the NOA’s creations. Especially with the works temporary music. This period generated, first of all, of Lina Lapelytė, Vaiva Grainytė, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė. the active, conscious and committed artistic position Their first joint opera, «Have a Good Day» pointed towards the world. the everyday working conditions of supermarket ca- shiers, the second one, «Sun & Sea», distinguished Summary by the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2019, During the last years of the Soviet era, Lithuanian criticized the present ecological situation. This dis- music was far from any kind of a stylistic dead end, tinction was surely awarded not only for the original- as the majority of the progressive composers had ality of the performance but especially for its commit- ready formed their musical language in the 1970s, ted aspect, which denounces the general weariness and the younger ones were actively experimenting in front of imminent ecological disaster. with new forms of composition from the beginning The multidisciplinary approach can be considered of the 1980s. as a common axis linking festivals of young compos- However, political change undoubtedly had an im- ers since the Independence of Lithuania. On the oth- pact on everyone, and the consequences were inev- er hand, since the first festivals, progress has been itably reflected in the music scene through various made towards a «professionalization» of the domain: forms: if not through the emergence of new alter- 1. In the 90s the collective actions were stopped natives, then through certain signs of a new artistic to give way to the individual career of the compos- identity that were supposed to signify and articulate ers. Now we see that the collective projects or per- the political change in society. formances initiated by NOA, are perfectly compati- At the end of the Soviet occupation, Lithuanian ble with individual careers. music was not deadlocked, but it didn’t have every

118 Contemporary Music Festivals in Lithuania: from Action to Concept VITA GRUODYTĖ opportunity to try out freely the non-conventional the public space anew, but they also felt free to re- forms and acoustic experiences. The spontaneous think their whole environment aesthetically by dis- character, the immediacy of execution, the collective carding its neutrality, getting rid of the ideological actions of performers and the active role of audiences restrictions, and thus turning statics into dynamics. have helped to give priority to the experimentations The sign that Lithuanian music came within of concepts and ideas instead of aesthetics or materi- the proximity of the artistic processes of the West al concerns. So, happenings and performances were was that it had turned towards its inner purely aes- the most appropriate way for Lithuanian composers thetic resources instead of fighting with the external and musicologists to mark that period and to par- ideological imperatives. The conceptual dimension ticipate instantly in political and aesthetic changes. of the performances of that period was firmly estab- In this respect, non-academic music festivals initiated lished and it had become clear that art as the embodi- by young composers provided the best niche for this ment of aesthetic value finally found its main justifi- kind of creative expression. cation in the eyes of the public. As far as spontaneous artistic action is concerned The period of artistic action in the 90th, helped during the Soviet era the artistic environment did Lithuanian music to escape the system, by giving not exist. Art was legally bound to designated spaces, a sense to the political changes and thus enlarg- and its purpose was to reflectthe specific aesthetics ing significanceand enriching the language of con- regulated by the totalitarian system. During the times temporary music. This period generated, first of all, of the Lithuanian Independence Movement in the late the active, conscious and committed artistic posi- 80s, young musicians were not only able to assimilate tion towards the world

References

1. Frank Popper, Art, action et participation, Paris: Klincksieck, 1985, p. 13. 2. Vilija Aleknaitė, «Atoveiksmio punktyras lietuvių muzikoje», Jauna muzika (Edited by Ričardas Kabelis), Vilnius, Lietuvos kompozitorių sąjunga, 1989, p. 13. 3. Kęstutis Šapoka, „Pokalbis su Šarūnu Naku», (Ne)priklausomo šiuolaikinio meno istorijos, (Edited by Vytautas Michelkevičius, Kęstutis Šapoka), Vilnius: LTMKS, 2011, pp. 141–142. 4. Idem. 5. Kęstutis Šapoka, „Pokalbis su Arūnu Dikčiumi», (Ne)priklausomo šiuolaikinio meno istorijos, op. cit., p. 151. 6. Jauna muzika, op. cit., p. 123. 7. Kęstutis Šapoka, „Pokalbis su Arūnu Dikčiumi», (Ne)priklausomo šiuolaikinio meno istorijos, op cit., p. 151. 8. Živilė Ramoškaitė, «Akcijos ir opusai», Druskininkų pavasariai ir muzika, 1985–2014 (Edited by Urbietytė-Urmonienė), Vilnius: Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija, 2014, pp. 176–177. 9. Kęstutis Šapoka, „Pokalbis su Arūnu Dikčiumi», (Ne)priklausomo šiuolaikinio meno istorijos, op cit., pp. 150–151. 10. Popper, Frank. Art, action et participation, Paris, Klincksieck, 1985. 11. Kabelis, Ričardas (Ed.). Jauna muzika, [Vilnius, Lietuvos kompozitorių sąjunga], 1989. 12. Michelkevičius, Vytautas, Šapoka, Kęstutis (Ed.). (Ne)priklausomo šiuolaikinio meno istorijos, Vilnius: LTMKS, 2011. 13. Urbietytė-Urmonienė, Vaida (Ed.). Druskininkų pavasariai ir muzika, 1985–2014, Vilnius: Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija, 2014.

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Вита Груодите Фестивали современной музыки в Литве: от действия — к концепции Аннотация. Обретение Литвой в 90-х годах независимости в истории литовской музыки ознаменовалось коротким, но очень важным периодом, который вызвал появление новых междисциплинарных подходов — хепенинга, акционизма и перфор- манса. Эта новая волна, инициированная молодыми композиторами и музыковедами, пыталась обозначить разрыв с эстетикой, навязанной советской идеологией, даже когда та перестала быть господствующей. Ключевые слова: литовская музыка, хепенинг, акционизм, перформанс, фестивали современной музыки.

Віта Груодіте Фестивалі сучасної музики в Литві: від дії — до концепції Анотація. Набуття Литвою в 90-х роках незалежності в історії литовської музики ознаменувалося коротким, але дуже важ- ливим періодом, який спричинив появу нових міждисциплінарних підходів — гепенінгу, акционізму та перформансу. Ця нова хвиля, ініційована молодими композиторами і музикознавцями, намагалася окреслити розрив з естетикою, нав’язаною радян- ською ідеологією, навіть тоді, коли вона вже не була панівною. Ключові слова: литовська музика, гепенінг, акционізм, перформанс, фестивалі сучасної музики.