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ABSTRACT Centripetal Force of locus: Dilemmas of Nomadism in Contemporary Lithuanian Artistic Practices By using two cases – a production, called !e Heart in Vilnius (2012) and a so- cial-artistic project Give Yourself to Vilnius (2014), the article aims to discuss the issue of a “liquid” mind-set (Bauman) as it is perceived, re!ected and formulated in contemporary Lithuanian artistic practices. "ese examples were intentionally chosen because both seem to address the issue of “roots” in one’s native land in opposition to physical or intellectual mobility. By establishing Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, as the spiritual locus of emotional ful#llment, both cases dwell on a social anxiety that Zygmunt Bauman terms “a meaninglessness”, typical for a transitional society, where modernization progresses at a di$erent pace in di$er- ent strata. Moreover, whether it is a political statement or a popular attraction, both examples portray a nomad and nomadism of late modernity as an “Other”, drawing a divisional and alienating line between a “liquid” mind-set and a “sta- ble” one. Keywords: theatre, popular culture, liquid mind-set, anxiety, contemporary Lithuania. BIOGRAPHY Martynas Petrikas (Dr) is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Creative Media, Vilnius University (Lithuania) and a Lecturer at the Department of "eatre Studies, Faculty of Arts, Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithua- nia). His #elds of interest, among others, are social aspects of theatrical practice, the history of Lithuanian theatre, and the history and theory of theatre criticism. His contribution to a collective monograph Postsovietinis Lietuvos teatras: (Post-Soviet Lithuanian Theatre: History, Identity, ) came out in print in 2014. [email protected] 56 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Centripetal Force of locus Dilemmas of Nomadism in Contemporary Lithuanian Artistic Practices MARTYNAS PETRIKAS "e housekeeper Marguerite, a character in Le they were enveloped in light rabbit or heavy shear- Champ d’oliviers, a lesser-known Guy de Mau- ling coats, placed like little buns in the back seat passant 1890 novel, informs her master, the local of a ‘Moskvitch 401 or 407’ and taken to the local abbé, of her discomfort with a visit by un maoufa- hospital for vaccination against the measles. […] tan – equivalent of malfaiteur – for a lawbreaker or In their childhood they made a fundamental pact criminal in Provençal. In such a manner, good Mlle of inseparability between a dream and a duty. […] Marguerite refers to a stranger, a person without "ey were the #rst generation which perceived a life any evident provenance, profession or intentions as as motion. Freedom is a certain substance without a vagabond who is assumed to be a hazard at least to a permanent address: the Sixties’ generation gave a the usual rhythm of the day. However, not only the new content to this formula.”2 delicious dinner of poule au riz growing cold is at Rather symptomatically the issue of mobility was stake here. Metaphorically, the #gure of the stranger, one of the earliest that was discussed on the Lithua- his/her presence and activities possess an existential nian stage: the #rst play in Lithuanian that proved to threat to the wholesomeness of a micro-world in a be a popular success was the comedy America in the sun-soaked coastal village, as well as to the integrity Bathhouse, published in 1895. "e authors, Antanas of the lives of the characters in the novel. and Juozas Vilkutaičiai, evidently aimed not only at "us, a stranger, a world-roaming vagabond be- providing the amateur Lithuanian stage of the time comes a maoufatan in the eyes of the settled local with adequate playwriting, they saw their play as a populace. Anthropologically, what we have here is contribution to growing concerns about Lithuanian a con!ict between two di$erent life styles that have emigration. In the comedy, a credulous country girl, their roots, one in a settled and sedentary, and an- who under the charm of a wandering tailor, tries to other in a nomadic lifestyle. As Knut Ove Arntzen elope to the United States, ends up in a steam bath points out, in a philosophical context, the nomadic on the outskirts of the village and in shame. "us lifestyle corresponds to a metaphorical way of re- America in the Bathhouse set a satirical and didac- !ecting reality.1 In contrast to the idea of growth, tic tone that in subsequent decades became typical development and reproduction in a single place, for representing the issue of mobility on the Lith- which is the crucial element of a stable lifestyle, the uanian stage. As literary scholar Reda Pabarčienė notion of mobility and possibilities within a mobile points out, Petras Vaičiūnas (1890–1959, the most lifestyle for the nomads becomes a predisposition proli#c Lithuanian playwright of the Interwar peri- for learning and producing. In a similar manner, yet od), when addressing migration in his plays, would in a less approving tone, the Latvian sociologist Tālis usually draw a pattern of inward movement for the Tisenkopfs described the generations that were born characters: only temporary excursions out of the na- in the Soviet Union during the Sixties: “as children tive place were deemed acceptable.3 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 Nordic Theatre Studies vol. 27: no. 1 57 A clash between nomadic and settled lifestyles of the twentieth century. Moreover, under Soviet strongly resonates in contemporary sociology, where rule, the notion of Lithuanian nationality was in- Zygmunt Bauman terms the mind-set of late mo- tentionally transformed into depoliticized “folk”, to dernity as “liquid” in contrast to its “solid” modern use the philosopher Nerija Putinaitė’s wording, thus predecessor.4 Bauman’s late modern subject is “light increasing its rural, ethnographic and pre-modern and liquid”: an individual who shifts her/his geo- connotations.9 As such it remained in popular im- graphical, social, political, marital, sexual, cultural agery after 1990, fuelling controversies on Lithuani- positions in a !uid manner, excluding her/himself anness further. Perceived in this way, an opposition from traditional forms of support, such as family, between the doxa of stability and the “liquid” heter- community, nation and state. In a metaphorical odoxy can easily be transferable to a political debate sense, such a nomad withstands the common law and an economic argument. of gravity, which presupposes a power relationship In a political sense, increased mobility can be between the core and the peripheral, where the for- related to social strati#cation, or as Bauman notes, mer attracts the latter, thus de#ning its actions and rather than homogenizing the human condition, trajectory. the technological diminution of temporal/spatial Moreover, as Rosi Braidotti points out, some of distances tends to polarize it. For some people, mo- the greatest trips can take place without physically bility gives freedom of meaning-creation, yet, by the moving from one’s habitat. According to Braidot- same token, is condemned by others for meaning- ti, a nomadic mind-set should be regarded as aim- lessness.10 In Lithuania these were metaphorically ing at the subversion of a set of conventions and expressed by the infamous division of society into at consciousness-raising, rather than the literal act “runkeliai” (the beetroots) and “elitas” (the elite), of traveling.5 Consequently, the nomad becomes a which has grown into a #xture of public discourse lawbreaker in a political sense, or, as Bauman ar- in the #rst decade of the twenty-#rst century. It is gues, in the contemporary world, mobility (physical interesting to note, how such a division semantically or indeed intellectual) has become a powerful tool included an opposition between “rooted” stability in the restrati#cation of social hierarchies.6 and “detached” mobility that explicitly becomes a Society in post-Soviet Lithuania provides a good domain of “the elite”.11 "us, the upper echelons of insight into the clash between two di$erent mind- society were equaled to those who are able to ben- sets. As sociologist Jolanta Kuznecovienė notes, e#t from the nomadic or “liquid” lifestyle, whereas contemporary Lithuanian cultural practices can be the physically or intellectually “rooted” rest were de- divided and grouped into two distinct tendencies, graded. Because of such a lack of equilibrium social which advocate for either a national or transnation- tensions are highly possible in di$erent layers of so- al identity.7 Moreover, globalization in economics ciety, Emmanuel Todd observes that modernization and the consequent increase of mobility both phys- progresses at di$erent paces, whereas the ideals of ical and intellectual is proportional to the in!ux of liberty and individualism are not necessarily em- intercultural elements into the local socio-cultural braced as positive in all strata.12 pattern, thus the possibility to detect “unique” fea- "e Lithuanian artist and scholar Kęstutis Šapo- tures in Lithuanian identity is diminishing. In the ka provides an additional correlation between social typical quest for a de#nition of national uniqueness, divisions and contemporary Lithuanian art. In his the side arguing on emotional and ethical grounds 2011 review of Žilvinas Kempinas’ personal exhi- substitutes the lack of clear-cut features by elevating bition in Vilnius, the scholar argues that Kempinas’ national and transnational identities into a moral “ingenious and amusing”, “intentionally lightheart- opposition.8 In other words, transnational identity, ed yet suggestive enough” and, above all, perfect- springing out of the nomadic or “liquid” mind-set, ly executed work mirrors cultural preferences and is opposed to the doxa of stable and homogenous tastes of the Lithuanian bourgeoisie.13 "is well- nationality, which, in the Lithuanian case, was cre- heeled stratum, which arrived at a dominant posi- ated in the course of nation-building in the #rst half tion in the Nineties, to use Šapoka’s wording, “is too 58 Nordic Theatre Studies vol.

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