#56 #56 L ithuania is among the most SEPTEMBER dynamic European states. The largest of the Baltic countries (covering rough- 2020 ly a quarter of Italy’s surface-area), it has a short coastline on the Baltic Sea. It is a very young parliamentary Republic, the first to proclaim its independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990. His- L OCTOBER 2020 OCTOBER torically disputed between Germany L and Russia, this country has always been influenced by numerous countries and cultures, thus slowing the formation of its national artistic identity. While this year marks the thirtieth anniversary of independence, for some years, Lithuania has taken every opportunity to become SEPTEMBER better known in Italy and other countries through its rich and particularly far-sight- ed cultural programme. We need only mention the Golden Lion received at the 58th Venice Biennale of Art. GREAT MASTERS AND LITHUANIA: MID-CAREER ARTISTS L L Lithuania has produced extraordinary STORIES artists such as Jonas Mekas, a reference THE BALTIC figure of New American Cinema, founder of Film Culture magazine and the Film- makers’ Cooperative, which would later evolve into the prestigious Anthology Film Archive; and George Maciunas, architect, COUNTRY L LITUANIA writer, composer and performer, as well LITUANIA L as one of the founders and main forces behind Fluxus. KEEPS ITS The next generation seems to be fun- damentally concerned with recent his- torical memory, which highlights the critical relationship of contemporary art STORIES PROMISES with social, political, and cultural phe- L L nomena linked to post-Soviet (artistic) identity. The main themes of Deimantas Narkevičius’s works, for example, are the memory of the utopia of modernism, his- tory, and social memory, which create a MARTA SILVI [ critica d’arte e curatrice ] dichotomy between memory and oblivion. The artistic activity of Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, a couple in life and in art, also starts from archival research It gained independence from and then expands into issues of collab- orative participation, raising questions the former Soviet Union early, about the community and economic and back in 1990. It pushed down environmental awareness. In 2018, Studio Urbonas curated the Swamp Pavilion for on the accelerator towards Lithuania’s first national participation in contemporaneity, taking advantage the Venice Biennale of Architecture. of the strengths and weaknesses of THE NEXT GENERATION A new generation of artists is emerg- other Western countries. Thirty years ing with strength and determination. The later, the results are clearly visible in topics they investigate focus on contem- porary ideological, economic, and cul- the visual arts, architecture, theatre tural conditions, through research of a and in the cultural awareness of historical, sociological, anthropological, and psychological nature, combined with Lithuanians in general. interdisciplinary and scenographic artis- Augustas Serapinas, Gym, 2017. Courtesy Emalin, Londra. Photo credits Andrej Vasilenko tic skills. 2 3 SPAZI ISTITUZIONALI SPAZI NON PROFIT #56 Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, a curato- VILNIUS #56 rial collective that has collaborated from area CAC – CONTEMPORARY ART CENTRE 7 LTMKS | SODAS 2123 New York with Mekas on various projects 1 SEPTEMBER cac.lt letmekoo.lt 65.200 km² and that this year edited the publication AUTARKIA Lettonia 2 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 9 for Humboldt Books of Jonas Mekas Tran- Mar Baltico 6 ndg.lt autarkia.lt 2020 script 04 44’ 14”: Lithuania and the Collapse population 3 MO MUSEUM 10 EDITORIAL of the USSR, explains: “The Lithuanian art KLAIPÉDA mo.lt editorial.lt 2.793.397 (2019) scene owes a great deal to nomadic, pro- LITHUANIAN ARTISTS’ ASSOCIATION LITHUANIAN KAUNAS 4 11 phetic and global figures such as Jonas ldsajunga.lt PHOTOGRAPHERS ASSOCIATION density L Mekas and George Maciunas. There is a Russia photography.lt VILNIUS 5 ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA OCTOBER 2020 OCTOBER NERIS LOKOMOTIF certain Fluxus spirit that hovers among the iicvilnius.esteri.it 12 facebook.com/hi.lokomotif/ 54 ab./km² L emerging artists of the area. I am thinking BALTUPIAI of the Beer Metaphysics by Vytenis Buro- Polonia Bielorussia GDP pro-capite (PPA) kas, the Young Girls Reading Group by RESIDENZE FORMAZIONE SUPERIORE Eglė Kulbokaitė and Dorota Gaweda or the 34.825 $ (2018 | 48°) sculptures by Augustas Serapinas, which 6 RUPERT, 13 VILNIUS UNIVERSITY often insist on lateral or interstitial spaces. rupert.lt vu.lt But I am also thinking of the Autarkia can- LTMKS 14 VILNIUS ACADEMY OF ARTS story through the actor and the stage space ˆ ˆ 7 SEPTEMBER letmekoo.lt vda.lt teen in Vilnius: a place that brings together . means that the spectators are involved in SESKINE the new generations of artists and thinkers NERIS a scenic story that absorbs their attention with the previous ones in an informal and FIERE GALLERIE PRIVATE with a soap opera plot, a vaudeville rhythm specific way. This particular attitude is and the gags of a comic film. Nekrošius ˆ ˆ increasingly recognized and recognizable ˆ 8 ART VILNIUS 15 (AV17) represents a peculiar trait of Lithuanian . 2-4 ottobre ˆ on the international scene - as evidenced SNIPISKES av17gallery.com theatre, the vocation towards a visual and artvilnius.com MENO NISA by the Golden Lion at the last Venice Bien- ˆ 16 self-reflective narrative through which it 2 menonisa.lt . L nale - but it is the result of a collective effort ZVERINAS expresses its critical dimension, as its per- L THE ROOSTER which the Lithuanian community has man- 17 formances trigger conflicts that clash with STORIES aged to develop in these decades of new- roostergallery.eu the values of​​ post-Soviet Lithuanian socie- 11 found independence. In true Fluxus style, NERIS 18 VARTAI ty. Nekrošius thus restores a vital relation- galerijavartai.com Lithuanian art has woven connections and ship between theatre and society: opposing affinities throughout the world, not only the dominant powers means affirming uni- creatively but also through very energetic versal values ​​through literature, opposing cultural policies”. 8 the mass media covering of multinational L LITUANIA NAUJAMIESTIS Among the most interesting artists neo-capitalism, and homologation to the LITUANIA L born between the 1980s and the early 9 7 particularly close links to the Italian intel- A new generation of aesthetic values ​​of Euro-American theatri- 1990s, in addition to Lina Lapelytė (who lectual scene. cal production”. created the award-winning Lithuania An indispensable tool for delving fur- artists is emerging Following the reconquest of inde- pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale togeth- 12 ther into the Lithuanian cultural scene is with strength and pendence, Oskaras Koršunovas stands er with Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė and Vaiva the Lithuanian Culture Guide, published out among the most important person- Grainytė) and the aforementioned Augus- and updated periodically by the Lithuanian determination. alities of contemporary Lithuanian thea- STORIES tas Serapinas (one of the youngest artists Culture Institute. It provides a detailed sur- tre: his unique and recognizable style of L L invited to the main exhibition of the 2019 vey on cinema, theatre, architecture, art, direction creates a world of the absurd in Biennale, represented by the APalazzo gal- 1km design, music, dance, and literature and Lithuanian director who died in 2018 which interest in the individual’s position lery in Brescia and exhibitor of a solo show is entrusted to professionals and scholars while working on Edipo a Colono for the in society merges with aesthetics influ- at Cura basement in 2018), we should note who recount the historical roots and the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, and with enced by postmodern thinking. The cur- Gintarė Minelgaitė (GoraParasit), Ieva contemporaneity of each area of ​​research. whom she had been collaborating for rent scene boasts a highly fertile terrain Savickaitė, Andrej Polukord, Kristina CATTEDRALE several years, tells us about the specific in which several young directors, whose 15 Inčiūraitė, Eglė Budvytytė and Gintaras A LOOK AT THEATRE identity of Lithuanian theatre and how visions are already clearly characterized, Didžiapetris. Also worthy of note are Juli- The theatrical scene is particularly pro- Nekrošius’s direction was original: “The stand out: Agnius Jankevičius, Paulius jonas Urbonas and Emilija Škarnulytė lific and stimulating. As the theatre critic reference universe for Nekrošius’s theatre Ignatavičius, Artūras Areima, Kamilė (the latter was chosen to represent Lith- GIARDINO BERNARDINE Kristina Steiblytė explains, “given that was the classics of literature, from Shake- Gudmonaitė, Jonas Tertelis, Olga Lapi- uania at the XXIII Triennale di Milano in 17 Lithuanian professional theatre did not speare to Dostoevsky, Gogol, Kafka and Chek- na and Paulius Markevičius. Among the 2019), both of whom deal in an original way 14 begin to take shape until the end of the 19th hov. His performances, however, do not start foreign directors who constantly work with complex current issues such as denu- century, it was forged together with the fig- by addressing the problem of the text’s inter- in Lithuania, we should note the Poles clearization and climate change. 13 ure of the theatre director that was already pretation. The organic link between word Krystian Lupa and Łukasz Twarkowski, 5 established. The role of the director then and action, between character and actor, the Latvians Valtris Sīlis and Yana Ross, 18 INTELLECTUALS AND RESEARCH evolved by entrusting the interpretation found in Nekrošius’s productions stems from and the Hungarian Arpad Schilling. Among the most active and stimulating PALAZZO 10 of a selected text to a single actor, a device a work process in which the text is not inter- intellectual figures of international scope, PRESIDENZIALE that often helped to circumvent censorship preted independently by the director accord- A LOOK AT ARCHITECTURE we should cite Raimundas Malašauskas in Soviet times, while it now offers the audi- ing to ideological, historical or philosophical As Julija Reklaitė, architect and for- whose curatorial work is modelled around 16 SINAGOGA ence unique theatrical experiences”.