Histories outside History
Museums and the Multitude of Art Histories Abstracts and Biographies
Christiane Berndes
Born in 1955
in Venlo, The Netherlands. Lives and works in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Studied art at Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht (1983-1985) and art history at
Utrecht University (1989-1995). Worked as assisting curator at Museum Boijmans
Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (1992-1993) and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
(1993-1997). Since 1997 curator of collection at the Van Abbemuseum. Member of
the steering committee of the SBMK (Foundation for the conservation of
contemporary art) since 1997.
Plug In; A New Approach to Exhibiting the Collection of the
Van Abbemuseum
Abstract
The Van
Abbemuseum is famous for its major collection of art from 1900 to the present
day. This collection represents a wealth of ideas, viewpoints, positions and
opinions. It reflects the history of our imagination and our thinking about
culture. But how to display these works in such a way that they trigger the
viewer’s imagination, invoke reflection and do justice to the original
intentions of the work in today’s world? Changes in the world require changes
in the model of the city museum. What is the role of a museum in the 21st
century? What is the relationship between art and the context in which it is
shown? What are the implications of a collection for a city? How can we make
this context visible and trigger debate? These are the challenges the Van
Abbemuseum faces today. ‘Plug In’ is the title of the new approach to
exhibiting the collection at the Van Abbemuseum. It is an attempt to respond to
these questions and to develop possible answers.
Ekaterina Degot
Art historian
(PhD), art critic and curator based in Moscow. In 1993–2000 worked as a culture
columnist at “Kommersant Daily”, Moscow and now concentrates on independent
curating and writing. E. Degot is particularly interested in the specific
character of Russian modernism, including Soviet realism, and unofficial
conceptualism of the 1970s and 1980s. Also works with contemporary Moscow art
scene. In 2000 – curator of the Russian pavillion at Venice Biennale. Curator
and co-curator of shows “Body Memory: Underwear of the Soviet Era” (City
History museum, Petersburg, a.o., 2000–2005), “Moscow-Berlin 1950–2000”
(Martin-Gropius Bau, Berlin; History Museum, Moscow, 2003), “Soviet Idealism:
Painting and Cinema, 1925-1939” (Museum of Wallon art, Liege, 2005), “The
Comedy: the Funny Side of a Moving Image” (Central House of Artists, Moscow,
2005) a. o. E. Degot’s books, all published in Moscow, include
"Terroristic Naturalism” (1998) on contemporary Moscow art scene, “Russian
20th c. Art” (2000), the first comprehensive history of Russian
modernism from first avantgarde to present movements, and “Moscow
Conceptualism” (with Vadim Zakharov, 2005) on the most influential Russian
contribution to international art. Wrote numerous essays in catalogues of
international exhibitons of contemporary Russian art. In Moscow "Bolshoj
Gorod" ("Big City") magazine, holds a column on everyday objects
of Post-Soviet neocapitalist life.
Soviet Art in Contemporary Art Museum: an Outrage or a
Chance?
Abstract
The problem,
how (and if it all) to exhibit the artistic heritage of Soviet times in a
contemporary museum, is something all former Soviet territories share. Here are
some necessarily brief and rough reasonings to the topic. This is how Soviet
art has better NOT to be exhibited: as a form of traditional realism divided
into categories of paintings, sculptures, etc; as de-politicized timeless “good
(old) art”; as a ‘soft’ version of Western abstract art, a less radical
‘semi-abstract’ imitative art; as a clichee of true ‘unofficial’ art vs
conformist ‘communist’ one. And this is how it CAN be exhibited: as an original
version of international Modernism, extremely radical in its rejection of the
private market; as an art for public spaces and social practices, implicitly or
explicitly a social project; as a project-oriented activity on the whole; as an
art of ideology, in its best examples opposed to decorativism and close to
conceptual way of thinking; as a highly interdisciplinary activity – and to
show this, paintings have to be juxtaposed with feature and documentary film,
animation, architecture (including the ‘paper’ one), photography, book
illustrations, posters, installational practice (museum design, panoramas),
social practice (including institutional forms of Soviet art life, the movement
of ‘free creativity’/samodejatelnost etc); in a non-linear, ‘montage’ way, with
contemporary artists’s works as comments. To sum up, Soviet art can and has to
be represented as something which aimed at being contemporary but not exactly
art in the sense we use today, under global capitalist conditions, – and this
is what makes it a necessary part of 20th century art narrative.
Erika Grigoravičienė and Lolita Jablonskienė
Erika Grigoravičienė – born 1965. Doctor of Art History, researcher at the
Institute of Culture, Philosophy and Art in Vilnius; member of AICA. Delivers
lectures on the theory and history of image at the Vilnius Academy of Fine
Arts. Researches contemporary and Soviet art.
Lolita Jablonskiene (PhD) is an art critic and curator based in Vilnius. From
2000 she headed the Contemporary Art Information Center (CAIC), which spun off
from the Soros Foundation, and joined the Lithuanian Art Museum to work for
Vilnius’ forthcoming National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. In 2002
she was appointed chief curator of the National Gallery. L. Jablonskiene is an
ex-commissioner of the Lithuanian pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 1999 and a
co-commissioner in 2005. She has curated contemporary art exhibitions in her
home country and abroad, contributed art critical texts to Lithuanian and
foreign press; lectures at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts.
An Attempt to Deconstruct the Concept of Seminoncoformism
Abstract
This report is
based on an exchange of views between an art historian and a curator attempting
to break the concept of “semi”-non-conformist art: its structure and its
function. From the beginning of the 1990s this concept took root in Lithuanian
art historical discourse and gradually “branded” Baltic art under the Soviet.
It is difficult to compare semi-non-conformist Lithuanian art — which neither
corresponds to the canon of Socialist Realism nor articulates a critical
opposition — to the parameters of its desired Western corollary. It clearly
looks anachronistic; not stagnant rather ‘lost’ in time and in space. ‘Somewhat
Western’ in its appearance, semi-nonconformist Baltic art is constitutive of
another spatio-temporal structure related to another Centre, sited to the East
(in Moscow). From ‘our little local, secure and controlled West’ (Lithuanian
was the western edge of the USSR) emerged semi-nonconformist art: supported by
the Centre inasmuch as it was inspired by the ‘traditional’ pull of the West.
The term semi-non-conformism is a typical terminological simulacrum which
serves to mirror rather than solve problematic art history. It appeared to be a
combination of official style and resistant modernist form; however, it was
co-authored by the authorities to create an illusion of non-conformism —
instrumental to the legitimation of the Soviet power.
Giedrė Jankevičiūtė
Born in 1960.
Art historian (PhD), senior researcher at the Institute of Culture, Philosophy
and Art, Associate Professor at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts. Takes
interest in the history of art of the late 19th – 20th c., particularly in the
functioning of art in society. Published a number of scientific articles in
Lithuania and abroad, edited catalogues, art books and other publications,
wrote art critical papers, curated exhibitions, organized and took part in
numerous conferences. Has published a book “Art and State: Art Life in the
Lithuanian Republic in 1918–1940” (Kaunas, 2003). At present researches
Lithuanian art life in 1939–1944. Member of the Associations of Lithuanian Art
Historians, International Art Critics (AICA) and Lithuanian Artists’
Union.
Imprisoned in the Past: on the Interpretations of the 20th
Century Lithuanian Art History
Abstract
The paper
analyzes selective representations of the 20th-century Lithuanian
art heritage in exhibitions and art critics‘ works. In Lithuania, not only the
period of socialist realism but also the years of the World War II and even the
so-called movement of renewal that started after 1956 remain conspicuously
absent in art exhibitions and works of art history. Furthermore, some facts and
art works from the Soviet time have been consciously deleted and censored from
contemporary publications. Several reasons determine this situation. On the one
hand, the main forces of art researchers and museum and exhibition curators
divided their efforts between contemporary art and the heritage of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania. On the other hand, historical consciousness in Lithuania
remains very selective: only historical periods pleasant and interesting to us
and others are accepted. There is a lack of an open glance to the past since
art historians are afraid of destroying the dominant clichés of art history.
One of the clichés is the celebration of modernism that devalues the
dissemination of neo-traditionalism in the interwar period. Research of
neo-traditionalism would change not only the dominant picture of art in the
1930s. It was neo-traditionalism that allowed Lithuanian artists to recover
from the oppression of Socialist realism and almost without any cultural
contacts with Western countries to create impressive art works at the end of
the 1950s.
Raminta Jurėnaitė
Born in 1953
in Vilnius. Studied art history and theory at the LSSR State Institute of Art
and took a post-graduate course at the USSR Academy of Art Research Institute
of Art Theory and History. In 1986 she was awarded a degree in Art History for
the thesis “The Development of Contemporary Stained Glass in the USSR and
Socialist Countries”. Her academic degree (PhD) was ratified by the Lithuanian
Council of Science in 1993. In 1982–1985 and since 1987 delivers lectures on
art history at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts. In 1993–1998 director of the
Soros Centre for Contemporary Arts–Lithuania. Since 1991 member of the
International Association of Art Critics – AICA. Has curated up to 100 art
exhibitions in Lithuania and foreign countries, published articles on
contemporary art, edited the publication “100 Contemporary Lithuanian Artists”
(2000).
Alfonsas Budvytis – Another Grand Photographer from Eastern
and Central Europe
Abstract
In order to
make the long-waited museum not marginal, it should not only present the
development of Lithuanian art of the 20th–21st c., but
first of all propagate the work of most interesting but until now little known
individual artists. One of them could and should be the photographer Alfonsas
Budvytis (1949–2003). He conveyed his own and his generation experiences of the
Soviet period, epitomizing the piercingly oppressive, melancholy-filled
atmosphere, concentrating his attention on peripheral territories, mundane and
marginal characters and eloquent details. After the restoration of
independence, he left Vilnius and created no less melancholic photography in
secluded surroundings of nature. Tenderness and sadness in his photography
contemplating nature changed the distressing and oppressive nightmare of the
Soviet years. The propagation of Budvytis’ work is burdened by the fact that he
created little and produced unitary prints, often toned by hand. After the
accumulation of the extensive collection of Budvytis’ works, it would be
possible to expand the strategy of the promotion of his work through local
exhibitions and those abroad.
Bartomeu Marí
Born in 1966
on the Island of Ibiza. Studied philosophy at Barcelona University. In
1989–1993 worked in Fondation pour I’
Architecture, Brussels, in 1994–1995 in IVAM
– Centre Julio González, Valencia, as a curator. In 1996–2002 headed the Witte de With Contemporary Art Centre in
Rotterdam. 2002–2004 coordinated Donostia–San Sebastian project of the
International Centre of Contemporary Culture. In 2002 together with Chia-chi
Jason Wang curated Taipei biennial. In 2005 together with James Lingwood
curated the exhibition “Julio González. Lonely Voice. Sculptures, Drawings and
Works for the Radio” in La Casa Encendita
in Madrid. Commissioner of the pavilion of Spain in the 51st Venice
biennial, presented the artist Antoni Muntadas’ work. Also curated exhibitions
by Raoul Hausmann, Lwrence Weiner, Rita McBride, Eulàlia Valldosera, Francis
Picabia, Pierre Bismuth, Marcel Broodthaers, Michel François and Francis Alÿs.
Has written many articles on contemporary art, at present is preparing a new
publication – a collection of articles on contemporary art.
NEW MUSEUMS IN EUROPE?
Abstract
How have the
challenges of institutions dedicated to the arts of our time evolved? What is
their role in contemporary societies? How can the obligation to heritage be
reconciled with the dedication to promote knowledge and relationships with
diverse audiences? Through my lecture, I will analyse some of these questions,
insisting on the necessity to construct a landscape of diverse and
complementary cultural institutions in the European territory that bear in mind
the inherent tensions of the present moment, based on the sentiments of local
identities that cohabitate with the notion of internationality. From the point
of view of producers (artists), the search for the artistic language that
transcends localities is getting more evident daily, while the reception of art
is subjected to local conventions. Parallel to the relationship that
institutions have with a society that generates and maintains them, at the root
of their surrounding economies and their protective political organs, cultural
institutions are confronted with the changing composition of the population
that enfolds them. Tourism and migration have profoundly complicated the nature
of audiences. Looking at the example of the collection of the Museu d’Art
Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), I will analyse the construction of a local
narrative that connects with debates and discussions of the arts of our time,
not without obstacles, including zones of darkness as well as brilliant
moments. For example, the work of numerous Spanish artists in the late 1970s
constitutes a clear intension to draw artistic practice closer to political
action against the dictatorship of General Franco. However, at the beginning of
the 80s, due to the actions of the democratic government and a social and
economic situation that appeared to extinguish whatever possibility of
development of an art dedicated to the political and social evolution of the
context. The work of artists such as the Grup de Treball, Muntadas, Miralda,
video Nou, Joan Rabascall, Francesc Torres, and Fina Miralles will be treated
here as examples.
Laima Laučkaitė
Born in 1956
in Vilnius. In 1979 graduated from the Vilnius Institute of Art, specializing
in art history and theory. In 1988 defended a thesis for a Doctor’s Degree in
the Humanities at the Moscow Lomonosov University. In 1991–1992 furthered her
knowledge at the Institute of Art History of the Munich Maximilian-Ludwig
University. Since 1988 works as a chief researcher at the Institute of Culture
and Art in 2002 reformed into the Institute of Culture, Philosophy and Art.
Investigates the 20th c. Lithuanian art, folk art; has published the
book “The Vilnius Art in the Early 20th Century” (2002). Published
some articles on the German Expressionist artist Marianne Werefkin.
Writing the Lithuanian Art History of the 1st
Half of the 20th c.: Within the Canon
Abstract
Although
general works on the Lithuanian art history appeared only in the 2nd
half of the 20th c., the studies devoted to individual branches of
art, works or artists, reflecting the concepts of national art history, were
published as early as the 1st half of the 20th c. This
paper discusses the manner and structure of writing the history of Lithuanian
art in the 1st half of the 20th c. It also analyzes the
concept of “the nation without art history” formulated by Jonas Basanavičius in
the early 20th c. and addresses the contribution of Polish art
historians to the investigations into Lithuanian art as well as the anti-Polish
strategy, first of all that of Paulius Galaunė calling to “take the heritage
back” from neighbors. The art historical works of the first professional
Lithuanian art historians, who were educated in the interwar period in Germany,
namely Halina Kairiūkštytė-Jacinienė and Mikhail Vorobjov, and attempted to
include Lithuanian art into the canon of Western European art history are
analyzed as well as issues of axiology, periodization and others.
Mária Orišková
Born 1952 in
Kosice/Slovakia. 1970-1975 studied Art History at Comenius University in
Bratislava/Slovakia. 1975-1994 curator of modern art in Slovak National
Gallery, Bratislava. Since 1994 assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts
and Design in Bratislava/Slovakia (teaches 20th century art, Art
theory and methodology and Museum studies). 2001 PhD. at Vienna University,
Vienna. 2002 published the book „Double Voice Art History“, Petrus, Bratislava
2002 and edited „The Theory and Practice of Museum“, Foundation-Center for
Contemporary Art, Bratislava, 2002. In press: Effect of the Museum, AFAD Press,
Bratislava 2006. Teaching abroad: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence,
R.I., USA (1998), Central European University, Budapest (2002), University of
Applied Arts, Vienna (2005). Scholarships: Getty Summer Institute in Art
History and Visual Studies, Rochester, N.Y., USA (1999), Fulbright Fellowship
(2003). Member of AICA, CAA, Art-historical Society of Slovakia.
Translating Traditions
Abstract
My paper will
concern the question of national culture in the new European/global context.
Since 1989 East European nation states (and recently new EU members) struggle
with a problem of interpretation of their past in the museums. However, the
need for a new self-interpretation goes hand in hand with the issue of new
geographical cultural arena, a competitive global system within which some
cultures seem to be unplugged, disconnected. In recent years in Slovakia there
have been some attempts to reconstruct the past, mostly within defensive
patterns or romantic aspirations and illusions about wholeness, purity,
coherence, continuity or parallel developments with the western art. But
the question is not only about preserving place-bound traditions but
globally „translating traditions“. New geographies are in fact about the
renaissance of locality and region as well as vitality of local culture within
global culture.
Simon Rees
Curator at the
Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius (CAC) and co-editor of the journal CAC
INTERVIU, the quarterly conversations about art. Convenor of the monthly
international lecture series CAC Café Talks that brings notable personalities
from the world of culture to Vilnius. Recently co-curated, with Magda Kardasz,
HIGH TIDE: new currents in art from Australia and New Zealand (the largest
project of its kind presented internationally) for Zacheta National Gallery of
Art, Warsaw and the CAC. In 2007 he will be commissioner for artists Gediminas
& Nomeda Urbonas at the Lithuanian Pavilion in the 52nd Venice
Biennale.
‘Books’ in a Valise: Publishing the Museum at the Margin
Abstract
Because of
what is known in post-colonial theory, in the South Pacific, as the
"tyranny of distance" publications are strategically crucial to the
co-extensive dissemination and reception of knowledge about Euro-American and
Australian and New Zealand art/culture. It is more likely that Northern
Hemisphere art professionals will see a journal or catalogue than an exhibition
[and vice versa]. Moreover, journals are the best bet for Southern Hemisphere
professionals to track developments internationally. With a focus on the
seminal Australian journal art&text (and reference to several well known
examples of impactful publications) the paper will discuss theoretical
implications for art production at the margins in relation to publishing.
Stella Rollig
Curator,
writer, since May 2004 Director Kunstmuseum Lentos Linz. 1994–1996 Federal Curator for Visual Arts appointed by
the Minister for Science, Research, and The Arts 1994 Founder of "Depot. Art and Discussion", independent
space for contemporary art, discourse, and documentation in Vienna. 2000
Curator of "hers. Video as a Female Terrain", Steirischer Herbst,
Graz. 2002–2004 Curator for visual art at O.K Center for Contemporary Art,
Linz. Most recent publications in english:
"Dürfen die das? Kunst als sozialer Raum. Art / Education / Cultural Work / Communities" (ed. Stella Rollig /
Eva Sturm), Vienna 2002. „Beyond
the Box: Diverging Curatorial Practices“ (Banff Centre Press), Alberta, Canada
2003. „Men in Black. Handbook of Curatorial Practice“ (Hrsg. Chrstoph Tannert,
Ute Tischler / Künstlerhaus Bethanien), Frankfurt am Main 2004
Working with Collections
Abstract
The
fundamental question of the representation of art history/histories in the
museum overlooks the fact that those responsible for museums and collections
have to operate with existing works. We are not free to newly design the
holdings – and thus a given history – that have been gathered in the respective
institutions. The Collection of the Lentos Art Museum Linz does not represent
an art historical canon (if such a canon is to be presumed at all) any more
than any other collection. Instead it reflects the specific history of this
institution, its origins and its location, the orientation of its directors, and
its spatial and financial preconditions. The collection of a museum is
characterized, hardly less than a private collection, by subjective value
judgments, preferences and coincidences. The Lentos Art Museum, formerly the
New Gallery of the City of Linz, founded in 1953, is distinctive as a central
European house rooted in the beginning of the 20th century, which in
the over fifty years of its existence has so far had only four directors. The
challenge is to make these conditions transparent and communicate them in the
presentation, putting them into perspective by linking them with temporary
exhibitions. Possible attempts are to be demonstrated using the Lentos Art
Museum's praxis.
Frode Sandvik
Born in 1976, art historian. Works as exhibition coordinator at Bergen Art Museum (since 2003). Previous engagement at the company Kunst på Arbeidsplassen (Art in the Workplace), Oslo. Education: Cand. philol. (2003) at the Institute of Art History and Conservation, University of Oslo. Publications: "Harry Fett og den norske middelalderkunsten" ("Harry Fett and the Medieval Art in Norway") Master dissertation, University of Oslo, 2003. Co-editor for the following publications at Bergen Art Museum: "Anxiety and Desire. Surrealism in Scandinavia 1930-1950" (2004) "Mikkel McAlinden" (retrospective) (2004) "Ukiyo-e. Japanese Woodblock prints in Bergen Art Museum" (2004) "Utopia and Nostalgia. Norwegian Painting in the 1920s" (2005) "Hilmar Fredriksen" (retrospective) (2006) Currently editing an extensive presentation book on the collection of Bergen Art Museum, comprising 300 works, to be published in 2008.
Modernisms in the Periphery: Three Norwegian exhibitions
Abstract
In the period 2002-2005 Bergen Art Museum organized three extensive exhibitions focusing on the manifestations of major art trends in Norwegian and Scandinavian 20th Century art. The exhibition "Concrete", realized in 2002, addressed non-figurative painting in Norway from its beginnings in the early inter-war era and till the present day. The exhibition "Anxiety and Desire" of 2004 showed the impulses of Surrealism in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) in the years 1930-1950. Last years effort "Utopia and Nostalgia" (2005) sought to uncover the various manifestations of New Classicism in Norwegian painting of the 1920s. The themes that these exhibitions cover have all been subjected increasing international attention in recent years. There is also particular interest attached to how the major modern art movements worked in the periphery, where the profiles of these movements were sometimes less distinct and strange hybrid forms arose between tradition and the modern. The exhibitions demonstrated that Scandinavian modernists responded to international trends with a variety of approaches, and also in some cases changed between different trends. We encounter an intricate interplay of trends and ideas. Amongst the artists that will serve as examples in the presentation are Charlotte Wankel (N), Roar Matheson Bye (N), Nils Krantz (N), Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersen (DK), Wilhelm Freddie (DK), Erik Olson (S), Olav Strømme (N), Bjarne Rise (N) and Karen Holtsmark (N).
Dejan Sretenović
Born 1962 in
Belgrade. MA in history of modern art. Chief Curator at the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Belgrade since 2001. Lecturer of Art Theory at the
Photography Department of BK Art University in Belgrade since 2002. Worked as
the Director of the (Soros) Center for Contemporary Art, Belgrade (1994-2000).
Member of the editorial board of the magazine for visual culture New Moment
1993-1997. Recent curatorial projects: On Normality. Art in Serbia 1989-2001
(Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade 2005), Black Body, White Masks (Museum of
African Art, Belgrade, 2004), Pavilion of Serbia and Montenegro (Venice Biennale,
2003), Thank you, Rasa Todosijevic (Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade,
2002), Conversation (MCA, Belgrade, 2001), Reality Check (Center for
Contemporary Art, Belgrade, 1999), Video Art in Serbia (Bitef Theatre,
Belgrade, 1999), Focus Belgrad (IFA Gallery, Berlin, 1998). Books edited: Art
in Yugoslavia 1992-1995 (Belgrade, 1997), New Readings of the Icon (Belgrade,
1999), Lev Manovich Metamedia (Belgrade, 2001), International Exhibition of
Modern Art featuring Alfred Barr's Museum of Modern Art, New York
(Belgrade/Venice 2003).
MoCA Belgrade: Modernism and Titoism, Hand in Hand
Abstract
From the date
of its establishment in 1965, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade based its
programme and acquisition policy on the notion of »Yugoslav Artistic Space«
used to describe period from the beginning of the 20th century -
when the idea and undertakings of the foundation of artistic association were
conceived within South Slavic artistic circles - through perennial existence of
the common state of these nations in the «first» and «second» Yugoslavia, to
its (at the time unexpected) break-up in 1991. Seen as a specific geographical,
cultural and temporal complex, "Yugoslav Artistic Space" reflects
both the modernist urge for construction of "great narratives" as
well as Titoist ideology of Yugoslavship as a vehicle for building a unified
nation-state. Therefore, the emancipatory "marriage" between Alfred
Barr's imperial museological/art historical model
and Titoist policy of modernization testifies of the specific ideological,
political and cultural role intended for MoCA Belgrade which, as such, also
serves as a mirror image of the Titoist Yugoslavia as a whole.
Skaidra Trilupaitytė
PhD (2003);
fellow at the Culture, Philosophy and Art Research Institute in Vilnius; member
of AICA (International Art Critics’ Association, Lithuanian section) and ISA
(International Sociological Association); lecturer of ‘20th c.
cultural politicies’ at the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts. Academic interests
include: artistic and institutional changes during post-Soviet transition,
relations between post-Soviet and expatriate cultures and ‘transatlantic’
identities in Lithuanian cultural policies. During 2004 Spring term conducted a
research on cultural anti-Americanism in post-Soviet Russia and Lithuania at
the New School University (NY) as a Fulbright scholar.
Art Market, Russian Underground and Problems of Critical
Assessment of Soviet Period Art in Lithuania
Abstract
The theme of
the report – links between the critical assessment of the normative
Soviet-period art and the international art market. In the Soviet period in
Lithuania, this market did not exert a direct influence on art life. However,
later, when legitimating more interesting phenomena of the then art, i.e. retrospectively
granting them symbolic capital, there was a strong tendency to adjust to
nonconformist “rules of a game” formulated in a non-local context. The report
emphasizes that a need for desovietization of the art life, emerging in
Lithuania in the regeneration period, eventually lost its topicality. Anyway, a
continuous paradoxical adjustment to the “forced” assessment of a totalitarian
past makes particularly hard to newly analyze the art life in other former
soviet republics (in this case in Lithuania). In Lithuanian art history even a
softened model of the coexistence of “official”, “semi-official” and
“non-official” art in the Soviet years, due to the absence of any criteria for
the definition of non-official art, can be illustrated only by the artists’
“inner” dramas. Whereas contemporary art theories interpret art works as an
open field of messages, spacious enough for the most diverse antipodes,
negatives, kinships and differences, which are usually determined not by the
artists’ moral determination.
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