EXHIBITION "TIME OF CHANGES: THEATER, MUSIC, CINEMA AND ART 1985-1995"

The Centre for Civil Education together with the Lithuanian Theater, Music and Film Museum presents the exhibition "TIME OF CHANGES: Theater, Music, Cinema and Art 1985-1995".

The exhibition, open to the public on September 30, 2021, aims to look at one of the most significant decades of the modern state through the phenomena of the world of art and reveal the specifics of the end of the Soviet era and the first years after the period of Independence.

At the end of the Soviet era and in the first years after the restoration of Independence, conceptual art reached Lithuania. The blurring of boundaries of art types and genres occurred - happenings, actions and performances were organized. Objects and installations prevailed in the exhibitions, and video art became popular. When organizing non-academic direction festivals, the composers fearlessly drew the line between the space of free creative realization and the theoretically still existing, but practically no longer functional, frames of creative activity established by the Soviet occupation ideology. 1985-1990 was a dramatic year of a turning point in Lithuanian cinema, when not only the entire censorship system that had existed until then collapsed, but as well as the production and distribution system failed. A new generation of directors came to Lithuanian cinema, who not only clearly declared their attitude to cinema, but also to reality itself. At the end of the decade, Lithuanian theater reached the culmination of artistic development - a poetic-metaphorical eloquence was matured, and a more active dialogue with the public was developed. The theater encouraged a limitless rise of interest in criticism of the Soviet Union, and soon broke through the "Iron Curtain" and entered the international scene without losing mass popularity and audience interest.

The opposition chosen by the artists aginst institutional and official art showed the clearly perceived importance of the changes in the epoch being experienced. It is specific for Lithuania, as for other countries of the Soviet bloc, that this movement meant opposition not only to a certain style of art, academia or the traditional art system - as in the West - but also to the ideologisation of art.

In the exhibition, the processes of change that took place in the culture reflect the progress of cracking system itself, at the same time touching the disruptions that have taken place in other areas of state life.

The exhibition displays about 100 artistic works by creators, including Kazė Zimblytė "In memoriam", Šarūnas Sauka "Man with Problems" (“Žmogus, turintis problemų“), Darius Žiūra "God's Pine" (“Dievo pušynas”), Kęstutis Grigaliūnas "Fluxus" box. There are also exhibited authentic film posters, the most important videos of that time, which are reflected in the three sub-themes of the exhibition. Art and politics show the participation of artists in the struggle for state independence. The new language reflects the changes in the language and aesthetics of art that have taken place over the decade. Identity ranges allow us to grasp the tendencies of Lithuanian identity formation.

Exhibition coordinators:
Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania the Centre for Civil Education and Lithuanian Theater, Music and Film Museum.

The exhibition was created by experts from different fields: the main curators of the exhibition Nideta Jarockienė and Šarūnas Jokubaitis, visual art curators Eglė Juocevičiūtė and Jolanta Marcišauskytė-Jurašienė, film curator Sonata Žalneravičiūtė, theater curator Daiva Šabaseviienė The architects of the exhibition Aurimas Syrus and Kotryna Bajorinaitė, the designer Vilius Dringelis, the coordinator of the communication programs of the exhibition Justina Baltrūnaitė.

Exhibition sponsors:
Lithuanian Council for Culture

In association with: Media Traffic, book store „Pegasas“, book store „Vaga“, Caffeine, Owexx, Vilnius Tourist Information Center, Saulius Petrošius.

We invite you to visit the exhibition during the normal working hours of the Center for Civil Education:
Tuesday to Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (pre-registration is required +370 682 50754 or by e-mail registracija.vpc@prezidentas.lt).
Saturday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. (pre-registration not required).