The re-erection of Freedom Monument in Kaunas. 10 02 1989. Photo: Romualdas Požerskis
Interior view of enclosed Freedom Statue Artist: Tatzu Nishi. Kaunas Biennial 2017 Photo Gallery: https://kultura.lrytas.lt/daile/2017/11/27/news/kauno-bienale-kreipesi-i-policija-delvandalizmo-ar-pagristai--3694741/?foto=3694819 Journalist, Jonė Dambrauskaitė writes The symbol of freedom standing at the historical site of the Kaunas War Museum is a symbol of freedom, which is currently covered by building scaffolds, and Juozas Zikaras's "Freedom" sculpture is "imprisoned" in a gray box. Many people who visit here believe that repairs to the monument are taking place. However, this is the installation of the Kaunas Biennale, a Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi's "Freedom", which has received considerable attention and controversy in Kaunas. For a Euro you can climb up the stairs to the top of the monument and find yourself in Soviet cuisine: in this room, there is J. Zikaras
"Freedom" on the kitchen table. Not surprisingly, this installation caused not only considerable interest but also a lot of controversial opinions. One sees this as an opportunity to look at Freedom directly in the eye, moving it to your everyday life. Freedom appearing in other cuisine resembles the Soviet times, when it was possible to speak about true freedom only in a safe environment - not anywhere else, but at the kitchen table within that gray box. Still others consider this imprisonment of Freedom as a desecration of a precious symbol, their long and painful attempt to exploit freedom for one euro. So what is the purpose of this artistic provocation really? The author of the installation, T. Nishi, presented in the Kaunas Biennial program as an artist whose "goal is not to please and please everyone", and the works "often give rise to controversial reactions and a great opposition." "T.Nishi strives not only to stop people moving artwork to the store or home, but also to replace them from passive viewers to active observers." In the morning of November, Freedom gained an active viewer. On November 15, Kaunas residents Saulius Dambrauskas and the pacifist artist Vytenis Jakis (whose work is also in the Biennial), dressed in white robes as doctors, looked at the installation and made some adjustments. They wrote in white paintings on the walls surrounding the sculpture: "FREEDOM OF LAW", "DESTINATION OF FREEDOM". Like and enjoyable: the installation of a Japanese artist has essentially reached its goal. But these "active observers", which are believed to be so fond of the Kaunas Biennale, have received unexpected reactions by organizers. The organizers of the biennale and "Kaunas Day" rushed to call this artistic performance as hooliganism and vandalism, while the letters of LIBERTY were painted the next day. They are worn only on the edge of the letter L on the door in the box. As a result of this vandalism, the organizers of the Kaunas Biennale turned to the police and a pre-trial investigation "of breach of public order" has been initiated against the initiators of the performance. It is interesting that the artists worked on the day wearing white dressing gowns, calling for the performance to be captured by the media. They worked in a space that warned you: "You are watching the video camera." So how could it be that this response was so distorted and where can one see vandalism and a violation of public order? The significance of the white dresses S.Dambrauskas and V.Jakas described not only as a deliberate civic treatment, but also as an expression of solidarity with the doctors demonstrating civic vitality in Lithuania and the employees of the Kaunas kindergarten canteens, thus encouraging this "Freedom Freedom" campaign to look more extensively from civic self-consciousness. Many Lithuanian artists supported the idea of S.Dambrauskas and V.Jakis, naming it as an example of a living artistic dialogue. However, the organizers of the Kaunas Biennale continue to stubbornly adhere to the version of vandalism, rejecting their active spectator and the boundaries of any transcendent language to respond to the provocation of art, since it did not receive the necessary permissions. After all, it could have become a great example of lively art planning for other city projects especially in the context of the "European Capital of Culture 2022"! The aforementioned situation gave birth to anecdotal aphorism: "If art requires permission, then it's no longer an art but a biennale." It is absurd that any records on this incident that appeared on the Facebook Biennale page were later erased, as if nothing had happened, preventing further discussion at least in a social networking space. The question is: why then wanted to move art from galleries to cities, into the everyday environment of a man, if the dialogue ended as soon as the audience tried to engage in this dialogue? It is precisely to be actively involved in contemporary art. Kaunas residents who were in the dismay of police were actively involved in defending the public interest by stopping illegal tree cutting in Kaunas by Kaunas Municipality. Now, it seems that in the name of the biennale, they are trying to deal with them as embarrassing citizens. Where does the word "art" come from being
declared in this story? After all, T.Nashi, quelling the Freedom Monument, was waiting for reactions - what will we do about this artistic vandalism? Will we watch? Will you be glad? Do you drink? Will we take action? Is not this an artistic discussion? After all, the artist asked the question by his own works, not the discussion table. Can the viewer not answer him in the same language? I contacted T.Nashi for the incident. The organizers of the Biennale announced themselves to be obliged to inform the artist about it, claiming that his work had been damaged. No comments have been published yet, but it would be very important to hear its own opinion. I hope to quickly get the answer and share it, although legally it will not change the fate of the two Kaunas people. These people are uncomfortable for somebody and the biennial is not in error. FREEDOM OF FREEDOM! After the appearance of the article Kaunas Biennial responded: “Upon appearance of this article, the organizers of the Kaunas Biennale also contacted the portal lrytas.lt. Virginija Vitkienė, the head of the Kaunas Biennial, wrote in her comment: On behalf of the Kaunas Biennale I want to answer the content of the article published on your portal, and its aspects which are tendentiously inaccurate. The author of the article, who is the daughter of a lawyer, Saulius Dambrauskas, one of the actors in this action, calling the actions of the Kaunas Biennale "dealing with unruly citizens". We want to find out the facts related to the description of the installation of Kaunas Biennale artist Tatz Nishi and the reaction and motives of our institution. November 15 In the morning before the beginning of the work, we realized that the construction is described in the inscriptions calling for the liberation of freedom. The notes were a respectable tone, reflecting a citizen's opinion, nothing unheard of, so we discussed whether to leave the notes, or to clear up any possible scripts after leaving the notes. As the biennale of Kaunas during the project period is responsible for the safety of Juozas Zikaras sculpture and the safety of visitors (access to the exposition is at a height of 12 meters), we did not know what the goals were for this action, so we decided to clear the event for registration in the police and the notes. The main reason - we could not promote the continuation of this debate at a height of 12 meters. We were not sure whether the next intervention or the incentive for such notes to continue to discuss the unsafe grip of a gates and barracks at high altitudes would not have even worse consequences - serious injuries, or even vandalism before the sculpture. To find out the circumstances of the event, we asked in a Facebook account, maybe we saw an event, and in the evening we already had a link from the residents of Kaunas to the detailed Init TV report filmed by S. Dambrauskas and V. Jakas. Within a few days, already knowing the participants of the campaign and their position, after the official police request for a case, we replied that "because the damage done is small and it is unlikely that the action was carried out in the hope of harming Z. Liberas sculpture, for which security the Public Biennale of Kaunas is responsible until December 15, we do not demand that the guilty persons be punished for this event in accordance with the law ". Thus, the biennial neither initiated the prosecution of specific individuals nor continued it. Thank you to all civilians. Freedom of ours is worth every single point of view - it's the most expensive thing we have. You can meet with Juozas Zikaras "Freedom" for two more days (the 11th Kaunas Biennium ends on November 30). As planned, in the first days of December, the construction will be demolished, and we will all have something to remember about Freedom. " Read more: https://cultura.lrytas.lt/daile/2017/11/27/news/kauno-bienale-kreipesi-i-policija-delvandalizmo-ar-pagristai--3694741/?