Steps Towards Community Mobilisation: Experiences in Lower Šančiai Geluniene & Carroll Public space in the Soviet realm was held together by a conviction it was collective. The force field of publicness operated between two poles: official control and civic acquiescence. The potency to act collectively delivered 30 millions to imprisonment or death. By contrast, the impotency to act collectively was exemplified by the charade of political parades. Despite the failure of a massive collective experiment, public space remains a puzzle to be solved. It presents a challenge: how to be a person (one) living among others (many). Spinoza, during a time of religious persecution in the Netherlands, came to the view that it was only in the collective that the individual has existence and apart from the collective the freedom of the individual is inconceivable. Yet how can personal agency and publicness merge to build a constituency that values dignity and solidarity in the contemporary Lithuanian context? Šančiai, a name given by the French army in the 19th century and more specifically, Lower (Žemieji) Šančiai, is a unique elderate of Kaunas. Today it is home to 21,000 people. Between WW1 and WW2 and during the Soviets, the neighbourhood was known for its multiple industries and army barracks (built by the Russian Tsar in the 19th Century). After the collapse and economic crisis of the Soviet Union in 1990, factories and barracks closed and became derelict until recently leaving an emerging pattern of poverty causing high migration, and affluence affecting privatisation and gentrification.
We, Geluniene & Carroll, are artists who in 2008 initiated and started leading a cycle of ongoing projects called ‘Friendly Zone’. We live in Šančiai for 20 and 8 years respectively in the wooden family home built by the great grandfather in 1928. Our work in this neighbourhood began as a conscious turn from the artificial institutional borders between art and society towards the lived lives and place of Šančiai community. In 2011 we developed a local inquiry to see if culture can re-connect with publicness through a tactic of opening private space out into a public space. The process was informal but structured with a schedule for work, conversations as well as sharing space and meals.
Our own house at Kranto 18 street served as the research base. An open call for participants was published in advance and external facilitators from Ireland, an art group ‘Vagabond Reviews’ was invited. Investigative journeys through local streets helped the team (Note 1) to gather narratives from local residents and workers. During four days the team listened, divided-up into smaller groups, and gathered pieces of information. The knowledge gathered was mapped together to interpret the lived lives and pulse of the place. At the end a public reception was organised to display the collected narratives. In the house and garden various installations and artefacts were arranged: a hand-drawn map that marked places that evoked emotions; video interviews with local people who spoke about what makes their culture and