KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE 2019 06

KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE

Voyages

Illustration by Ula Rugevičiūtė Rugytė

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Four years ago, Kaunas Biennial managed to shake things up in the hibernating central post office of Kaunas, an interwar beauty designed by Feliksas Vizbaras. It’s quite hard to believe the building has since been back to the sleeping mode when looking at the picture of the biennial opening event. We hope things move on soon, and the building will be full of people and ideas again. You’ll find more relics of previous biennials in the next page. Photo by K. Čyžiūtė.

Isn’t it paradoxical that just a few decades ago an exciting, festive, touching, expensive and painful (if without a return ticket) state of travelling, for many cosmopolitans today is unavoidable and not only appealing but also tiresome? We are talking about the luxury of pausing, listening, feeling, evaluating and only then moving forward. Or backward. To have in mind not only the finish, the last stop but also the very beginning is a necessity if you want for this intermediate stage to become not just another step filtered through Instagram story, but a meaningful experience.

After leaving A little less than two years later, the returning Kaunas Biennial “uses the history of Kaunas as a starting point to explore the wider concept of transition in the context of personal experiences and intergenerational structures,” says the biennial annotation. It can be accepted as a prescription and as a vision, “… the sense of disorientation that accompanies our contemporary existence on a global scale intertwines with the specific sociopolitical realities of nation-building in the New East, where alternative European unions are gradually separating from the regimes of the past. In addition to these historical and geopolitical narratives, … there is a search for more poetic strategies that would help depict and perhaps overcome the state of insecurity. To not get lost in uncertain territory, absurd, mysticism, and humour are used.” At the time of writing this editorial, we already know the date of the opening of the

biennial – June 7. We also know its route – Vytautas Avenue, and we have already talked to a few artists participating in the biennial. However, neither they nor we are planning to mark the final stop.

Two more migrating events of the urban culture are looking for their place in Kaunas this June. These are contemporary circus festival Cirkuliacija, which moved from Šilainiai to Dainava, and theatre festival Namas nr. 2, that will unlock the door of a school in Žaliakalnis. The uncertainty, in both cases, is not only a challenge but also an inspiration.

You will find conversations about this topic in the magazine together with an acquaintance with the future ambassadors of Kaunas from a psychedelic rock world. You will also find the very beginning – a historical analysis of Vytautas Avenue.

Before arriving.

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Although counting its 22 years, Kaunas Biennial continues to reinvent itself and the way it views contemporary art. However, one of the largest events of its kind in the Baltic States was launched in 1997 as a festival focused on the textile art in Kaunas. In June, we welcome the 12th version of Kaunas Biennial, which, in one way or another, will weave itself into the fabric of the city. Just like the others did, with various creative ties and bridges. We have no doubt that quite a few artworks presented in the biennial went to the private collections. And what of these eleven intense periods remained public? Lukas Mykolaitis went around Kaunas with his analogue camera and found four stops worthy of a shot.

Eleven have passed.

What’s left?

Gunars Bakšejevs Photos by Lukas Mykolaitis

Brazilian brothers Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, better known in the art world as Os Gemeos, have Lithuanian blood. They were invited by the biennial a few times and their first visit was immortalized with a bright coloured mural on Kaunas Picture Gallery wall. For more than a decade, the yellow drawing has become the usual background for visitors to Kultūra cafe. And the brothers... Well, three years ago, they decorated the planes for the Rio Olympics.

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Giedrius Bučas, one of the founders of eco-design and Kūrybos kampas 360 workshops is loyal to his principles both at work and at home.

While setting up his home he stylishly recycled other people’s discarded treasures. Giedrius also noticed the details of the 2015 Kaunas Biennial information stand that remained after it was redone. Lunch with contemporary art flavour – any day, please!

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2015 biennial, which filled the Kaunas Central Post Office with art and people has one more relic that has spread quite widely. The artist of the main exhibition Saâdane Afif and then active Kaunas band Candee Train had set up an open rehearsal studio in the post office and recorded an album.

The songs featured in it are based on Saâdane Afif’s texts curated from

all over the world. Everything seems complicated but actually sounds more elegant, dreamy, and phantasmagorical! That is how the album is called Threads: A Fantasmagoria about Distance (The Record). Lukas found it in a record store on Kęstučio Street. Pop by and ask its owner Česlovas Lesevičius about it. He will find it for you.

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The latest relic of 2017 Kaunas Biennial, which very effectively explored the phenomenon of monumentalization, can be found on A. Mapu Street.

There is still a hand-inscribed instruction on the wall of the house marked by the number 11, “My name was Adina. My Father’s name was Samuel. He lived at 12 Ugniagesių Street in Kaunas. But one day in 1941 he was no longer there. He wasn’t anywhere anymore. And my name was changed, to save me. So there is no Adina anymore. Please take a stone and bring it to my father’s door.”

What to do if there are no stones?

The creative team decided to go and get some. In fact, it appeared to be much easier to find pebbles on the river bank than the street mentioned in the inscription.

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The Berlin-based performance and conceptual artist Christian Jankowski (b. 1968) comes from Göttingen, a university city in Lower Saxony, Germany. There aren’t many resemblances between Göttingen and Kaunas, but, while chatting to Jankowski, I found one – it’s basketball. Maybe 5 per cent of residents of Göttingen do not spend their free time in the basketball arena, as we do here in Kaunas, but their basketball team is doing way better than the football team. Basketball was part of the artist’s initial idea for Kaunsa Biennial, and I can’t go any deeper, because the idea wasn’t wholly cancelled – in fact, I hope to see it one day. Anyway, the curators of the biennial asked Christian to have another idea. So, before embarking on the biennial journey, meet Christian Jankowski, international man of art, who’s even capable of dealing with the Vatican.

Christian’s other idea Kotryna Lingienė Photo by Joerg Reichardt

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When you created your first works in the 90s, did you consciously do it as art, or was it just part of your routine that ended up as art?

I first started to paint – I took some classes to learn how to paint and to apply to art schools, and then I had the chance to rent a studio apartment with a shop window. This shop window immediately got my attention. For me, it was not art per se, it was more of a game. The idea of playing with the audience, playing with private and public, leaving marks behind or signs, putting something on display that is art and not art. I recognised later that some of it could be seen as art. My knowledge and my definitions of art got a bit wider while visiting art school. I wasn’t accepted there, but I went to some of the lectures. I wasn’t so aware of performance art before, but I learned about Viennese Actionism, Joseph Beuys, Marina Abramović etc. This was something that suddenly fell together with the medium of video, and I could rent a video camera in the school. It got really exciting.

Did art critics accept you from the very beginning?

As I have already told you, I was not accepted into art schools, and I got many letters saying I have no talent and better study something else. And then I found myself with this shop window, and I was somehow bypassing all of these power structures that tell you what something is and that you won’t be successful. It was the daily news journalists that found me.

The first performance that got their attention was Die Jagd, or The Hunt when I shot everyday consumption goods with a bow in a supermarket.

This came into a notion of a Hamburg newspaper, and they put a big picture of me, and wrote: “Artist eats only what he shoots”. Later I did The

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Shamebox, where I asked passersby to sit in the shop window and show signs about why they feel ashamed for themselves, and then I made photographs, and then it was in the Spiegel, which is a respectful German paper.

Newspapers called it happening art.

Then I was invited to talk shows, and they labelled me a performance artist. I believe after the Spiegel publication, some curators showed up, and they wanted to see my work.

How do you feel when a person recognizes that he or she does not get what you wanted to say?

I also don’t always know what I want to say. If I did, I wouldn’t have to make art. Art is something that goes beyond language, many times for me, it has been about reflecting a situation or trying to make an image that I have not seen. It may offend people, it might be interesting for them, or it may bore them. I think if you cannot make it clear interpretation immediately about an image, it’s okay because by that it stimulates discussion and questions your own judgment.

When an image irritates, it starts making you think, it shouldn’t pass by like a sweet perfume.

It’s interesting to hear if your works influence one another is that like an avalanche of ideas?

Everything Fell Together, first a book defining circular art practice, where the process becomes the creation, then an exhibition in Liverpool bearing the same name, kind of suggests they do.

I don’t really have a master plan that I do one thing in a blue phase, and then I go to an orange phase. Many times It’s the art historians who create the categorizations. But when sometimes I am looking at my works in a retrospective, I feel that many times they form a sentence. They are words with their own meanings, but

Casting Jesus, a project you did in Rome in 2011, was probably the most intriguing for me. Not only you decided to cast an actor who resembles Jesus the most, but you got help from actual representatives of the Vatican. That’s an excellent example of diplomacy. I guess it wouldn’t be possible in Lithuania, maybe because we tend to present ourselves as bigger Catholics than we actually are. Anyway, are there any topics you wouldn’t touch?

Topics are just topics, it depends on what you make out of them. I would not do a commercial for neo-nazis, of course, but to touch political issues or conflicts is interesting. It has happened with works like “Heavy Weight History” in 2013, where you have a complicated relationship between Poland and Germany, and then you have war memorials, and you have weightlifters carrying them up. It was stimulating a discussion not only in Poland but even in Germany when they suddenly wanted to cut my funding from the Ministry of Culture. They said, “It’s too hot we don’t want to play with fire in Poland, we don’t want you to touch these war memorials”.

OK, let’s talk about Kaunas Biennial. Your work will kind of be starting it in Vilnius already, as your piece “We would like to ask you to have another idea” will be exhibited on billboards on the highway to Kaunas. Not talking about your original idea, it’s still interesting to know how you felt when it was rejected.

I was quite sad. Since curating Manifesta, I know that making a biennial is quite a political act and that many people are not precisely in the position of artists who want to provoke. Some people fear too quickly and underestimate the audience. It’s similar to TV people that make programs, and they think all the stories have to be simple; otherwise, we have no observers. I did have a plan for my idea to work, but it wasn’t followed by the team, and it’s understandable, there are other artists in the biennial that need attention.

Do you think your piece can attract more visitors to the biennial?

First of all, it’s not meant to be an advertisement for the biennial. The whole project consists of two parts; one is more the performative and the second one is more reflective. I was a situation of an observer by using the excuse for the request to come up with another idea. So, I am just a driver of the car in the highway, and then there’s this big request to come up with a new idea, right, okay… Then you work very hard, and you have a new idea, and then you see the second billboard, and then you have to restart all over again. In the exhibition context in Kaunas, I would like the show one photograph. By the way, I recently learned that you cannot use English words on billboards in Lithuania.

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You have also worked as a curator. Did that in any way change or interfere with your art? Do you like consuming as much art as possible, or do you avoid it?

I like to see the art of other people sometimes; it’s not harmful to see it because if you see something not appealing, you pass by, you are not forced to stand there forever. It's essential to get a bit of orientation about what’s happening today or what happened before – it can be a good inspiration for things you make yourself. It doesn't help to be isolated.

But they didn’t ban you?

No, they just didn’t give me the money at first.

christianjankowski.com

a new one appears if you put them in a sentence.

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Trains, planes, motorways – all these modern things facilitate not only travel but also communication. Imagine, in ancient times, people who wanted to get to know the world could only rely on magic flying carpets to do so.

Of course, I am joking, but I am also pleased to talk about this fantastical means of transportation in the issue inspired by the topic of this year’s Kaunas Biennial.

Between Šančiai and Sremska Mitrovica Gunars Bakšejevs Photo by Dainius Ščiuka

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Sonja listening to a story about a trip to Yugoslavia. Photo by Vykintas Bliumkys

MagiC Carpets is a four-year international project led by Lithuania represented by Kaunas Biennial. The project brings together local communities and emerging artists for joint artistic activities. In the first year of the project, 20 residencies were completed and 22 emerging artists, 41 local artists and 16 different local communities included. Now, that the second year of the project has started, two artists connected with the project are visiting Kaunas and their works will be presented at the biennial. Ana Kovačic from Croatia is interested in Tadas Ivanauskas, so there will be opportunities to visit his homestead in Obelynė, and Sonja Jo from Serbia has parked her creative carpet in Šančiai.

As an artist, she is interested in the meeting of capitalism with communism, and this tête-à-tête is especially evident in the industrial areas.

After all, Šančiai has more faces than just decaying factory walls.

We planned to meet Sonja, who is visiting Kaunas for the second time, in Šančiai and talk while taking a walk, but the tropically stormy May Friday threatened to shower us, thus we remained in the city centre. “It is fine, I spend all my days in Šančiai anyway, I walk there by the river, from Kęstutis

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Street,” says the Serbian artist and jokes that in doing so she tries to combine artistic practice and exercise.

The 27-year-old Sonja graduated from sculpture studies at the Novi Sad Academy of Fine Arts, where she now is a lecturer. The academy’s the most famous lecturer of all times is Marina Abramović. Sonja admits that Abramovič is not only the bestknown Serbian artist in the world but also the most influential person in contemporary Serbian art. My new acquaintaince introduces herself as a resident of Sremska Mitrovica, a town located close to Novi Sad. Novi Sad is famous for its Exit festival and the fact that in 2021 it will become the European Capital of Culture, although Sonja said that people in her academy don’t talk much about it. So, what interests her in Šančiai?

It is interesting that there are Aukštieji (high) and Žemieji (low) Šančiai, which somehow represents not only the social but also a geographical divide between the privileged and the factory workers during the years of occupation. The residential architecture there is interesting, as well as factories. Their facades are incorporating bricks from several

The Serbs did not experience this occupation but they had dictator Tito, and the collapse of Yugoslavia, which took place when Lithuania was enjoying its restored independence, spilt a lot of blood in the Balkans.

Therefore, when we start talking about the fact that 2019 is actually the 100th anniversary of Kaunas as the temporary capital of Lithuania and we are trying to learn good things from this very productive period of our city, Sonja says that Serbs did not have such inspiring ‘golden age’. History is a painful topic for conversations but that is the reason why it is so interesting for art.

Sonja is optimistic about the future of her artistic practice, that is, she sees the great value in such projects as MagiC Carpets (she accidentally heard about it from her friend Dejan Jankov) and its influence on future works, residencies, and trips. It is pleasing to know that the carpet woven by Lithuanians has already gained international value. And it is somehow disappointing that the Serbian artist doesn’t see her future as an artist in her homeland. All that, according to her, is because of the political climate, and the people in power who disregard the citizens’ visions and needs. However, Sonja still doesn’t know where the magical art carpet will take her. After returning home from Lithuania, she plans to spend all summer in Sava River on her boat and reflect on what to do next. Between start and finish, just like us in Kaunas, where Raketa ferry boat returned to Nemunas from the past. This highspeed blend of communism and capitalism could also become an object of art, couldn’t it?

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It is interesting to explore the current tempo of Šančiai and also meet the locals and find out how they remember their work in Šančiai factories and how are they feeling right now.

The artist says that great discussions took place in the library, personal memories were shared about wives met in the factories, various celebrations, too. All that helped to shape that glocal image of Šančiai and then make an installation consisting of two parts – in Šančiai and in Kaunas Picture Gallery. The part in Šančiai is a mix of personal stories conveyed through various means of expression, inviting to clear your memory and the part in Picture Gallery is an interdisciplinary question: how ideology and the rhetoric used by politicians affect us in long term. The installation is also a prescription for recovery from the nostalgia for old times when everyone had bread and work. Nostalgia can be charming, but not always healthy, especially when remembering the real everyday life under the Soviet occupation.

The residents of the ‘old’ Europe as well as the US, who are searching for something exotic, often speak of – and especially in the context of travelling – about the Eastern Bloc that seized to exist several decades ago. Even behind the curtain, we saw Balkans as overseas with all the exotics and advantages of the concept. Sonja was glad to have met one special respondent during her meeting with Šančiai community. An older man told her a story of how he, during Soviet occupation, travelled to Yugoslavia to sell things and earned some dollars. And if we looked for similarities between Baltics and the Balkans, the artist mentions that she finds Lithuanians as relaxed as Serbs.

And that is quite a compliment.

behance.net/JoSonja

historic periods as if it were historical capital, and capital exists in any regime, the only question is in whose hands?

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“Managing the circumstances in a random economy,” that is how Vilnius-based Robertas Narkus defines his practice. Is he an artist? Well, of course, but also a follower of a pseudo-scientific philosophy – ‘pataphysics and we can’t say which of those things he is more.

Robertas is bringing something Vilnius-like (but also very international) to Kaunas Biennial or more precisely to the heart of Vytautas Avenue, the old cemetery turned into a park – lamps from Vilnius Airport. They will be used to construct a gazebo, and electricity is expected to be lent by the residents of the neighbouring districts.

I do not exclude the possibility that, when you read this conversation, the concept will become more apparent.

Migrating from the train station to the Picture Gallery – the two main points of this year’s biennial – you should not get too tired and now, there is one more reason to stop by Serenity Park on this biennial route.

A world without failure Kotryna Lingienė Photos by Mantas HeadShooter Gudzinevičius

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Vėlesnysis „Tresto“ periodas. Autorius nežinomas.

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Reading your CV, I can see all the essential contemporary art spots: CAC in Vilnius, Kim? in Riga, Whitechapel Gallery in London, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

And then there’s a park in Kaunas. Is this location in line with your artistic practice?

A park is a meeting place where a person is trying to cultivate and organize the nature that isn’t subordinate to him; to shape bushes, make water flow in fountains and plant the flowers as he likes or finds trendy at the time. Perhaps artworks in such context reinforce that human supremacy or maybe, on the contrary, reveal the common beginning of human and cosmic creation. So, the park is one of the first art institutions that was there before the birth of contemporary museums. However, your question is twofold, as is my relationship with art institutions that legitimize and say that, here you are already an artist with your resume, and what you are doing is a work of art. My exhibitions began in gateways, then there was a park, a bar, a limousine...

Only after I started to do things without the help of institutions, the desire to create instead of building a career returned. Although now, I am mostly presenting my work in normal exhibitions, my work is much broader and sometimes hardly transferable to an art centre. I am continually dealing with an inner conflict – on the one hand, I think of the artist as an inventor, who must be a progressive, partial citizen, and on the other hand, I want to lock myself in a studio, play, be selfish and not try to change the world.

I would also like to talk about ‘pataphysics. I read that you once said to yourself that on the first Sunday of the upcoming month you will travel to Kaunas T. Ivanauskas Museum of Zoology and meet someone

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there who will dictate to you what you should do next. What made you chose this starting point? Why not, for example, the Hill of Crosses in Šiauliai or the Clock Museum in Klaipėda?

Basically, I ask whether everything is going according to plan? I am a lifestyle artist looking for easy solutions, I want for everything I do to flow as smooth as water and I try to follow this principle consistently.

Even when I work on projects that sometimes require extraordinary effort, I try not to sweat. I don’t want to contradict my will, whether it be fate or clay, I want to discover channels, weak spots, cavities, and winds. I am fortunate. In 2012, I decided to prove that; that my artistic success is nothing but a random string of events, so, I told myself that this year will be the experiment of fate which I called Dvylika su puse šanso (Twelve and a half chances). Each month I initiated an event that in total became examples of this experiment. I had never been to this particular museum. In it, I met a shoemaker who made me shoes and next month I opened a shoe shop in Helsinki, and so on, and so forth. My life has radically changed in a year. I must publish a self-help book! I started to use coincidences, and that’s how I ended up in Paris, at the Collège de ‘Pataphysique. ‘Pataphysics is the science of imaginary solutions, a hermetic academic subculture that seeks to reveal the grand theory of human, well more like intergalactic, foolishness. Chance, coincidence, serendipity, clinamen are a few of many essential discourses in this philosophy. When looking for answers, I found more than I expected, and I ended up in a stream that took me to some strange waters that are not that easy to leave now.

Serenity Park is the name given to the old cemetery of the city

Trust in Kaunas is an original work touching upon other questions; nevertheless, it is also about knowledge and agreement.

during the period of occupation. Which of these terms, do you think, is more appropriate in the 21st century Kaunas: park or cemetery?

I continuously marvel at my superficiality and ignorance. How fast the cemetery (without any trace) can turn into a park! As you might have noticed, artworks in my creative process are often a side effect. My life splashes like ink and falls on places or people, maybe accidentally or maybe according to plan. I don’t think there is any peace in Serenity Park, it seems to me, it is a place that is looking for answers and does not want to be forgotten. I want to build a gazebo, a rotunda out of the airport runway lighting system which will illuminate not only the trees, the sward but also the past and maybe the future of the park.

This place is exciting historically because several confessions were co-living in the area under the order of the government. Now you are bringing a little piece of the capital to it. Are you interested in how Vilnius and Kaunas are trying to get along? Is there any artistic fire in that conflict that’s relatively supported by basketball?

The project is titled Dependance. It is a combination of two words: to depend and to dance. For the Lithuanian title, I chose the word Trust. This project has the ambition of joining and revealing the connection between all of us and each and every one of us. In the discotheque of the universe, we are all connected in the deathly dance, but it is not a struggle – if we want to continue, we must learn to rely on each other. The division between Kaunas and Vilnius does not exist, just like cosmopolitanism. You can’t take away anyone’s self, so there is no need to worry that much. The ice caps are melting, and if nations want to survive, they cannot panic, lock themselves or hide in the basement.

They need to start searching for new ways to stay above water; therefore culture, art politics, and soft power are important as ever. We are afraid of unfamiliar, and we will always see the ‘other’, a stranger, be it a different religion, a minority, a riff-raff or an intellectual. We are afraid of the enemy who might jump out of the bush, but these are primal instincts we must overcome. And as far as cultural fire, I don’t know, it would be fantastic if two scenes could be defined as different; which would compete with each other like basketball teams but using ideas. Therefore, I support amateur art, elitist art, political art and art that does not care about anything.

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Did you take the lamps from the airport with a specific vision in mind or just because it’s a fascinating object? And also: when you were invited by Kaunas Biennial, were you aware right away that you will use them and only needed to find where exactly?

This idea has prehistory. I worked with the lightbulbs in another project, but it didn’t work out, so when I met the curators of Kaunas Biennial, I already had a suggestion that corresponded perfectly to the issues raised by it. I wanted to build the non-national pavilion out of the airport lightbulbs in

Your long-term project in Vilnius, Naujamiestis, is the Artists’ day centre Autarkia. How is it doing?

I am interested in the concept itself. Daycare centres are usually created for children, sick people, and other sensitive social groups.

Does such terminology signify that artists need care?

Everything there is going according to plan. Artists’ day centre is a term that emphasizes efforts to discover a different work model. Many galleries are empty when it isn’t an exhibition opening day. But there is always life in Autarkia, you can meet many different people. Its restaurant Delta Mityba employs artists. Sometimes they really need support, safe environment and like-minded people. Yes, it is a kindergarten without a teacher. We are not a collective, everyone has their own opinions, and that is probably where our strength lies.

After two years of work and various events, we opened the first exhibition in May that features sixty artists. You should definitely come to see it; it will run until the end of September.

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How essential for you to is the opinion of random people about your work rather than other artists or old-timers of the realm of culture?

I feel sad when someone thinks that what I do is somehow incomprehensible. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a fellow professional or a random viewer. Being an artist always means being in one or another opposition, living differently than many other people. On the one hand, we respect artists for their courage to have a different opinion, but at the same time, we lynch them for that with great pleasure.

Venice Biennial, in the Giardini Park, and to extend the electric cables, like diplomatic ties, from the nearby ongoing Polish, Brazilian and Greek pavilions. There is no failure in my world, simply, one event leads to another. I am delighted to have given up a place for a project that brought the Gold Lion to Lithuania. Maybe it’s not wise to talk about it, perhaps it’s bad public relations, perhaps I shouldn’t mention it in the interview, I don’t care. We are a fiercely competitive, overly ambitious and progressive society, which leads to an imaginary forefront, yet, in a new epoch we will have to learn how to lose. Trust in Kaunas is an original work touching upon other questions; nevertheless, it is also about knowledge and agreement.

robertasnarkus.com

Have you already had the chance to talk to the neighbours of the park about electricity? How do they see you – will they share it with you or you’ll have to get a generator?

Electricity is only one form of energy. I believe it will be possible to get it.

And everyone else who wants to meet and express their opinion – I encourage you to do so. I am not planning on gathering a community like (excuse me for the silly metaphor) a light bulb, but the light attracts life, and I believe a crowd will gather around Trust.

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More than a year ago, Renata Bartusevičiūtė and Paulina Nešukaitytė posted an advertisement on Facebook that they were looking for a home. Not for living or an office but for a festival. A theatre one. The women received more proposals than they could have hoped for and the festival Namas nr. 1 settled in V. Putvinskio Street, in a house that was once home of Tarabildos family whose members were artists and after several years it was bought by the family of Tomas Biržietis, head of a nearby P. Mažylis maternity clinic.

Namas nr. 2 is quite different. But it will be better if Renata and Paulina themselves will tell us more about the idea of a travelling festival and what we will do in a former school in Žaliakalnis on June 15 – July 10.

Many of the performances are foreigner friendly, so do not hesitate to visit them if you don’t speak Lithuanian.

A theatre in every house Kotryna Lingienė Photos by Elijus Kniežauskas

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Renata: We met in 2016 or 2017, during Žaliakalnis market theatre festival. We worked together, shared the same views, and then we started to think about a joint project. In the first year, we did not have a form: we wanted something, but we were not sure what exactly. One thing was clear though, we were both attracted to non-traditional, inclusive, interactive and site-specific theatre. One autumn evening, we were looking for an idea that would have potential and could grow into a long-term project. I was inspired by the head of Kaunas 2022 Virginija Vitkienė’s words, “A gallery in every yard.” Then I thought – perhaps a theatre in each home? Such a concept for the festival seemed unlimited.

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First of all, it would be interesting to learn how did Renata and Paulina duo form. Did you decide to organize a theatre festival after you met each other or you brought this wish individually?

Paulina: I remember that time very well when we met to develop the idea, and everything went so smoothly and simply that it seemed that the festival had already been organized. We just had to decide if we're doing it. We agreed very readily on the idea, the name, the program and, most importantly, all the artists we wanted to invite, reacted to our invitation not only positively but also promptly.

There was a market theatre festival in Žaliakalnis, and now, after the last year’s stop at V. Putvinskio Street, you are coming to a school in this area. Did you wish to return to Žaliakalnis, or is it a coincidence?

Renata: A true coincidence. First of all, we came up with a festival topic,

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decided on the direction. We did not have a specific school in mind. At first, we were looking at other institutions, both closed and operational. Only at the very last moment did we remember the closed school of V. Bacevičius.

It is a chamber environment with a rich and long history - perfect for our festival.

Paulina: Namas nr. 1 was not too far from Žaliakalnis. When we were looking at the history of the house on V. Putvinskio Street, we got acquainted with Tarabildos family life, which was closely related to Žaliakalnis. It seems that we are unable to move away from this neighbourhood.

The closing of V. Bacevičius school was a painful process that left many people hurt. Are you afraid of negative opinions about the event that hasn’t occurred yet?

Renata: As I mentioned before, this year's festival was born before we started looking for a specific space.

We looked at some former schools, we picked one and asked about the rent.

We were glad that Kaunas municipality agreed to rent it for a month when the building is empty, and nothing is taking place in it. We are not connected in any way with the closing of the school. No matter the fate of this school, we are glad that the festival will become a short historical flash in the history of this building.

Paulina: I agree with Renata. The hundred-year-old V. Bacevičius school building is special and we don’t know what awaits it in the future. I think that the site-specific theatre festival in this situation is a charming opportunity to immortalize the historic Kaunas building while it stands empty and unused.

Centrinis Vekšės parkas.

Mats Samuelsson nuotr.

Theatre can change your life.

What do you and the artists think about when you research this historic building?

Renata: This year, more attention is paid to the school’s function than to the history of the building itself. Of course, the context of the architecture and its history is essential this year as well, but not as much as last year, when the idea of the premiere itself was about the lives of the people living in it. This year we are talking about learning to know a non-traditional theatre, perhaps for the first time seeing and participating in an interactive performance that does not take place in an actual theatre. As a result, the program consists not only of performances but also of creative activities for children and theatre professionals, during which they will also learn how to create such theatre, will get acquainted with techniques and methods of the immersive theatre.

Paulina: We inform the arriving artists about the history of the school because it is crucial for the site-specific theatre artists to be aware of the context in which they perform since it adjusts the performance itself.

What lessons did you learn last year on Putvinskio Street? I am interested in both artistic and theatrical experiences and the nuances of real life intruding into a small space and staying there for a short period.

Paulina: The creative and organizational process of site-specific theatre is always a process of artistic research. When trying to get to know the context of the house, its history, we spent a lot of time (and the experience was exciting and vibrant) with the current owners as well as Tarabildos family and neighbours.

Gradually every centimetre of the house spoke. We know where Tarabildos family slept, where Tarabildienė’s desk stood, and which corner of the house was a gathering spot for the bohemians of the time. The most touching moment was when the festival ended, and we needed to move out... Now the house is special. When passing by, it breathes not only its story, the memories of its former residents and future plans of its current inhabitants but also recollections about the organization of the festival and development of the play. You know, when you rent a flat and live in it for some time, it always remains in the memory as somewhat your own, and you always care about its current condition. This is the case with the house on V. Putvinskio 5 as if it is somewhat ours, we care about its condition.

Renata: When we started looking for a house, we really believed that we will find one, although there were some sceptics, wondering if anyone will want to let us in. Maybe it was beginner’s luck. I was touched

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the kindness of Biržiečiai family. On the other hand, I sometimes think that such spaces have a certain aura to attract the required people.

After all, the current owner Tomas Biržietis is dreaming about setting up a doll museum next to the living spaces.

The festival team, as well as the artists, face challenges in a new space that is not adapted to the theatre.

On the one hand, one must find solutions that respond to that space, on the other hand, the uniqueness of that space and the search for solutions often are part of a tremendous creative path. The shortness of the festival and the involvement of the local context and the people creates a strong sense of community. After all, the festival is only taking its first steps: last year we had invited one foreign troupe, and this year we have three. We see that people are curious. If the viewer has never participated in such a performance, he/she leaves with a smile and sometimes without fully understanding what had just happened here. However, I

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truly recommend everyone to visit and participate in at least a few of such performances. It is very different from what we are used to seeing in a traditional theatre.

How do foreign artists appear on the festival program? How do you make connections and keep in touch? Do you think Kaunas has a good name in the international world of theatre?

Renata: So far, I see two strong directions in the context of this festival. First, there are the artists we have encountered and had various experiences with before: we worked together, participated in their performances, workshops. If they cannot participate, we have mutual trust, and they recommend other troupes and artists because they know what you are looking for and what might fit. The second part is to simply look online for people who are making this specific theatre, to check the programs of similar festivals and then choose the things that interest us and would correspond to

How does the lack of a permanent location inspire you as organizers? Perhaps the format of the festival is an excellent way to escape the daily routine? Are you even experiencing that routine?

Renata: Such inspiration is quite peculiar in the context of Kaunas.

The discussion about non-traditional theatre or only a theatre space where independent artists could create is always alive and pulsating.

The absence of this space is an open wound not only for the people that work in theatre but also to those who are interested in it and love it.

Not having a place in the context of the festival forces us to look at the situation somewhat ironically – ok, we don’t need such a place, theatre can wander around the city, it can be anywhere. But that’s not the case, it’s not true. The need for such a space is unquestionable. In this sense, the cultural field of Kaunas is destitute.

If we moved away from the local context, having no place opens up not only new challenges but also inspires a lot. The topics dictate spaces and vice versa. But this is not merely a game of locations. We want to invite people to get acquainted with this kind of theatre who have

never participated in such a performance. And if we went further: I often hear from young people, my students, who are studying creative industries and will be directly related to the art field, that they don't go to the theatre because they don’t understand it. It is boring, irrelevant and does not draw you in.

And I do understand them. Traditional theatre lives its life. There is an audience that adores it, loves it and draws inspiration and wisdom from it as well as having cathartic experiences; they enjoy dramatic directorial theatre that you can safely observe from the chair. But all this needs a counterweight. I first participated in a performance of immersive theatre company Punchdrunk titled The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable 8 years ago in London. The experience was so strong, suggestive and memorable that upon returning home I right away applied for the masters in theatre criticism, even though I already had diplomas in journalism, photography and culture management. I wanted to understand what happened there, what words would help me describe the experience.

Such experiences simply change your life. Theatre can change your life. So, I really wish to contribute, at least in part, to the spread of such theatre in Kaunas.

Paulina: I think we all have a routine of some sort. But if you can maintain a childish view of the world, then it will never draw you in. You might not even notice it. I believe it was the late Lithuanian actor Saulius Mykolaitis who would say, “Observe and marvel” and if that is how you view the world than even waking up at the same time for a hundred years and looking out the same window will seem different every day.

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the festival topic. Then we have to get in touch with the troupes and wait for a positive answer. Of course, this always poses some risks, you must rely on the recorded video footage, critical reviews, and comments. This method is fascinating and is done as research – quite a few performances were discovered like that and put in a drawer for the future. You can see common trends, places that repeat in the work of various troupes, kind of suggesting the new venues for the festival.

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If Kaunas Biennial this year is launched at the railway station and invites to meditate the intermediate state, turning it into an artistic process, then, contemporary circus festival Cirkuliacija could be compared to the journey worthy of Mad Max movie. In an unpredictable and very powerful speeding car. Destination?

This year it is Dainava. The festival, which visited Šilainiai last year, does not want to stay in one place and let’s agree – there are many districts and neighborhoods in Kaunas that really need a circus tent. Only they might not be aware of the need, and it’s scary when you don’t know something. This time we talk about the fear and pleasure of traveling by plane when you dare to look into the eyes of uncertainty, with clowns Džilda and Rožė – the newcomers of Cirkuliacija festival – perhaps known to some people from the organization RED NOSES Clown Doctors. In the performance Flight GR20190614, they will turn into flight attendants named Grilda and Raža. Džilda is Indrė Mickevičiūtė-Petrauskienė, and Rožė is Justė Liaugaudė. Their performance (free of charge) will be shown in Dainava on the 14th of June.

Flight to the unknown of Dainava Gunars Bakšejevs Photos by DJ YUNG ŽIŽEK

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Hey there! First of all, how did you become clowns?

Justė: It is my main job and also joy, only currently, I am on maternity leave. Eight years ago, I was invited to a clown workshop. I didn’t know anything about it, but it sounded like fun as well as noble. After four intense days of work, we had to visit the hospital and apply the acquired knowledge, to put it simply, share the joy with children, parents and hospital staff.

It was a very special experience that none of the participants wanted to let go of. So, the whole team decided to continue visiting children’s hospitals and look for opportunities together to learn this genre and create a tradition of professional clownery in Lithuania.

This was the very beginning of RED NOSES Clown Doctors. Currently, the organization unites a group of professionally trained actors – clowns who are constantly improving their skills and knowledge in international clown seminars and visit children in hospitals, special schools, sanatoriums. And a bit more than a year ago they started to visit senior citizens as well.

Indrė: I participated in the audition, was selected and since then have been with the organization for six years. I am an actress, so I am always happy to have the opportunity to create roles in theatre, TV and participate in other creative projects. Everything related to the profession gives me great pleasure.

And now, after taking time off to raise two babies, I have truly missed it.

How did you find yourself in Cirkuliacija? As I understand, none of you is from Kaunas. Did you get acquainted with Dainava neighborhood? What do you think about it and what do you expect?

Justė: I have always dreamt about clownery but kept postponing it un-

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til one time, I realized that there’s nothing to wait for, we just need to create and show it. I shared my idea with the head of Cirkuliacija festival, Gildas Aleksa. Fortunately, he was very supportive of us and included us in the festival program. Then, I realized that we cannot retreat now; even now, while talking about it, I feel pleasantly thrilled and enthusiastic.

Hence, we are on the right track.

I am from Jonava myself, although I have been living in Vilnius for quite some time. And I have never fully discovered Kaunas, although it is a city located nearby. I don’t know Dainava neighborhood at all and I wonder what awaits us there. I prefer not to expect things because when you do, practically everything turns out the opposite. We will travel with open hearts and welcome the uncertainty, which is very important in clownery. The festival travels to people and clowns also can’t live without people, so the very idea of the festival is very close to how we see things.

Indrė: Many of my relatives live in Kaunas – it is my mother’s hometown – but I have never visited Dainava. So, we will kill two birds with one stone: we will finally present the rough draft of the clownery play and get acquainted with Dainava neighborhood. Wonderful!

Red Noses are known and loved for helping children get better and for working in specific places, i.e. hospitals. Is Flight your first performance outside the hospital walls?

Indrė: There have been attempts to present the organization in a public space but it is our first time presenting a play independently from the organization. I often joke that two mothers want to be on the stage.

The metaphor of flight in art and life is very common. I wonder what does it exactly mean to you? Perhaps you want to tell the kids that they should not fear change while growing up, in terms of school, friends and home? Or is it something completely different?

It’s an action that breaks any kind of norms and standards.

And well, the feeling is exactly like before a real flight – you want it, but you are also scared and at the same time interested to see what will happen; you can’t sleep but also happy to finally ascend.

Justė: With Indrė we have participated in a number of Emergency smile missions in Ukraine. Their purpose was to emotionally support refugee communities through circus and the beauty of clownery. We had to face a few challenges together.

This experience only strengthened our partnership. And it is easy to dive into the unknown with such partner. In addition, a time comes when you want to try something new, to expand your limits, change the environment you usually work in. And you do all that to keep the art alive and to become a better artist.

Justė: This idea came to me unexpectedly. I thought about what I wanted to say in the play and understood that it is best to talk about what you feel at the moment. And at the time I felt a fear of starting something new but at the same time a lot of enthusiasm. It is like an internal flight to new challenges, which are likely to bring you many beautiful things but there is always anxiety before the ascension and sometimes it prevails, postponing the flights for the future.

In addition, I had to travel a lot and all the flights would give me similar feelings. Each jolt on the plane would be accompanied by tension. I would then search for the supportive gazes that could calm me down. I believe many people experience that and I never joke about flying because ’what if’? Therefore, clownery is a great way for all of us to face our fears, laugh and let go of them. The play is recommended for everyone from 7 years old. it is always nice to act for children but this time we don’t want to forget the adults – they should also be able to experience the joy of clownery.

Indrė: For me personally, a flight is about facing yourself, your fear. I deal with it slowly, but anxiety is still there. So, if there is anyone that could hold my hand, I will grab it.

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By the way, why is it a flight rather than a train or boat trip?

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Maybe we will be that hand to someone. We want to say that you are not alone on that flight. You are not the only one who is afraid or feeling unsafe; you are not the only one scared of leaving your comfort zone.

Clownery is a great way to look at all that with humor. Another important thing is meeting people – there are so many strangers on the plane and it is so much fun observing them.

And when you’re a clown, you are able not only to observe but to approach them boldly and forthrightly.

Indrė: Not sensing the ground under your feet is a great state. Many unexpected situations and reactions might happen and they can surprise us. Why not spend some time in the clouds, dream and laugh together?

I have already managed to talk about your play with the head of Cirkuliacija, Gildas Aleksa. He said that you were worried because clownery is not rehearsed without the audience! How did you manage to solve this issue?

Justė: Yes, it is very difficult to create a clownery performance without the audience. It’s as if you were doing something while blindfolded – you don’t know if you’re on the right track. So, we film our rehearsals, show the videos to our friends and also invite people to our rehearsals that help us think about the further creative process. Therefore, this performance will be created together with the audience and the first real viewers will be waiting for us in Dainava neighborhood in Kaunas.

Do you find children to be the best audience for you? Or, perhaps, they are the most difficult

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one because you cannot fake anything in front of them?

Indrė: There are probably still people there who think that performances for children are simple.

Why bother? it is not serious, you don’t have to immerse yourself fully into acting. Wrong. After visiting so many children in hospitals and seeing how they absorb the stories and take you with an open heart, you can’t just do things without any effort, you must give yourself fully.

They are a wonderful audience because they are very open. By the way, I would say that our audience consists of children and parents. After all, a minor needs a guardian when traveling on the plane. Therefore, we invite children with their parents to fly and laugh together and to simply be in a moment.

Justė: In clownery, you cannot play– act neither in front of children nor in front of adults. If you did, you would be lying to yourself and the viewer. Yes, children are more open, they can tell you quickly what they like and what they dislike. And older viewers are not inclined to open up so fast. You need to be very attentive to really understand what they actually feel and not what they display they’re feeling.

You are both new moms. Did you start seeing children differently as actors and clowns after giving birth?

Indrė: I became more sensitive and understanding. Before, I did not take many things into consideration when I visited children in hospitals.

Now, when I return home after visiting them, I always hug and kiss my children and tell them I love them. Sometimes you really see difficult situations and now that I have

Justė: Motherhood has provided me with a deeper understanding of a small child. And acting as a clown for such audience has given me greater freedom to try different ways to approach the child. I also understand parents sitting next to their sick babies better. So, maternity has given me more playful freedom and self–confidence.

How would you evaluate the contemporary circus scene in Lithuania, do you feel part of it?

Justė: I am very glad such new circus festivals like Cirkuliacija in Kaunas or New Circus Weekend in Vilnius are taking place. They are growing and getting stronger, changing public attitudes towards the circus, showing its broadness and versatility, changing its traditional

perception. It is worth mentioning the Circus Association founded a year ago. It was done by young Lithuanian artists who studied different circus disciplines abroad and who know that different circus can also have its audience in Lithuania. I feel that we also belong to the Lithuanian circus community only our scene is very specific. Previously, we were only seen by those who are in hospitals or other socially sensitive places.

Now we have a great chance to be seen by a wider audience.

What would you recommend to circus skeptics whose opinion about it is, most likely, formed by traumatic experiences in childhood?

Justė: The key is to be open to innovation. The circus is no longer how it was back in our childhood. It’s an action that breaks any kind of norms and standards.

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become a mother, they affect me harder than before.

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The young psychedelic rock band Flash Voyage (Regimantas Visockis, Germanas Daškevičius, Karolis Pročkys ir Rytis Baranauskas) from Kaunas will have one of the best summers: 17 concerts, 5 festivals, debut album and its presentation gigs.

You’re looking for the world, looking for yourself and you return to Kaunas Paulina Kuzmickaitė Photos by Donatas Stankevičius Shot at the VMU Kaunas Botanical Garden

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The music video of their first hit already has 850 thousand views on YouTube, and when you read the comments under it, it seems that the band is capable of raising strong emotions and increasing the ranks of its fans:

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Milda Deltuvaitė “Guys, I heard you for the first time before King Krule’s gig. You brought me back to summer shortly <3 It’s awesome what you’re doing, don’t stop! And go to Spotify already.”

Cheri On Top “best anti-anxiety meds <3” Jurgita “Wow, how come I discover this masterpiece only now? Loving the chill vibes <3” This spring, Flash Voyage was invited to become the ambassador of Kaunas European Capital of Culture 2022, to tune in to the activities of the organization and spread the message about the cultural-communal initiatives of Kaunas. The ambassadors’ program, which started even before the official announcement that Kaunas will become a cultural attraction in 2022, unites leaders of various fields – not only Kaunas residents – who wish to represent the city in the context of the European Capital of Culture.

We aim to bring them closer to the activities of the organization and allow them to feel the process of the project.

“We had the opportunity to go to Vilnius, but we want to raise the music scene here, in our hometown.

It is not good when everything is concentrated in one city. It seems to me that the revival of Kaunas that we are experiencing now can be an inspiring example to other cities,”

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The Capital of Culture is also like a journey of the whole city.

Regimantas Visockis, the band’s vocalist says.

Praise to Kaunas The band members admit that the image of the city was much sadder in the past. “It was scary to go out into the street; people were afraid to stand out – to dress in colourful clothing or have different hair because one could have experienced many angry glances and even an offer to get “punched in the face”.

“The more alternative culture in the city was hiding in various nooks and such places like Suflerio būdelė,

Maintaining the optimistic tone of the conversation, Flash Voyage associate the positive change of Kaunas with joining the EU, globalization, internet and new people at the municipality.

And what is Europe for you?

Germanas: We are all inhabitants of the Earth, so we need to unite rather than become divided. The European Union is doing this by destroying borders between countries.

Europe can also be felt in Kaunas, where we can meet many foreigners today. It also encourages you to discover something new...

Voyage means journey. How important it is for you to travel?

Regimantas: Without travelling it would not be as pleasant to return home, to Kaunas, where we feel the most comfortable. Voyages are very important and moving through music genres and searching for something new is related to that.

You’re looking for the world, looking for yourself and you return to Kau-

What kind of Kaunas do you dream of?

Germanas: Without ongoing repairs! The city has many projects – I hope they will be implemented. It is essential to keep the old Kaunas, the interwar period buildings.

Regimantas: Nature intertwines with the city in Kaunas. It is crucial for the latter to retain its green side, for Kaunas not to turn into a concrete jungle, for the oases where Kaunas residents can relax now to remain: Nemunas Island, Ąžuolynas, Vytautas Park, Confluence... We want Kaunas to be the spot where everything finds its place: sports, arts... The future Kaunas is a lively and friendly city with bold residents and decreasing hate rate.

What do you think about Kaunas becoming the European Capital of Culture in 2022?

The band’s drummer Rytis Baranauskas says that when he learned about the title being awarded to Kaunas, he felt that it happened at the right time – along with the blossoming of the city.

Regimantas: Future changes will only be good for Kaunas. We will see many tourists and also, there are a lot of people who don’t participate in cultural life, so we hope that the Capital of Culture program will shake them up a bit. We want the culture to spread from the centre to other neighbourhoods where people could also enjoy cultural life.

Karolis: Of course, after a huge boom, a descent might occur, but we still have a few beautiful years for growth!

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“When in Kaunas we feel the huge enthusiasm of the locals. This city has so much potential; spaces and venues that could be used for exhibitions and concerts. Earlier it seemed that there were so many opportunities but nobody was doing anything, and now you actually need to make it before others got to it first,” says G. Daškevičius.

nas... The Capital of Culture is also like a journey of the whole city.

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but now everything is growing and expanding. It is a pleasure to see the changing approach of the city towards street art. The things that were painted over before can now remain public and seen,” R. Visockis and Karolis Pročkys, who plays guitar and keyboard, both agree.

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Vytautas the Great would like it

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The designers of Mikhail Avenue at the time (now Vytauto, named after Vytautas the Great (1344–1430), one of the greatest leaders of Lithuania of all times) couldn’t even imagine that one day it will have to ‘perform’ in a TV show Chernobyl produced by HBO in 2019. The avenue designed over 150 years ago was transformed into Moscow Street and the house no. 58 was the place where Dr. Valery Legasov, played by actor Jared Harris, spent his last days. Although it was the mid-19th century, Kaunas urban planners had an essential role in mind for Mikhail Avenue.

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In 1843, when Kaunas became the centre of the newly formed governorate of the Russian Empire, urban development planning began. Under the approved New plan project in 1847, the city centre with new well-formed quarters and the rectangular street network was designed in the territory of Carmelite Monastery jurisdiction and previously empty lots. The newly shaped Rumšiškių Street and the future Mikhail Avenue marked the border of Kaunas territory on the eastern side of the city.

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The project changed somewhat in the course of the implementation of the New plan and in the mid-19th century it was decided to turn the Rumšiškių Street into a boulevard. It was planned that the boulevard with two rows of trees on the sides will start at the Carmelite Church and will continue on Rumšiškių Street all the way up to Žaliakalnis. However, this idea was probably corrected by the railway built in Kaunas.

In 1930s Kaunas, most of the public announcements and street names were written in three local languages - Lithuanian, Polish and Yiddish. You can learn more about it by visiting an exhibition Kauno (Ne)laikinumai (The (Non)Temporalities of Kaunas) currently open at the Kaunas City Museum Town Hall branch. Archive of the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum.

Nikolai Avenue (now Laisvės alėja) was turned into a boulevard instead, and Rumšiškių Street was turned into Mikhail Avenue, becoming a significant artery connecting the city with the railway station.

In 1889, Kaunas rabbi Isaac Elhanan Spector was visited by British-Jewish lawyer Elkan Nathan Adler. When he arrived at the railway station early in the morning, he found the place tidy but dull. “Only a few people around and none of them speak German.

Two Russian words that made up my vocabulary had to be used constantly to enable me to reach my destination. Neither carriages nor Jews could be seen.” The traveller concluded that it was too early for carriages, and all the Jews, in general, had to be in the synagogues at the time (according to him there were 25 of them in Kaunas) and thus he decided to walk to the centre. “But it seemed that every Christian I met on the way – be it Greek or Roman – recognized the words ‘Staro Rabben’ and pointed westward. And I walked for about an hour on a straight highway leading through the suburb. Bees were buzzing in the air and flowers blooming on the side of the road. People were walking joyfully to the city, and the suburban houses looked comfortable and prosperous.”

The horse-drawn tram started operating from Kaunas railway station to the Old Town in 1892 and locals quickly named it konkė. The first buses in town appeared in 1909. In the press of the time they were simply referred to as cars, “Two cars have recently started going in Kaunas: one from the railway station to the public square and the second one from the station to the Green Hill. So many people take it on the weekends that they barely all fit.” However, due to the poor condition of the streets, the buses ran irregularly. In 1910, one of the bus owners, Marija Goločeva called for the City Council to build a separate road for cars on Mikhail Avenue because the spring floods had damaged it so much that it was impossible to drive; therefore, she was no longer able to run her buses. The local authorities, although acknowledging the importance of developing such a connection, probably influenced by the interests of the konkė owner, found many reasons not to build a new road. There were fears about horses coming from the villages, which, not having been acquainted with buses, could get easily frightened and cause an accident. It was also taken into consideration

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Vytautas Avenue, no. 58, the end of 1930s. A. Burkus’ collection.

that large crowds were flooding the streets after the Mass on the weekends and students were walking between the street and drainage furrows on weekdays. If the new road were built, the buses would come too close to them, thus increasing the chance of accidents. Because of that, buses had disappeared not only from Mikhail Avenue but also from Kaunas for some time.

Under the plan drafted in 1847, a place for Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical-Lutheran, and Tartar (Muslim) cemetery was designated in the eastern side of Mikhail Avenue.

Recalling the Kaunas of the late 19th century, Felicija Bortkevičienė said that at the time it felt as if the railway station was located far away from the city and when the passengers had to be taken to the station, the coachmen would agree to travel in twos because, in the forest, where the cemetery was located, people were often attacked by robbers. In 1959 the Soviet government, trying to curb the anti-Soviet unrest in Kaunas, moved the cemetery and turned the territory into a park.

During the interwar period, the cultural life in this area intensified because the Germans of Kaunas had

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built a mathematics-oriented school in 1923 (currently A. Puškinas High School), which gained the status of a high school in 1930. Russian high school (now Kaunas Pedagogical Qualification Center) emerged on the Orthodox-owned plot of land in 1925 and ten years after that the Orthodox church of revelation was built on the same plot. In 1930, the Tartars of Kaunas, with the help of local authorities, built “a new mosque instead of the old one which was built in 1906

by Tartar Didžturtis Iliasevičius, the owner of the once famous Turkish bakery in Kaunas.” Nearby, on the other side of the avenue, Polish Adomas Mickevičius High School (now Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas High School) had settled in a newly constructed building in 1931.

During the WWI Mikhail Avenue was renamed into Deutscher Ringstrasse, and in 1919 it was given the name of Vytautas. Despite the noble name of the avenue, for a long time, it was one of the most unkept streets of Kaunas. In 1932 there were complains that “Vytautas Avenue is probably the most derelict street in Kaunas. The cobble-stoned road is full of pits, the trenches have been full of some kind of sludge and trash for a few years now, and nobody cleans it. The pavements

Vytautas Avenue, 1921. Archive of the National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum.

have a few meters of some worndown planks, but mostly there aren’t any. If it’s wet, you will be drenched in mud by the time you reach the station … Any foreigner visiting Kaunas first sees the disarray while driving through Vytautas Avenue. In fact, when you see the street mentioned above, you think that it is anything but Kaunas.” Until that time, Vytautas Avenue continued only till the junction with Laisvės alėja, and after that, the street was called Donelaičio.

In 1923 it was decided to extend the avenue till Parodos h, but it was only fixed adequately in the early 1930s when one asphalt strip was laid in the middle of the avenue. In 1933, the journalists made funny remarks, “Once I heard a man from Suvalkija who was driving a car, say to his wife that Vytautas the Great himself would love driving on this road.”

On the other hand, the sprucing up of the avenue caused new problems. The traffic of cars and busses “increased on Vytautas Avenue, especially after the bus station was moved from

Nemunas Street to Vytautas Avenue.

Now all the buses from the province come and go from Vytautas Avenue.

Arterial traffic is also directed to Vytautas Avenue ... You can only reach the railway station from the city by taking Vytautas Avenue ... Everyone driving uses the asphalt part of the road, and it is not wide. Because of that, almost everyone is packed in the middle of the avenue, and that has become dangerous.”

Due to the railway and bus stations located in the vicinity of Vytautas Avenue, it is often called the Kaunas gate to Europe. As Paulius Tautvydas Laurinaitis observes, “the avenue witnessed both solemn greetings of the arriving guests and mourning processions; it saw the people who were being exiled and the Jewish people taken to labour camps by Nazis ... Kaunas cultural layer of the past century and a half is hiding here ... and like no other it reflects the Kaunas of today: although it is still looking for its role, it will always remain important because of its location.”

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Calendar STAGE Thursday, 06 06, 6 pm

Dance performance “Kaunas Zoo”

National Kaunas Drama Theatre, Laisvės al. 71

balconies. The performance was created during a workshop led by Alexis Akrovatakis (Greece) and Ben Smith (Didžioji Britanija) and features nowness, unique sound and urban landscapes. More about the festival: www.cirkuliacija.lt.

Wednesday, 06 12, 2 pm and 6 pm

Contemporary circus festival “Cirkuliacija”: “Juri the Cosmonaut”

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Partizanų g. 85

Photo by D. Matvejev.

Kaunas dance company “Aura” have teamed up with the local improvisational music collective “Kaunas Zoo” to produce a performance investigating the topics of beauty, fashion cult and striving for glamour, as well as representing the void created by living with masks.

Saturday, 06 08, 3 pm

Contemporary circus festival “Cirkuliacija”: A show for balconies

Partizanų g. 208

The contemporary circus caravan has arrived at the Dainava microdistrict, together with the festival’s legendary show for spectators in Pet-friendly places

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It is a crazy, bizarre, intergalactic travel, full of small and big unexpected events. The fundamental characteristics are the absence of gravity, the slowness, the solitude, the heroism, the despair, and mostly the desire to dream. The cosmonaut’s daily routine becomes a pretext for ridiculous clownish situations. Juri is an intergalactic explorer who discovers new planets and perhaps new forms of life; he’s a brave man, a hero, he’s an interstellar cosmonaut, or maybe this is what people see in him. Juri is also a man who’s afraid, who dreams, Juri is still a child; instead of finding it, he very often loses his way; Juri is a lonely man, Juri is a

June clown. The show by Giorgio Bertolotti (Italy) is a hymn to slowness.

Thursday, 06 13, 3 pm and 7 pm

Contemporary circus festival “Cirkuliacija”: “Incidents” Partizanų g. 85

“Incidents” is a contemporary circus show created by company “Nonine“, nine international circus students studying in Finland. The show is based on our performing experiences and inspired by works of Daniil Kharms. In the play, the artists avoid the stereotypical picture of how performers should look, and while leaving just a frame, they try to find their own way. Performers: Aino Mäkipää, Annika Koljonen, Eino Kaisanlahti, Emmi Peltola, Kestas Matusevicius, Lyla Goldman, Roosa Laakkonen, Sini Saari, Sirje Tolonen.

Friday, 06 14, 6 pm

Contemporary circus festival “Cirkuliacija”: “Flight GR 20190614” Partizanų g. 85

Dedicated for kids from 7 years of age, the show talks the fear and pleasure of travelling by plane when you dare to look into the eyes of uncertainty, with clowns Džilda and Rožė, known to some people from the organization RED NOSES Clown Doctors. In the performance Flight GR20190614, they will turn into flight attendants named Grilda and Raža. Read an interview with the artists in this very issue.

Friday, 06 14, 7:30 pm

Contemporary circus festival “Cirkuliacija”: “Sisyphus Ascending” Partizanų g. 85

Like the hero of the Greek mythology, the Sisyphus embodied by Lars Gregersen seems to be condemned to an absurd perpetual task, with which he first tries to get along, but then tries to resist. This contemporary version takes place in a small office, dwarfed by a tall bookshelf filled with files and papers, which Sisyphus is endlessly trying to put in order… Presented by “Glimt” company (Denmark).

Saturday, 06 15 / 06 22 / 06 29 / 07 06, 3 pm

Contemporary circus festival “Cirkuliacija”: “Follow Me” Partizanų g. 85

In this performance, Ward Mortier and Thomas Decaesstecker (“Be Flat”, Belgium) confront and play with the public space, here-and-now. The duet takes their audience and fellow travellers, the followers, on an acrobatic and theatrical journey through the urban environment, encountering along the way a diverse range of everyday situations. The content of each performance is primarily determined by the specific area that has been made available to “Be Flat”, so every performance is by nature unique.

The streets become the stage, urban facades a backdrop, cobblestones a dance floor, with the honking of passing cars as a fitting soundscape.

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Calendar Sunday, 06 16, 7:30 pm

Šiuolaikinio cirko festivalis „Cirkuliacija“: „SHIFT“ Partizanų g. 85

sound, smell, taste and touch into an immersive, intimate and personal experience. They are madness, love, and life lived to the full with all of your six senses, they are finding a lost friend and absurd peace.

MUSIC

SHIFT by “Barely Methodical Troupe” (UK) explores shifting perceptions and realities through power-based acrobatics mixing show-stopping circus tricks with the emotional punch of theatre.

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Saturday, 06 08, 8 pm

Saturday, 06 15, 5 pm – 10 pm Sunday, 06 16, 5 pm – 10 pm

Theatre festival “Namas Nr 2”: “Sensory Cocktail Bar”

V. Bacevičius elementary school, Savanorių pr. 91

The second edition of the immersive theatre festival has been presented a few pages back by its organisers. The concept of one of the critical performances this year, “Sensory Cocktail Bar”, was initially created for Turku European Capital of Culture 2011.

The bar has since been organised in various contexts, such as a workshop and performance for young people, a tool to teach immersive performance to professional performing artists, and as part of “Flow Festival”, the most significant pop festival taking place around Helsinki. “Sensory Cocktails”, 20 minutes each, combine sight,

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Live: Sting

“Žalgirio” arena, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 50 Sting: My Songs will be a rollicking, dynamic show focusing on the most beloved songs written by the British musician and spanning the 16-time Grammy Award winner’s prolific career with The Police and as a solo artist. Fans can expect to hear “Englishman In New York,” “Fields Of Gold,” “Shape Of My Heart,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Roxanne,” “Message In A Bottle” and many more, with Sting accompanied by an electric, rock ensemble.

Saturday, 06 08, 9 pm

Live from Cardiff: Take That “Forum Cinemas”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 49

Celebrating 30 incredible years, Take That are bringing their spectacular 2019 Greatest Hits tour to cinemas for one night only. Broadcast live on Saturday 8 June from their last UK concert of the tour in Cardiff, Wales, this highly anticipated anniversary show promises to be their best

June yet. With front row seats, you’ll be a part of the action as Gary, Mark and Howard journey through Take That’s incredible music history. Performing their biggest hits from the last three decades, and new tracks from their latest album “Odyssey”, fans will love this ultimate big screen sing along. So, get ready to throw your hands in the air – it’s a party you’ll never forget.

Sunday, 06 09, 5 pm

24th Pažaislis music festival.

“Requiem” Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5

Photo by A. Aleksandravičius As every year the Pažaislis Music Festival is returning to Kaunas city and Kaunas region, as well as other concert spaces all over Lithuania. Conducted by Constantine Orbelian, Verdi’s Requiem will be performed by Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, Kaunas State Choir and four Armenian soloists – Karina Flores, Eleni Matos, Hovhannes Ayvazyanuir and Hayk Tigranyan.

Thursday, 06 13, 6 pm

Live: Mesijus

Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56

He writes poetry, works in the advertising industry, raps and has even dabbled in stand-up comedy. Mesijus (previously known as MC Messiah, real name – Žygimantas Kudirka) is both talented and busy. He’s also widely known as the most original rapper in Lithuania, although his music can't easily be pigeonholed as hip hop; avant-garde rap is a more accurate description. His newest venture is called “Vilniaus Energija” and is a joint project together with musician Adas Gecevičius and visual artist Asta Ostrovskaja. The album is called “Astrology of EU” and comes just in time after the European Parliament elections.

Friday, 06 14, 6 pm

24th Pažaislis music festival.

“The Great Goodness” Pažaislis church, T. Masiulio g. 31

Dovilė Kazonaitė (soprano) and Tadas Motiečius (accordion) are inviting everyone to a free concert of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Edvard Grieg, Giedrius Svilainis, Balys Dvarionas, Juozas Gruodis, Giedrius Kuprevičius, Giulio Caccini, Reynaldo Hahn, Claude Debussy, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Manuel de Falla.

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Calendar Saturday, 06 15, 5 pm

“TrapFest 2019” “AdForm” courtyard, Rotušės a. 19

War Museum garden; we’ll go to the Soboras church for the second half.

The program will consist of works by various European composers for bells and organs.

Wednesday, 06 19, 6 pm

24th Pažaislis music festival.

“The Adventures of Four Strings”

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Kaunas Town Hall, Rotušės a. 15

Photo by Art Belikov Trap is huge in Lithuania; its most notorious voices Flying Saucer Gang accumulate millions of YouTube views and huge queues to their live shows.

Experience the gang and their friends (here’s Free Finga in picture) in a tiny courtyard full of likeminded souls.

Sunday, 06 16, 16:00

24th Pažaislis music festival.

“Sounding Stories” Vytautas the Great War Museum garden, K. Donelaičio g. 64

Auke de Boer is one of the best-known carillioners and organ players from the Netherlands; he combines playing both instruments during his concerts, which is a traditional practice in his country. The first part of the show will take place at the Vytautas the Great

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“Epoque Quartet” is a string quartet from the Czech Republic celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Focusing on unique arrangements and new prospects of string instruments, often pouring some jazz, funk and rock into the classical music spectrum, they will perform a concert of music

by Franz Xaver Richter, Jan Kučera, Chick Corea, Alexey Aslamas, Django Reinhardt, Mateusz Smoczynski, Astor Piazzolla, John Williams, Vladimir Cosma and Pat Metheny.

Friday, 06 21, 6 pm

24th Pažaislis music festival.

Musical-visual project “Kaunas. The Resurrection I” Kaunas State Philharmonic, L. Sapiegos g. 5

June The hope of Resurrection was always live in Kaunas, even through the darkest hours of the Soviet occupation.

Today, the Resurrection blossoms in joy. The audiovisual performance is inviting for an emotional experience of identifying oneself with a city.

Performed by Kaunas City Symphonic Orchestra, Kaunas State Choir and Kaunas String Quartet. Conducted by Adrija Čepaitė. Directed by Paulius Jurgutis.

CINEMA

with a touch of a detective drama by Artūras Jevdokimovas, we will follow lives of four vivid characters, who have cultural clashes, tragicomic incidents yet manage to retain passion and irony in the cruel and inhumane environment. Subtitled in English.

From 06 28

“Yesterday”

“Forum Cinemas”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 49

From 05 31

“Second Hand”

“Forum Cinemas”, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 49

Ever wondered where the clothes at your local second-hand shop came from? A tangled net of murky charity clothes business is spreading out across the entire UK. From London to Lithuania, the journey of the donated garments is accompanied by a secret life of Lithuanian emigrants in the business. In this documentary comedy

Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in an English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie. After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, Jack becomes an overnight sensation with a little help from his agent.

Directed by Danny Boyle.

More events pilnas.kaunas.lt

2019

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Calendar EXHIBITIONS 05 11 – 12 31

Exhibition “In Memory Of Paper”

Exhibition “Kaunas (Un) Temporariness” Kaunas City Museum Town Hall Branch, Rotušės a. 15

The temporary exhibition is dedicated to the Year of the Temporary Capital.

It presents Kaunas in 1919-1940. After WWI, when Vilnius was occupied by the Bolsheviks and later by the Polish, Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania from January 1919. This exhibition represents not only the past but also the present of the city and analyses which signs of the Temporary Capital Period have become an integral part of Kaunas identity.

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Kaunas Picture Gallery, K. Donelaičio g. 16

05 18 – 12 31

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The exhibition introduces the former J. Janonis paper factory and its community. Turning points in politics and economy come into view on notebook covers and their margins. The pre-war paper of Petrašiūnai preserves the handwriting of Salomėja Nėris. It also proves the Lithuanian identity in the form of a passport. Finally, having turned into temporary money of the newly restored Lithuania, the Kaunas paper rustles in a pocket. These paper-based history witnesses are sensitively and wittily complemented by the stories of the factory workers and art pieces specially created for the exhibition. “In Memory of Paper” continues the exhibition cycle “The Great Industry” curated by Auksė Petrulienė.

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Exhibition “Whoever is a president? The Presidents of Lithuania and the Institution of Presidency in Lithuania in 1919–1940”

Garden of The Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilniaus g. 33

The swearing-in ceremony of Antanas Smetona held by Kaunas archbishop Juozapas Jonas Skvireckas. Archive of

June The Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania.

This year, the history of the Institution of Presidency in Lithuania already counts a century. Marking this occasion, an open-air exhibition of archive photographs “Whoever is a president? The Presidents of Lithuania and the Institution of Presidency in Lithuania in 1919–1940” is being exhibited in the front garden of the museum. It tells us more about the duties and daily routines of the President of the Republic of Lithuania.

On the 4th of April in 1919, the State Council of Lithuania elected Antanas Smetona as the first President of the State. Later Aleksandras Stulginskis and Kazys Grinius served as Presidents of the Republic of Lithuania. The photographs of the exhibition commemorate the working moments of the Heads of State: an oath, committed to acting in good faith as President; ceremonies of the supreme leader of the entire Armed Forces of the State; communication with foreign diplomatic envoys; work with the Cabinet of Ministers and other official occasions.

In addition to the official ceremonies, the visitors of the exhibition will be able to see another side of the Office of the President of the Republic – direct communication with citizens, visits through Lithuania in the significant cultural, industrial and agricultural events. The exhibition also reveals the daily routine of the Head of State at the Presidential Palace. What was his working day? Was his office spacious enough? What type of guests visited him?

05 18 – 06 30

Exhibition “Night Visions: Paintings of the 17th – 20th Century from Mykolas Žilinskas Collection” M. Žilinskas Art Gallery, Nepriklausomybės a. 12

Louis Douzette. Berlin at night.

The exhibition represents the works of various painters from Europe, created in the 17th-20th centuries. These images, inspired by the beauty and mystery of the night, were donated to Lithuania by a famous collector Mykolas Žilinskas (1904-1992). The paintings rarely come to the halls of the gallery, and some of them are exhibited for the first time. The exhibited nocturnes not only reveal the multi-faceted world of the night but also reflect the personal taste of M. Žilinskas. For him, the importance and value of the work could be seen not only on an impressive canvas, painted by a famous artist but also on a small piece of work by an unknown or little-known artist, who has touched the collector‘s heart.

More events pilnas.kaunas.lt

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Calendar 05 30 – 07 07

Eimutis Markūnas exhibition “The Colour Code of the City. Black”

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Kaunas Picture Gallery, K. Donelaičio g. 16

In the past years, Eimutis Markūnas concentrates on the concept of a city in his work, analyses its’ psycho-geographic map and the tensions within.

In earlier exhibitions on this theme, the artist referred to colours, their substance and metaphysics. The encoded atmosphere and mood of Kaunas city districts opened up in the bright large-format abstractions.

In the continuation of the project “Black”, Markūnas is entirely different.

Like day and night. Here the artist presents small-format drawings, moving from apotheosis for colours to mystical and subtle monochrome.

The works resemble the negatives of photographs, where various shapes are captured: from recognizable human images to hardly named mystical beings. In this exhibition, the artist turns to the dark side, existentially examines his night states, emotions, the characters met and talks with them. In such chamber dialogues, the artist seeks to know himself, identify with the city, feel like a small, creative and complementary particle of a more extensive network.

05 31 – 06 26

Irena Petravičienė exhibition “The Path of Creation” Gallery “Meno parkas”, Rotušės a. 27

Born in 1949, the artist graduated from Telšiai Applied Art School in

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1969. She later studied ceramics in Kaunas and has been a member of Lithuanian Artists’ Association since 1983. The exhibition is dedicated to Irena Petravičienė’s 70th anniversary.

05 31 – 06 30

Wacław Kuczma / Dorota Kuczma (PL) exhibition “Memory of the Place” Galerija „Meno parkas“, Rotušės a. 27

Here’s the annotation of the exhibition by two Polish artists Dorota Kuczma and Wacław Kuczma: “Only emotions are the value of life and art. The essence of these events and actions is boundless devotion to life under cover of the sky, not always blue. These are just notes, memory, creating interior spaces in the world of unreal, virtual dreams. Finally,

June there are questions about the state of having us in the reality of the world in which we live.”

05 31 – 06 16

Exhibition “Getting my friends drunk” POST gallery, Laisvės al. 51A

Eight recent graduates of Royal Academy of Art in The Hague will spend a few weeks in Kaunas; the POST gallery, to be precise. They’ll be making art as well as inviting the visitors to communicate, get to know each other better and discuss openly. “Getting my friends drunk” is an ongoing collective project initiated to become more free in the creative practices, as well as discover reasons to be and create together, help each other and produce an exhibition that would be as sincere as a moment with close friends. Participating artists: Laila van Berge, Sara Ceruti, Ioana Ciora, Tina Jeranko, Luuk Kuipers, Saulė Noreikaitė, Gabriela Galeano Batres, Constantijn Scholten and Sophie Schulte.

06 07 – 06 09

Kaunas Biennial: Opening weekend

Various locations

The motif of this year’s Kaunas Biennial, AFTER LEAVING | BEFORE ARRIVING, has been your guide through this issue of our magazine. It’s time you experience it all with your five senses.

You have time until 29 September, but the opening weekend is, of course, the most intense and a great chance to meet all of the artists.

The opening weekend will kick off with the exhibition opening at the Kaunas Railway Station, directed by Gildas Aleksa. The installations, video works and other pieces of art will be located in the main hall and train cars. The biennial will then continue through underway passage to the Vytautas Avenue, visiting the former cemetery which is now a park and exploding one more time in the Kaunas Picture Gallery, where ten artists will present their work. A painting studio will be located at the Vytautas the Great War Museum.

On Saturday and Sunday, you can catch performances by Amalia Pica (Kaunas Picture Gallery), Jasmina Cibic (Vytautas the Great War Museum), Francesca Grilli (Kaunas Artists’ House) and Inga Galinytė and Anna Papathanasiou (Kaunas Railway Station).

Curators of the biennial: Elisabeth Del Prete, Daniel Milnes, Lýdia Pribišová, Neringa Stoškutė, Alessandra Troncone.

Participating artists: Bas Jan Ader, Jasmina Cibic, Céline Condorelli, Johanna Diehl, Ieva Epnere, Aslan Gaisumov, Inga Galinytė ir Anna Papathanasiou, Alberto Garutti, Francesca Grilli, Laura Grisi, Christian Jankowski, Sonja Jo, Laura Kaminskaitė, Ana Kovačić, Taus Makhacheva, Adrian Melis, Artūras Morozovas, Deimantas Narkevičius, Robertas Narkus, Tamu Nkiwane, Amalia Pica, Karol Pichler, Andrej Polukord, Ghenadie Popescu, Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Mykola Ridnyi, Bálint Szombathy, Nomeda ir Gediminas Urbonai.

More information and event times: www.bienale.lt.

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Calendar OTHER EVENTS Friday, 06 07, 10:00

“KAFe 2019” and “Architecture of Shame” workshop

Sunday, June 9

Kaunas Marathon

Kaunas Town Hall Square

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Kaunas Artists’ House, V. Putvinskio g. 56

initiated by Italians Fabio Ciaravella and Carmela Mimì Coviello who are coming over to host the workshop. The workshop and discussion will be held in English. Register at www.kafe.lt/2019 until 5 June.

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Kaunas Architecture Festival (KAFe) is an international project taking place in Kaunas every 3 years and inviting townspeople, architectural professionals and guests of the town to take part in an almost 2-month long experiment promoting architecture, creativity and education, which emphasizes the impact that architecture has on our lives, its importance to the creation of public well-being and harmonious environment. The topic of this Kaunas Architecture Festival is “Landmark Architecture – creating or destroying the city’s identity?”. The main events will be held in Autumn, but you’re welcome to participate in an inaugural workshop focusing on historical wooden architecture in Kaunas. It’s part of an international project “Architecture of Shame”

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Photo by Augustas Didžgalvis for Kaunas Marathon A marathon with a view! Start in the city hall square, thriving with life from the 16th century, run by the remains of Kaunas castle, built in the 14th century. Enjoy the wide and flat route near two of the biggest Lithuanian rivers and examples of Lithuanian architecture from the Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Modernist, Soviet-era to modern times.

In 2019, the event will be back for the 7th time.

June Sunday, 06 23, 16:00 – 21:00

Midsummer Night

“Parakas”, corner of Prancūzų and L. Ivinskio g. Streets

Photo by Artūras Novikovas The former gunpowder warehouse of the Kaunas fortress has been reborn as a creative cultural space open for various artistic initiatives. The programme of the shortest night of the year will be compiled of those initiatives, and it’ll most certainly involve music, dancing, performing and having a blast.

More events pilnas.kaunas.lt

06 28 – 30

UIM F2 World Championship Lithuanian Grand Prix Kaunas Reservoir

They accelerate quicker to 100 Kmph than a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and a Mercedes SLR McLaren, they produce a G Force of 4.5 while taking 90 degree turns at 140 Kmph, the driver sits in a fully enclosed tiny capsule with minimal visibility yet they compete against each other, often only cm’s apart, at speeds of 160 Kmph.

What are they? They are Formula 2 Powerboats. These lightweight carbon fibre catamarans boast an impressive power to weight ratio and thanks to the unique design they glide across the surface on a cushion of air, often with only the propeller in the water.

However, because water conditions are continually changing lap after lap, it has been likened to driving a racing car over a ploughed field. The Lithuanian Grand Prix is a free – and very intriguing – event hosted at the Kaunas Reservoir.

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"You might find it very strange that your father travelled to the end of the world and is labouring hard... I feel too cramped in Lithuania.

I need world centres where I want to conquer a place for Lithuania. I like that job. It makes my life meaningful. I am passionate about freedom, and I am determined to starve in freedom rather than put on flesh under oppression."

An excerpt from traveller, journalist, and writer Matas Šalčius’ (1890–1940) letter to his wife Bronislava and daughters Donata, Aldona, Aušra, and Raminta.

KAUNAS FULL OF CULTURE Monthly magazine about personalities and events in Kaunas (free of charge)

Laisvės alėja 59, third floor

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Authors: Andrejus Bykovas, Artūras Bulota, Arvydas Pakštalis, Austėja Banytė, Bernadeta Buzaitė, Dainius Ščiuka, DJ YUNG ŽIŽEK, Donatas Stankevičius, Eglė Šertvyčūtė, Elijus Kniežauskas, Emilija Visockaitė, Gunars Bakšejevs, Kotryna Lingienė, Kęstutis Lingys, Lukas Mykolaitis, Mantas HeadShooter Gudzinevičius, Paulina Kuzmickaitė, Ula Rugevičiūtė Rugytė.

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2019 2017No. Nr. 62 (46) (18)