On October 26, 2023, at 6pm, in front of the former Vilnius City Central Post Office building, artist Dainius Liškevičius will present his performance titled “Pizzeria. Post Office. Vilnius / 1:32:34”. This is the second event in the series of performances by Dainius Liškevičius, initiated this year by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association. The first one – the smoke sculpture “One Minute Portrait of Jurgis Mačiūnas Saying CIAO!” – was presented during the Vilnius Gallery Weekend on 9 September in Petras Cvirka Square, Vilnius.
Dainius Liškevičius’ performances work like puzzles solved by deciphering cultural signs. And the key is social and political shifts measured by the artist’s body and the time itself. Since 1999, the artist marks the discovered places by standing on his head in the cities of the world like a traveler of old times, and at the same time performs a titanic work – he ‘holds’ the Earth as Atlas with his creative oeuvre (“Centers of the World / Enjoy yourself”). He created a dizzying sign for his hometown of Kaunas by standing on the castle tower and pointing in the wrong direction (“Vėjarodis” / “The Weather Vane”, 1996). In Vilnius, he was lying on the knees of the bronze Žemaitė like a dead Christ, as he immortalized the non-establishment of the Antanas Gudaitis Museum and the non-fulfillment of the artist’s will (“Pieta”, 2013). Political radicals made Liškevičius famous for his youthful performance “Blot / Restart” (2000) when he became a different person after wiping his chocolate-stained face with a tricolour, a citizen of the future Lithuania that accepts otherness. In 2022, he dedicated the performance “Is There a SPRING?” to warring Ukraine, saving its culture from the rampage of aggressors blinded by propaganda. (Text by Agnė Narušytė)
The second performance in the performance series “Pizzeria. Post Office. Vilnius / 1:32:34” on October 26th is related to the artist’s film “The Modern Flat”, which will be premiered at this year’s Scanorama film festival. It also refers to Liškevičius’ earlier work – the installation “Entropy / Che fare?” of 2018, and reuses the newspapers already used in this installation.
The performance is dedicated to the film camera embedded in my memory, which archives the images I have seen in my life and then throws them out again at the most unexpected times…
Vilnius, an overcast grey day of autumn 1990. It is raining lightly, I am standing at a bus stop on Gediminas Avenue near the Central Post Office. As far as I remember, there was a pizzeria where, as well as in Kaunas, they used to put two or three little black olives on the pizza, the taste of which I still remember now… Suddenly, a white Mercedes pulls up and a bearded man in a white raincoat gets off, holding a rolled-up newspaper in his hand, wearing a panama hat. I remember it all vaguely, maybe it is just a flashback from Bukowski’s novel Post Office, or maybe it is a cinematic moment of memory, where fiction and reality intertwine. The actor Juozas Budraitis gets out of the car in a white raincoat, shrugging his shoulders as he walks, oblivious to his surroundings. I think he does not really remember that day, because it was not special to him, but it is important to me, especially now, as we approach the premiere of “The Modern Flat” at the European Film Forum Scanorama.
The performance is partly performed for the camera. The cameraman becomes part of my intended action as an internal memory operator trying to capture this moment, which leads to other images in my memory. I walk further towards the “Benetton” store… maybe there is already the Vilnius Cinema theater there?
Dainius Liškevičius is a member of the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association. He represents the Lithuanian “Break Generation”, consisting of artists who contributed to the renewal of artistic expression after the restoration of Lithuanian independence. He creates installations, photographs, and performances, further blurring the boundaries of genres and seeking new forms in contemporary art. Liškevičius’ creative work is characterized by contextuality, irony, civic engagement, and social criticism. Responding to the topography of a specific place, he investigates people’s behaviors and experiences, identity and cultural values, the collision of public and private spaces, and personal and collective memory. In 2015, Dainius Liškevičius represented Lithuania at the 56th Venice Biennale, where he presented the project “Museum”. In 2021, he was awarded the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize. More information: www.liskevicius.lt
Performance date & time:
October 26, 2023 6pm
In front of the former Vilnius City Central Post Office building, Gedimino pr. 7, Vilnius.
The performance act consists of 3-4 takes.
The performance is organised by the Lithuanian Interdisciplinary Artists’ Association. Activities of LIAA are supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Vilnius City Municipality.
www.letmekoo.lt
