“I feel at home in Kaunas”, “I wish the institutions to be more liberal”, “Everyone here is by themselves””, “there are … political challenges, in which I sometimes feel very lonely”, “There is no unnecessary noise in Kaunas”, “I still have unfinished business here.” As you might have guessed already, the texts of this issue of Kaunas Full of Culture are full of both sincere fondness for Kaunas and also criticism of the city, in which culture is declared one of the priorities. And this is normal – love, especially mature love, mustn’t be blind.
The theme of this issue was inspired by the group exhibition Intermediate Glooms, which took place in January at the Meno Parkas Gallery. The sticky film that separates the hot milk from the outside world mirrors the same contradiction, the in-between state in which many artists find themselves, regardless of their generation. It’s the tension between the polished digital world and the cracked pavement tiles. Between the safety of home and global opportunities. Between artistic canons and fresh perspectives. Perhaps even the well-worn, endlessly debated, and ultimately futile standoff between Kaunas and Vilnius?
But Vilnius, as an alternative, constantly resurfaces in conversations – not just in this magazine, but also in exhibition openings and informal discussions. Kaunas loses people for various reasons, often economic ones. The brain drain is the elephant in the room – we proudly talk about the increasing number of tourists, yet we quietly ignore the fact that another friend has chosen to live where artistic life is more vibrant.
Let’s turn the pages and get to know the main characters of this issue. Not all of them are officially artists, but all have something to do with this field: Lukas Mykolaitis, who studies the city in steps, Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė, who has defended her PhD on the grammar of lichens, Mantas Valentukonis, who has curated the Intermediate Glooms, his friend Šarūnas Baltrukonis, Arnis Aleinikovas, who doesn’t shy away from working with institutions, and Marijam Didžgalvytė, who left Kaunas Art Gymnasium due to emigration but is now returning to Lithuania with a critical book on video games. To discuss these readings, Karolina Latvytė-Bibiano invites us to Muitinė, the city’s newest art gallery, located on the street of the same name.
