Lithuania is now in its 27th year of restored independence, a period that began with the 11th of March 1990 – a turning point for the country, away from many long years of occupation and towards a new Western outlook and a life of freedom. These 27 years have laid the foundations for a maturing state and raised a new generation of creative, active and bold thinkers. The new generation only knows of Soviet oppression from history textbooks and has never experienced the state of being ideologically oppressed, thus it was uniquely blessed with the possibility to think and express creative ideas freely. Understanding the importance of commemorating this national event, a team of young artists has proposed a celebration in contemporary artistic form.

 

The audiovisual project ...Before, Between and After... is dedicated to the day of Lithuania’s restored independence. It is the joint perspective of three artists raised in independent Lithuania – composers Julius Aglinskas and Dominykas Digimas as well as sculptor and interactive object creator Vėjas Aliukas – towards the environment that surrounds them and their own roles within it. The project will be brought to life by the contemporary ensemble Synaesthesis, one of Lithuania’s most prominent and accomplished collectives of young musicians, who are also members of the aforementioned generation.

 

The project consists of a light installation accompanied by an audio composition. The light and sound act as if they are self-narrating commentators of their own environment. They speak of the micro-processes occurring in one giant wholeness, as space full of relationships that are based on mutual contact, both active and passive, but inevitably affecting each other. The artists’ creations are a glance at what came before, what it turned into later and that which happened in between.