New project by Arturas Valiauga

August 23, 2013  |  Exhibitions, Publishing

New photo project and book by famous Lithuanian artist Arturas Valiauga

A BOOK WITHIN THE BOOK ABOUT THE LAND OF LONGING

The photographic project The Land of Longing attempts to view Donelaitis’ Lithuania Minor in the context of today. The Königsberg area (Kaliningrad Oblast) localities recorded in the photographs have to do with the life experience of classical author and may, hopefully, have been the landscape of the social environment of his poem.

The Seasons by Kristijonas Donelaitis, this core masterpiece, fundamental for Lithuanian literature, and Arturas Valiauga’s The Land of Longing testify together to the subtlety of our history and our complicated identity. The archaic language used almost three centuries ago is quite far removed from today’s mundanity and, were it not for school curriculi, would probably only serve as the object of literature and history’s interest. Paradoxically, photography, one of the younger and most universal art forms, begins a complex dialogue about our perception of identity and of historical events and our collective memory, as it interprets one of the most complicated works of Lithuanian literature. This combination may at first sight look like an unfortunate misunderstanding, but in fact it brings together 17th century thinking and 21st century experiences, questioning the existence and establishing commonly human values and mistakes.

The four languages used purposely in the book draw parallels between history and the flow of time inseparable from it, forming the context for the photography project. But that’s not all. A book within the book touches on the meaning of the so-called Lithuania Minor region for the history of Lithuania itself and its culture. There is probably no other land outside the mapped territory of our country so alive and permanent in our minds. This may be why being in that land and reflecting on historical facts, legends, and stories evokes a sense of restlessness. This is not a fear of loss, but of recognition, which becomes nostalgia once fully perceived. It is nostalgia for foreign and familiar landscapes, faces, language, architecture, and memory without experience. Valiauga’s photographs let us experience through images, creating a photodocumentary justification of nostalgia.

The photographs are about a Russian region where the third generation after the wars grows without searching for their roots in the “broad fatherland”. They forge their own social identity, linking it with the reviving consumer vision of Prussian culture that encourages economic, political, and cultural change in the region.

These subjective photographic documents, touching history ever so slightly and following in the steps of Donelaitis’ biography, become a chronicle of modern Königsberg area, a visual, non-verbal Seasons. A book within the book. It is about longing.

© Eglė Deltuvaitė

ABOUT THE BOOK

Kristijonas Donelaitis, Arturas Valiauga, Apie Ilgesio žemę / About the Land of Longing,
Vilnius: Kultūros meniu, 2013, 168 p.

CONTENT EDITOR
Eglė Deltuvaitė

TEXT BY
Eglė Deltuvaitė, Kęstutis Kaminskas, Arturas Valiauga

COPY EDITOR
Aistis I. Savukynas

TRANSLATOR INTO ENGLISH
Olga Lempert

DESIGNER
Gytis Skudžinskas

PUBLISHER

www.kulturosmeniu.lt / www.culturemenu.com

PUBLISHING HOUSE
Kopa

SUPPORTED BY
Lietuvos Respublikos kultūros rėmimo fondas / Culture Support Foundation of the Republic of Lithuania

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO

Olga Yuritsyna, Yury Seliverstov
Kaliningrado fotomenininkų sąjunga / Kaliningrad Union of Photo Artists
Dr. Alexey Sokolov, Eduard Barsukov
Vištyčio ekologijos ir istorijos muziejus / Vishtynetskoye Ecological-Historical Museum
Danguolė Butkienė, Viktoras Butkus
Modernaus meno centras / Modern Art Center
Deutsches Kulturforums östliches Europa [LOGO]
Type Together
http://www.type-together.com/


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