THE ABILITY TO OBSERVE AND ASSESS ONESELF DEMONSTRATES THE MATURITY OF SOCIETY. WORKS OF ART, IN PARTICULAR, BEAR WITNESS TO THE DIRECTION OF A SOCIETY'S MOVEMENT AND ITS VISION FOR THE FUTURE. ART SERVES AS A VAULT OF MEMORIES ABOUT CIVILIZATIONS AND ERAS, HELPING TO BREAK FREE FROM PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS AND PARTLY BECOMING AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL, ENABLING US TO LEARN FROM THE PAST.
GEORGE ORWELL HAS SAID THAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO DESTROY PEOPLE IS TO DENY THEM THE ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR OWN HISTORY. THIS PROJECT PROPOSES NOT TO PUSH INTO OBLIVION THE FACT OF THE ORIGINAL SCULPTURES' HISTORICAL EXISTENCE. INSTEAD, BY ALTERING THEIR DISPLAY STATUS - RELOCATING COPIES OF THE SCULPTURES UNDER THE BRIDGE - IT WOULD CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT FOR REFLECTING ON OUR HISTORY.
THIS WOULD ELIMINATE THE PHANTOM MEMORY OF THE SCULPTURES' EXISTENCE IN THE PAST, CREATING WHAT MERVYN GARTWIG DESCRIBED AS THE "POWER OF ABSENCE" OR ELIMINATIVE MATERIALISM. THIS MEANS THAT BY DESTROYING AN OBJECT, IT ONLY BECOMES MORE SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WAS OBVIOUSLY SO IMPORTANT THAT ITS DESTRUCTION WAS NECESSARY. THIS PROJECT SUGGESTS TRANSFERRING THE SCULPTURES TO A DIFFERENT LOCATION USING ARTISTIC MEANS (THIS HAS BEEN DONE BY RELOCATING THEM, AND THIS PART OF THE HISTORY IS RECORDED IN THE PROJECT). THIS WOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT TODAY'S SOCIO-POLITICAL ISSUES WITHOUT DESTROYING THE MEMORY SYMBOL.
THE PROJECT WOULD ACTIVATE THE META-REALITY THAT AROSE AFTER THE RELOCATION OF THE SCULPTURES. IT WOULD SAY, IN A SENSE, THAT THEY ARE NOT SO IMPORTANT THAT WE SHOULD DENY THEM. LET'S LOOK AT THEM, DISCUSS THEM, THINK ABOUT THE ERA WHEN THEY APPEARED, THE MESSAGE THEY CARRIED, AND HOW THEY REALLY WERE.
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TO IMPLEMENT THE PROJECT, COPIES OF DISMANTLED SCULPTURE GROUPS WOULD BE MADE AND INSTALLED UNDER THE GREEN BRIDGE IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION, ATTACHED TO THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BRIDGE. IN ORDER TO VIEW THE SOVIET-ERA SCULPTURES, SPECTATORS WOULD NEED TO DESCEND TO THE WATERFRONT AND LOOK UP AT THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BRIDGE.
THE PROJECT WOULD BE INTERACTIVE: VIEWERS WOULD ACTIVATE THEIR CHOSEN SCULPTURE GROUP BY SENDING AN SMS MESSAGE TO A SPECIALLY ASSIGNED SHORT NUMBER. UPON ACTIVATION, THE SCULPTURES' LEGS, SUPPORTED BY CHAINS, WOULD LOWER. THE ACTIVATED SCULPTURES WOULD HANG VERTICALLY FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE RETURNING TO THEIR INITIAL POSITION. DURING THIS TIME, THEY COULD BE VIEWED FROM ALL SIDES, JUST AS THEY WERE ON THE PEDESTALS OF THE BRIDGE.
DURING DARK HOURS, THE INSTALLATION WOULD BE ILLUMINATED, WITH WEAKER ILLUMINATION WHEN INACTIVE AND STRONGER ILLUMINATION WHEN ACTIVATED. THE SCULPTURES, BEING INTERACTIVE, WOULD EMIT THE NATURAL SOUND OF SWAYING CHAINS. THE AESTHETICS OF THE RUSTED METAL UNDER THE BRIDGE WOULD REMIND VISITORS OF THE SCULPTURES' MATERIALITY, UNIFYING THEM AND AMPLIFYING THEIR ARTISTIC IMPACT. THE NARRATIVE OF THE INSTALLATION WOULD COMMUNICATE THE CURRENTLY RELEVANT PLACE OF THE SCULPTURES IN OUR SOCIETY.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROJECT WOULD ACTIVATE HISTORICAL MEMORY AND THE POSSIBILITY OF A DIALOGUE ABOUT IT. AT THE SAME TIME, THE INSTALLATION WOULD COMMUNICATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TODAY'S SOCIETY AND POLITICS WITH THE ERA, WHICH HAS PROFOUNDLY AND POWERFULLY AFFECTED THE FATE OF EVERY LITHUANIAN.
