Security and Its Narratives in Lithuanian Sculptural Installations and Video Art, 1990–2004

Abstract

The first decade of independence of the Second Republic of Lithuania is now part of history, attracting the attention of researchers, the general public, and cultural figures. Due to social, political, economic, and cultural instability during the transitional period (1990–2004), security was one of the fundamental dilemmas. It was also reflected in the work of artists, taking the form of a discursive narrative. The aim of the article is to define the concept of security, primarily based on Gérard Genette’s narratological insights, and compare the sociocultural changes in the category of security in 1990s Lithuania with the articulation of security in sculptural installations and video art (“Post Ars,” works by Artūras Raila, Algis Lankelis, Eglė Rakauskaitė, and Deimantas Narkevičius), highlighting the relationship between the narratives of security in those works and the history of security in the state and society. The study has showed that Lithuanian artists who were actively involved in the art scene during the period under consideration articulated their own present through narratological analepses and prolepses. For them not (only) the threats of a physical, criminogenic, or socioeconomic nature, but rather the consequences of Soviet experience and the apologetics of the future and progress were the sources of (in)security, thus raising questions about the direction of the newly independent state, shaped by past experiences and future expectations.