[spectre] Hacking Public Spaces in Vilnius, an interview [u]

[Geert Lovink [c]]

Hacking Public Spaces in Vilnius
Politics of a new media space inside the Lietuva (soviet) cinema

Interview with Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas
By Geert Lovink

Ever since I met Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas in 1999, two contemporary 
artists from Lithuania, they have been in search for an art space where 
they could establish a media lab, host talks and exhibit new media 
related art works. In August 2004 their organization, Vilma, hosted the 
RAM 6 workshop in Vilnius--yet another example which showed how well 
organized they were, and how desperate in need of their own 
infrastructure to do critical and innovative projects. This spring, 
Nomeda and Gediminas suddenly saw a chance--and grabbed it. They 
occupied the huge voyer of the privatized Lietuva cinema, over which a 
controversy had arisen. In May 2005 Nomeda and Gediminas were in 
Amsterdam briefly for the opening of the Populism show at the Stedelijk 
Museum, a moment we used to catch up and prepare for the following 
interview, which was done through email over the past few weeks. The 
situation of their exciting projects is changing on a daily basis and 
we'll hope to keep you informed. In the meanwhile, if you would like to 
support them, for instance by sending them taping which they could 
screen, please contact them. Email plus URLs can be found below.

GL: Hi, how are you? It's been an exciting few months for you. Tell us 
all about the space. How does it look inside? And what's happening 
inside, for instance last week?

NU & GU: To tell all about the space, we should make a short story long 
and introduce you to the context. Since independence in 1991 Lithuania 
has been caught in an insane period of privatization, property 
development and demolition. Like a Wild West land-grab or a gold rush, 
speculators and real estate tycoons have joined forces with corrupt 
municipal bureaucrats to redevelop the country at a mad pace. Profit 
has been their only motive. Public space, landmark buildings, cultural 
life, and public opinion have been the principal victims. Their method 
is simple: tell the population that economic development is good for 
everyone. Convince them that Capital is King. Remind the public that 
making Lithuania look like the pale shade of a Western European city is 
the best way to scrub the Soviet past: and make the country attractive 
to even more investment and development.

During Soviet times, cinema played an important role in public cultural 
life. Large movie theatres were built in central locations around 
Lithuanian cities. The theatres filled a crucial role as places for 
public meetings and gatherings. After independence, as Soviet 
structures rapidly crumbled in a wholesale fashion, the cinemas caught 
the attention of the real estate market. In a short time, private 
enterprise managed to take over and destroy almost every cinema in 
Vilnius, turning them into apartments and supermarkets.

More than 15 cinema theatres disappeared including such urban landmarks 
as Ausra (Dawn), Zvaigzde (Star), Spalis (October), Pionierius 
(Pioneer), Pergale (Victory), Tevyne (Motherland), Kronika (Newsreel), 
Aidas (Echo), Planeta (Planet), Neris, Vingis, Lazdynai, Vilnius, 
Maskva (Moscow), and LIETUVA (Lithuania). In poor replacement, and 
mirroring the tragedy of cities all over the world, two 2 multiplex 
cinema monsters were constructed: the suburban Coca Cola Plaza and 
exurban Akropolis Cinemas. The latter, that is part of Lithuania’s 
largest shopping mall, is representative of the 'mallification' of 
Lithuania. With the multiplexes came multiplex Hollywood movies: so the 
demolition of cinematic space encoded a demolition of independent film 
programming.

Now, in 2005, there is only one cinema standing: LIETUVA. And a battle 
has emerged to save it. Cinema Lietuva was built in 1965 and, 
significantly, is the largest cinema in Lithuania with over 1000 seats 
and a screen size of 200 square meters, offering an ideal image size. 
It is the home of the Vilnius Film Festival and as such has played an 
important role in the imaginative life of a whole generation of Vilnius 
people. The title of the enterprise “Lietuva” (Lithuania) is also an 
important signifier of national identity, as its name never bore any 
Soviet overtones (i.e. it wasn’t called the Cinema of the Soviet 
Republic of Lithuania). To say to somebody “let’s meet at Lietuva” 
really meant something during Soviet occupation.

In 2002, the Vilnius Municipal authorities quietly sold the cinema to 
private property developers; with a caveat that it had to operate as a 
cinema for a three-year period. That term is ending on 1 July 2005 and 
a protest to save the cinema has begun.

In March 2005 we infiltrated the former ticket office of the country 
largest cinema, staging the 'pro-test lab', which is the embodiment of 
VILMA – Vilnius Interdisciplinary Lab for Media Arts. Pro-test lab is 
constructed as a spatial device to register the scenario of protest and 
generate an action. The logic of the spatial device refers to the 
Brothers Lumiere early model of the cinema camera that performed a 
twofold function both recording and projecting the action. Pro-test lab 
is generating and archiving all available forms of protest against the 
situation of the Cinema Lietuva focusing on the discourse of public 
space vs. corporate privatization. The protest is aimed at reclaiming 
the now privatized space.

Pro-test lab is testing the understanding of possible and/or impossible 
forms of protest. It is inviting participation in, and facilitating, 
protest from groups which as yet are unidentified and are searching for 
ways of making their opinions heard: and the particular activity that 
would best support their protest. Pro-test lab is actively advertising 
itself as a space in which anti-establishment, or at least 
anti-hegemonic, opinion can flourish. The officers of the pro-test lab, 
and the technical support structure, will help give form to these 
opinions. Pro-test lab will help develop a protest scenario. It is a 
production house of protest.

The space of the former ticket office is build as separate segment of 
larger architectural set rendered in grayish stucco. We have got access 
to such relatively big space (250 square meters), thanks to the fashion 
of queuing, largely rehearsed in former times.

Even after the 1997 renovation the space preserved the charm of a 
modernist glass pavilion that encloses the ground floor of the whole 
building, facing to the larger square of one of a main streets in a 
city. Two glass walls construct the showcase that faces the street 
unfolding the space to the passers-by and introducing the character 
that rather resemble the lounge than a white cube or a black box.

The white sealing of a space is sliced with strict stripes of neon 
lights. Three white concrete columns supporting the sealing stand for 
the right of notation boards collecting on their surface signatures of 
support and immediate reactions of a visitors.

Following the genesis of VILMA, as referring to the former soviet 
factory of recording devices the architecture of the space is has 
reappearing construction element of a box, that is used for packaging 
and transportation of recording devices. The space of the Pro-test lab 
maps and enfolds several architectural and programming aspects, that 
are suggested as a number of overlapping zones.

The pro-test lab is fitted with LIETUVA TV, a public access television 
studio called similar to the national television. LIETUVA TV is a 
meta-zone that maps new visibilities, and documents and archives the 
protest. LIETUVA TV develops its own format of a so called Talk Show 
which creates the media space merging geography of the city and 
cinematic references that challenge contemporary politics in real time 
debates, moderated by Rytis Juodeika, a film critic and theorist.

'Modeling Zone' is a space for thinking and workshops that architecture 
student club is staging to invite participants interested to model 
situations: to produce and project visions of [the] future city. The 
Modeling Zone is for the construction/development of new housing models 
and for privatization role-playing games to be played. ASK (the 
Architecture Students’ Club) has developed a daily street game merging 
Monopoly board-game strategies with local municipality characteristics 
in a game show “VIP Turgus” that refers to VP market mall chain-–the 
owner of the cinema.

THE 'Zone of Wishes' is a lounge space for discussions, chatting and 
brainstorming in which visitors can exercise their desires. It is a 
meeting place for a number of citizens’ movements (for their weekly or 
daily meetings) and a drop-in spot for anyone concerned with the 
general community lack of awareness about "what’s going on". Zone of 
Wishes generates and rehearses the weekly public actions or political 
petitions.

AViZa (oat) is an alternative kitchen space improvised by young people 
gathered on a mailing-list to cook the discussions and discuss the 
secrets of cooking. AViZa invites cultural institutes and agencies to 
present national cuisines and share their views on city development.

The Polyphonic protest program has been developed by Co:LAB UK , an 
intern student collective from Dartington College (UK) that suggested 
to do a bar space as the socializing element every Thursday, offering 
tea, soup and more. As the sign says: ”cast your ballot (a sum not less 
than 2 litas) in the box and in return you will get beer, wine or 
water”. The special sound and visual program is developed for each 
event.

Inside the space of the lab in front of the entrance there is an 
architectural appendix – an additional space of something like 20 
square meters separated by a glass wall, that forms a perfect green 
house. It is filled with plants and lightened with vegetation lights 
making the area into a playground to rehearse the deejay in the role of 
the gardener. This is a zone of a radio station in development.

The Reading Room zone is a space which archives and navigates the 
protest scenario. It contains a footnote library of disobedience and 
rebellion, collected according the suggestion or donation based on a 
good will and collaborative spirit of citizens. It gathers all kinds of 
documents mapping the development of resistance to privatization and 
gentrification, including some audiovisual documents, web links, 
collection of news, papers, magazines and books. Reading Room prepares 
for a screening program of political forms that uses format of films.

To bring all the activities together we use an Internet forum. To date, 
this list has been joined by over 150 people, including architecture 
students, green party activists, vegans, anarchists, musicians, 
students from TV and cinema school, animators, film world people, 
theater students, social democrat party, community leaders, casual 
passers by and regular hangout goers.

The four larger scale TV monitors installed in the lab space broadcast 
daily the production of Lietuvos TV. Two larger screens are for the 
event projections. Collaboration with local open source community 
facilitates the lab with streaming accessed from 
http://www.vilma.cc/LIETUVA

Now back to your question. What happened, for instance, last week? We 
had an action “America will help us”, which staggered protest lab fans 
with contradictory facets. Referring to the hope of Lithuanians that 
there is a upper will out there, that can rescuer, this myth was 
reinforced by American Voice radio propaganda during the post war 
resistance keeping Lithuanian for the next 20 years in forest to beat 
the resistance record. On the facade of the cinema the huge banner with 
black and white layout featuring the words of the President of the 
United States George W. Bush, that from now on, any enemy of LIETUVA is 
an enemy of the United States, he stated during a visit to Vilnius on 
November 23 2002. So the initiators of the action masterly planted the 
cinema in a place of a country calling everyone who is for LIETUVA, 
join the action seducing with a popcorn, cola and much more. Together 
with the United States, let's save LIETUVA from the enemy! People 
gathered were supplied with masks of the US president to see the world 
through the eyes of George Bush. Dean Reed, the red Elvis supported the 
background of the action with his songs performed by a laptop. For 
local context of radical thought which hardly accepts leftist discourse 
due a connotation to Stalinist repressions such turn of a pro-test lab 
activity was mind blowing.

GL: What are your feelings about Soviet modernism? Did you find the 
building ugly when you grew up? And now? It is true that the current 
elite would like to knock down the building and replace it with yet 
another multiplex?

N&G: When we grew up we thought it was great! Absolutely great 
architecture that brought the urban spirit into the city. It developed 
the idea of public space, shattering the patriarchal values of soviet 
state and rural Lithuanian life. It looked western, more Scandinavian 
maybe, as the scale of such developments in Lithuania was different 
from Palast der Republik in Berlin. Indeed it was contradicting the 
baroque architecture and always stood up for something, that encroaches 
on the very fundamental values. It carried a strong claim for change 
and the same time for disintegration of the old. When we were kids the 
cinema was big, new and nice, it had a touch of progressive 
architecture that brought feelings of openness, of the so-called 
warming up epoch. Nowadays, despite the grayish and worn out exterior 
surfaces it remains a strong landmark. It is a document that testifies 
the desire for public space. From our point it is the best cinema 
theater in the country.

Politicians only think about making profits. They look at the culture 
as at the milking cow, and the same way they treat public space. New 
liberals with real estate tycoons meet the expectation of both former 
communists and former nationalists to erase traces of the soviet past 
as they did it with the soviet monuments. In a place of a cinema they 
plan to build huge penthouse with a shopping center on a ground floor. 
They were not even thinking about building multiplex, as at the moment 
is not as profitable as speculation with a real estate.

GL: Your search for a contemporary arts building with media lab 
facilities has been going for a long time. I remember when we met for 
the first time, in Kiasma during Temp Lab, late 1999, you were 
negotiating with a rich person about some gallery space near the 
central square of Vilnius. Speculation with real estate must be pretty 
intense. On the other hand, one would think that there are a lot of 
abandoned buildings, like everywhere in Eastern Europe. Or is this a 
Western misconception?

N&G: Well Vilnius is not the case. Space is rather controlled. You 
cannot find any of abandoned space here. Every corner is privatized as 
there is a lot of Russian money washed here through the real estate 
business. We are squatting the privatized space now. We call for 
reclaiming public space and demand for justice, for the right 
distribution.

 During the last years we tried to negotiate with new rich and see if 
its possible employ their energies into the economy of such new media 
place. But it was not possible as they would think in the conservative 
terms, like they would be still only understand the gallery model and 
would not find enough creative imagination how to challenge it.

GL: What's the cultural politics like in Lithuania? I heard that the 
Soros structures were dismantled and that this scene will move into 
newly establish contemporary arts museum. Still, there is little in 
terms of infrastructure, in particular in the field of new media.

N&G: Today, all attention goes to the cultural heritage and 
restoration. Former communist joined their desires with conservatives 
to rebuild the old royal castle. It seems like the energies of soviet 
factory builders suspended during last years of privatization as there 
was no industry development, now get released into the retrospectives. 
On the other hand they continue to exercise former soviet experience of 
national spectacle supporting facade culture. Classical music and 
theater production, even big national song festivals get all the 
political attention and support. Another problem that understanding of 
efficiency in culture or public space is reduced to the monetary level.

Indeed, after a few years of lurking in the National Museum the Soros 
structure came onto the surface in a new embodiment of State Gallery 
for Modern Art. Seems like the same model is implemented in at least a 
few of post soviet countries. Its just really sad that in Lithuania in 
particular the Soros foundation eliminated support for new media 
initiatives and practices. This is maybe due to their loyalty to 
national handicrafts and traditional visual culture? Who knows.

There is a visible distrust of the independent organizations or NGO at 
large in the cultural politics. A large illiteracy about the civil 
society and civil institutes, like NGO for instance. Only governmental 
and private enterprises are legitimate. Therefore most of the NGO’s are 
established by governmental structures just to imitate civil society 
and through that to pump public money.

The absence of facility in a new media scene probably has certain logic 
in a lack of awareness of what is this culture and low education level 
at large. The distribution of public funds is run or headed by old boys 
network. It is different generation, and not only because of age. On 
the other hand new media culture is not considered as representative, 
therefore all resources go for representation.

GL: The Populism show, which opened in Amsterdam early May, has played 
a central role in process that led to opening of the space inside the 
cinema. How come? This is an example of 'global art' that plays out 
locally? Do you know of other such examples?

N&G: We are carrying out the idea of a laboratory since a while, 
probably since a Ground Control project 1997. Since then it went 
through the different stages being transformed from the artist exchange 
into television program, then research base for individual projects and 
international series of workshops. And each time looking and searching 
for the economies grounded in the local specificity.

We employed the invitation of the Populism show to launch the Pro-test 
Lab project. And we developed the proposal from the piece limited 
within the institutional framework into the structure that goes far 
beyond that, which is the embodiment of media lab that works with local 
identity and protest agenda. Our interest is how to transgress the art 
ghetto borders of the encapsulating the work and the practice in the 
trap of the illustration. It shows that its still possible to play with 
the “international” card here. Locally we still have strong heritage of 
a “big brother”, just in this case Moscow is substituted by Brussels. 
So the international projects are playing role of an external censor 
that has all legitimate powers to let things happen. Institutional 
world support because they think its international , its successful and 
competitive. It has another side as well, as people do not want to be 
sold, and let their voice to be privatized and exported to the west or 
the big show. Therefore we had to be very careful not to turn into the 
same tycoons as we have in art market.

GL: As in many other places, Vilnius suffers from a brain drain of 
young people and professionals that move to Western Europe, Germany, 
the UK, the US, to earn a living. Could the cinema space project be 
read as an attempt to stem this constant flow of 'dissident' young 
people out of the country?

N&G: yes, indeed. We could make the following statement: invest into 
the Pro-test lab and we won’t bother you with immigration:) It would be 
a great and yet impossible mission indeed. It would not be fair if the 
cinema space project would take away the chance people take going to 
pick up strawberries in Norway or work on construction sites in London. 
On the other hand, people leave because they are not satisfied with the 
reduced scenario they are offered through the recent developments in 
Lithuania. Mallification of the whole country reminds us of the same 
repressive experience they had during soviet times. Therefore they are 
looking for countries, cities and situations that cab offer just more 
interesting cultural life in all respects than that. On the other hand 
there is a certain social and intellectual upheaval occurring recently 
and visible activity and presence in the discussions. It means that not 
only economic factors are effective. Pro-test lab is already 
acknowledged as contributing to this discourse, encouraging further 
developments.

So what we try to do instead of being annoyed if London or NY have 
better offers, we try to have some fun while researching local 
situations of transformation, reflecting this process and finally 
encouraging people to construct the future models.

GL: You are soon entering a crucial phase of the project. I suppose you 
want to keep the space and build a sustainable model for it. How can 
people outside Lithuania support you? Would you like to organize 
screenings and even host exhibitions over the next weeks and months?

N&G: We starting from screenings and small scale events like workshops, 
as education is most important. We would like to collaborate with 
creative agencies and develop system of hosting and producing 
international workshops that would sustain the search and development 
of new media practices. We see VILMA as alternative education and 
production center. And through that we would also build identity for 
VILMA and the system of plug-ins including television, radio, library 
and experimental production including such practices as urban 
agriculture for instance. Everyone who is interested are welcome to 
join and propose the support or collaboration.

We try to invest into the local context, translating some of seminal 
writers' writings on new media as well as encouraging local thinkers to 
write on media culture at large. Only some of it comes in English, as 
we cannot cope with translations. The most crucial would be translation 
support and editing of English. Then we would be needing someone 
joining voluntary with critical awareness, that could enjoy working in 
hard conditions helping to build the self sustained structure. Also we 
ask for support building media library: films, DVDs, CDRoms, web links 
and texts.

And at last but not the least we need international support letter 
directed to Parliament, Prime minister, Minister of culture, and Mayor 
of Vilnius to support our activity and preserve the space for 
independent cinema and new media practice in Vilnius. The only in the 
country.

--

Email of Pro-test lab: info at vilma.cc.

Relevant URLs:

http://www.vilma.cc/LIETUVA
http://www.vilma.cc
http://www.baltictimes.com/art.php?art_id=12887

RAM 6: http://www.vilma.cc/en_index.php?mid=76&nid=89