video part - https://vimeo.com/345721381?activityReferer=1
Without Ruins We Cannot See the New World is a project conceived by the Serbian artist Sonja Jo and completed during her MagiC Carpets
residency in Kaunas. The project is based on the ideological transformations of 1990 in Lithuania, with a particular focus on the history of the former factories in Šančiai.
The focus is on the personal stories of the former factory workers and their thoughts, feelings and opinions about the political and economic turbulence of that time. The notions of nostalgia, ideology, media and history intertwine to provide a critical reading of capitalism and what it brings to former Soviet countries such as Lithuania.
The starting point for the project was the distinct colour of factory wall bricks that bear physical witness to the change in regimes. The red (Soviet period) and white (Independence period) bricks that make up the facade of the 1940s building allude to the physical co-existence of the two ideologies. On a conceptual level, this work shows the ongoing relationship between industry and politics or rather how a profit-making mindset adjusts itself to current political and economic opportunities. In conditions of war or peace, communism, democracy or capitalism, politics always focus on the maintenance and progress of industry and not the individual. People’s lives and their spiritual and moral values become subordinate to the adaptation and modernisation of industry.
The first part of the project, How to Fix Your History, displayed in Šančiai hospital, focuses on the personal stories of the former factory workers and their attempt to navigate the political and industrial turbulence of the communist and capitalist regimes. The thoughts, feelings and opinions of the workers that were collected by the artist are expressed in the physical form of invasive sculpture. The aim of the work is to highlight as well as bridge the gap between the two periods of history – the Soviet occupation and Independence. With the help of local photographer Vykintas Bliumkys, the artist decided to document the invasive sculptural pieces in the former factory walls that carry physical traces – the red and white bricks – from both ideological periods.
The second part, How to Get Rid of Your History, displayed in Kaunas Picture Gallery, is an installation and video work that aims to show the conditions upon which Kaunas and the rest of Lithuania accepted the ideological transformations in its history. The main message is for the viewer to understand that acceptance of historical and contemporary political events is a matter of individual choice.
