Algis Mickunas
Globalization and the responsibility of the intellectual
The question of intellectual responsibility in connection with globalization has been a philosophical question from Socratic to modern philosophies. It is impossible to practice philosophy and not to pose this question. Yet even the awareness of responsibility in itself requires further awareness. The disclosure of intrinsic worth as atemporally present, but only chronoscopically experienced, requires a specific level of activity. Activity leads to another demand: not only reflection that represents an aim toward the world and the one who intends such an aim, but above all asks for legitimation as to the value of such an action. At this level one does not ask whether such a world is known – this is already granted, but if this world is worthy of one's activity. The possibility of constituting a world worthy of life is the reflective condition from which the failures of our degraded world become visible.

Richard David Precht
A man on a bridge
Is morality inborn? There is everyday morality, class morality, agreements' morality, morality of responsibility, maximal and minimal morality, morality of men and women, morality of feminists, businessmen and theologians. When society encounters some unexpected problem, a new morality arises. However it might be, every new morality is based on the same values: it appeals to consciousness, demands equity and democracy, brotherhood and peace. Excerpt from the book by Richard David Precht, Wer bin ich – und wenn ja, wie viele. Eine philosophische Reise. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munchen 2007. To be published soon in Lithuanian by Alma littera publishing house. Translated from German by Alfonsas Tekorius.

Rasa Balockaite
Pornographication of politics: Can there be too much openness?
Traditionally, openness is described in terms of its relation to privacy. Though it is not difficult to create an impression of openness by revealing details of personal life, when it exceeds certain limits, the public sphere degrades into intimate personal affairs and a host of problems. This urges one to reconsider the limits of the public sphere and to answer a fundamental question – is a public sphere possible in a culture that denies privacy?

Tomas Venclova
Vilnius as an object of nostalgia
Vilnius is often seen as a mysterious, magic and strange city, one that inspires myths and poetry. It is close to nature – this makes Vilnius a pastoral city – a wild, picturesque nature enters its centre contributing to its Baroque forms. The other side of Vilnius – its multicultural polyglot character, that brings Vilnius close to Prague, Trieste or Sarajevo. The text of Vilnius can not be split into several or more texts opposing each other – they are the source of its beauty. In times when walls are demolished and trespassed, a certain type of inhabitant, belonging to several cultures at once, has the chance to resurface.

Zinovy Zinik
History thieves
Thirty years after leaving Russia for Israel, an unheimliche experience in Berlin led Zinovy Zinik to investigate the chequered past of his Russian-born grandfather. An autobiographical exploration of "assumed identity" in twentieth-century Jewish experience.

Kestutis Sapoka
Grim smiles of history that became strange
To discuss propaganda monuments is a risky affair because, among other things, any critical remarks are likely to be taken as a disrespect towards the person portrayed. Whenever anyone expresses doubt about the aesthetic value of a particular monument or the meaningfulness of its form, one is immediately accused of showing a lack of respect for the contributions of the person to whom the monument was erected.

Ramune Marcinkeviciute
Existence at the bottom over bottom
A review of a play directed by Oskaras Korsunovas at the Oslo National Theatre, based on At the Bottom by Maxim Gorky.

Kristina Civinskiene
Phenomenon of Kaunas Art – Ceslovas Lukenskas
"A kicked man", "A burning Man", wounded people and a wounded earth were and are the main themes of this artist. No matter in what form they are expressed, they become metaphors of humaneness, respect, tradition and memory.

Kestutis Sapoka
Is artistic value "simply obvious"?
The cycle of exhibitions "Abstraction and Expressionism: Two Traditions of Vilnius Painting in 1960-2009" had as a goal not only to show the panorama of Lithuanian painting but also to show the art belong to collectors and artists themselves. This is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this "umbrella" exhibition, taking place in 17 Vilnius art galleries.

Asta Pakarklyte
The parallel worlds of Lithuanian musicology
What are the relations between Lithuanian musicology and new musicology? The answer is simple: there is no relation at all because these are two totally different worlds that exist in different spaces and places. Rules that are taken for granted in the context of new musicology do not exist in the parallel world of Lithuanian musicology, though the first fragmented acquaintance with cultural musicology was made a decade ago.

Kazys Varnelis
The meaning of network culture
Not all at once but rather slowly, a new societal condition is emerging; network culture. As digital computing matures and meshes with increasingly mobile networking technology, society is also changing, undergoing a cultural shift. Just as modernism and postmodernism served as crucial heuristic devices in their day, studying network culture as a historical phenomenon allows us to better understand broader socio-cultural trends and structures, to give duration and temporality to our own, ahistorical time. The question we face at the dawn of the network culture is whether we, the inhabitants of our networked publics, can reach across our micro-clustered worlds to coalesce into a force capable of understanding the condition we are in and produce positive change, preserving what is good about network culture and changing what is bad, or whether we are doomed only to dissipate into the network.

Raminta Jurenaite
The never ending flow of memories
Exhibition by Esther Shalev-Gerz at the Akademija Gallery. The nomadic artist Shalev-Gerz came to Vilnius to lecture at Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts in 2007. She has returned several times, and finally an exhibition of her art has been held in her native country.

Stasys Eidrigevicius
A road to Japan
From the diary of an art wanderer. Stasys Eidrigevicius writes about the Triennial of Echigu Tsumari, the International Triennial at Toyama Modern Art Museum, and strange coincidences in the works of artists from different countries. "Ideas and concepts are sometimes a coincidence, sometimes they are simply stolen by art – the question is who is the first one."

Kristina Stanciene
Art – a chair to someone tired?
Review of an exhibition by three artists from Latvia – Aleksej Naumovs, Kristaps Zarins and their young colleague Anitra Berzina, held in Vilnius Arka Gallery.

Albertas Juska
The memory of the past
Several pages from the history of the Naumiestis Jews. Albertas Juska discusses the attitude towards Jews during the first Soviet occupation and during three years of Nazi terror, and meditates on the possibility of opening a new page in Lithuanian-Jewish relations, urging the reader to blame only those who are to be blamed but not the ones that are innocent.

Published 2009-09-24