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Walter Benjamin famously argued that the mass public of the twentieth century would necessarily correlate with a newly politicized art. But the world has changed considerably since Benjamin’s article was written, as Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer already were assessing less than a decade later. It is the purpose of this article to examine how the aesthetics of the Frankfurt school, though frequently still invoked, have lost some of their immediate relevance. The anti-establishment phase of the 60s, compounded by a pronounced taste for irony, rendered aura and exhibition outmoded values, while on the other hand, more recently, price escalation in the art market and digitization have made certain of the Frankfurt school arguments more pertinent than ever. Taking as examples Goldsworthy and Kentridge, this essay argues that a deliberate loosening of the artist’s control over both medium and reception displaces the warmed-over religious responses endorsed by Benjamin, positing instead increased intellectual agency on the part of viewers, whose identity as a mass public has become newly complicated.
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Art, Aura, and Admiration in the Age of Digital Reproduction

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The main subject of this paper is the Jewish artists of interwar Lithuania and their efforts to unite. It analyses the aspirations of Jewish artists to unite into groups, to represent and present their art, and to maintain their national identity. The article introduces the main organisers, participants, circumstances and goals of the artists’ gatherings. It discusses three cases: the cultural policy pursued by National Jewish Council’s Section of Culture at the institutional level; Jewish artists who gathered on a social basis; and the <italic>Art Gallery</italic> of Neemiya Arbit Blatas as a unique exhibition space in inter-war Lithuania, which mainly exhibited the works of Jewish artists. The paper focuses not on the artistic legacy or its value, but rather on the processes of cultural life of Jewish artists in interwar Lithuania.
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Gatherings of Jewish Artists in Interwar Lithuania

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The artist Albert Rappaport was born in Anykščiai in 1898. In 1911, the family emigrated to New York. Rappaport became an American citizen in 1925 and began to travel widely. He studied fine art in New York, Paris, Dresden and Munich. He visited South America, Africa and traveled extensively through Europe (1925–1927, 1933, 1937–1939), returning to the United States now and again. The artist participated in several dozen exhibitions. He showed his work in Paris, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Copenhagen, Mexico City, Havana, New York, Calgary and Montreal, in addition to his solo exhibitions in 1937 in Warsaw and Vilnius, and in Kaunas, Riga and Tallinn in 1938. After Rappaport’s death, in March 17, 1969 in Montreal, his collection of artworks disappeared and has thus far not been found. To date, two of his painted portraits are known to exist – one belongs to the private collection of Jonathan C. Rappaport, another is on display at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal.
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In Search of Missing Collection: The Case of Artist Albert Rappaport

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The architectural legacy of the Unitarians in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania has received little attention from researchers to this day. This article presents an architectural synthesis of the Uniate and Order of Basilians that reflected the old succession of Orthodox architectural heritage, but at the same time was increasingly influenced by the architectural traditions formed in Catholic churches. This article presents the tendencies of the development of Uniate architecture, paying attention to the brick and wooden sacral buildings belonging to the Uniate and Order of Basilians in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The early Uniate sacral examples reflected the still striking features of the synthesis, which were particularly marked in the formation of the Greek cross plan and apses in the different axes of the building. All this marked the architectural influences of Ukraine, Moldova and other areas of Central and South-Eastern Europe, which were also clearly visible in Orthodox architecture. Wooden Uniate architecture, as in the case of masonry buildings, had distinctly inherited features of Orthodox architecture, and in the late period, as early as the 18th century, there was a tendency to adopt the principles of Catholic church architecture, which resulted in complete convergence of most Uniate buildings with examples of Catholic church buildings. Vilnius Baroque School, formed in the late Baroque era, formed general tendencies in the construction of Uniate and Catholic sacral buildings, among which the clearer divisions of the larger structural and artistic principles are no longer noticeable in the second half of 18th century. The article also presents the image of baroque St. Nicholas Church, the only Uniate parish church in Vilnius city, which was lost after the reconstruction in the second half of the 19th century.
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Uniate Sacral Architecture in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: A Synthesis of Confessional Architecture

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The main goal of the article is to find out whether a specific genre of architectural criticism was formed in the public discourse of interwar Lithuania (1918–1940), and if so, to define the main tendencies of this phenomenon. After defining the critique of architecture as a public discourse in which, based on theoretical knowledge, reflections on the essence of architecture or evaluations of ongoing urban development and buildings are popularly presented, the article discusses such texts in interwar Lithuania. The publication will acquaint readers with the most creative reviewers of architecture and the thematic variety of publications attributed to architectural critics. The article will also reveal personalised, unexpected assessments of buildings that have already become objects of heritage.
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Architectural Criticism in Lithuanian Interwar Press: Preconditions of the Phenomenon

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The article explores the reflection of Lithuanian theatrical activities in the local press during the World War II. As the number of articles shows, theatre was an important part of the dailies’ content. The articles reveal that theatre activities were very important for the expansion of the Nazi culture. One can distinguish three general themes that the articles cover: promotion of Western theatre, especially German, promotion of Lithuanian repertoire and presentation of entertainment theatre. The latter can still be divided into entertainment for German soldiers and administration, and entertainment for Lithuanian audiences. The content of the articles reveals that journalists writing about theatre avoided Nazi propaganda clichés, such as hatred for Bolsheviks and Jews, but these clichés were nevertheless used by the representatives of theatre administrators.
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Reflections of Theatrical Activities in Lithuanian Local Periodical Press Under German Occupation 1941–1944

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The main purpose of this report is to discuss the influence of political power on art studies in Lithuania and the creative work of artists from 1940 to 1953. It will be based on the destruction of the Kaunas Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, which is little known to art historians. After the Second World War, this institute actually followed the traditions of Kaunas Art School (1922–1940): that was the reason for its closure in 1951. The closure was officially called the reorganisation and continuation of art studies in Vilnius.
The post-war ideological content and power of the government acted in the study process. However, in essence, educators were guided by their modernist attitudes and did not accept Soviet directives. The report will try to show how political power has corrected art studies and changed the work of mature artists.
This article raises a question about the cost of adaptation and resistance in life and creation. The idea is that the destruction of an art institution is possible, but it is impossible to completely destroy the art school tradition. These and other similar issues will be addressed in the article, based on archival documents and examples of works by several different generations of artists – Vytautas Kairiūkštis (1891–1961), Liudas Truikys (1904–1987), Zenonas Varnauskas (1923–2010).
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Art Studies in the Context of Power Relations in Lithuania, 1940–1953: The Case of the Activities and Closure of Kaunas Applied and Decorative Art Institute

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This article deals with the concept of Arctic Drama, which is about how there is a relationship between drama and cultural clashes in the perspective of shared cultures in the northern Scandinavian area, which is defined as arctic in the geographical sense. In this vast area the Sámi people historically and to the present day have been living from reindeer herding in a nomadic lifestyle, giving them a close relationship to nature.
Norwegians and Swedes colonised this area historically, especially the coast for fishing.There have been strong cultural clashes since the Viking ages, but colonisation mainly started later by introducing Christianity by force in the 16th century. Since the Romantic age, these ethno-cultural clashes have been reflected in drama and theatre, and some plays by Henrik Ibsen and Knut Hamsun echo these tensions. An independent theatre of the Sámi people as well as of other indigenous people in Greenland and Canada, like the Inuits, would also develop some theatrical strategies based in a dramaturgy that could be described as a “spiral dramaturgy”. Cultural independence has contributed to a decolonisation process, contributing to even out the cultural clashes in theatre and drama, which could be defined as postcolonial towards decolonisation. This article focuses on the area of arctic Scandinavia.
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Arctic Drama to Sámi Theatre – Cultural Clashes Towards Decolonisation: In Shared Dialogic Spaces

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This research analyzes performance art that uses biometric data, based on two concept perspectives – inhuman interconnections and transcorporeality – applied to examples of European performance art from Lithuania, Finland, Poland, and Denmark. The term performance art theoretically refers to all art that involves the human body, human biometric data, inhuman interconnections, transcorporeality, and liminal space. This study examines the differences between wide-scope interactive art and design and performance art involving biometric data created through the application of recent developments in consumer technology for live events. This research examined three case projects through the method of autoethnography. The data presented in the article was either collected during the author’s performance art events or at performances the author was attending as a visitor. The cases are analyzed by means of qualitative data analysis, utilizing terms representing human biometric data and interactivity adopted from research within the fields of interactive art and interactive design. The study examines the combination of biometric data and art to explain the phenomenon of humans meeting technology, revealed through data collected from a body and transmitted to an audience during a performance art event. The conclusion revisits the key terms – performance art, biometric data, inhuman interconnections and transcorporeality – as applied to artistic practices, where performance art and biometric data meet.
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Performance Art Using Biometric Data

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Vaporwave grabs the attention of internet voyager with harsh collages glued together in a technically primitive manner. It’s a cultural phenomenon which both originated and is active solely on the internet. In the context of general internet culture Vaporwave is exclusive in its aesthetics due to the domination of violet and pink colors, technically primitive quality of texts, fetishization of 8th and 9th decade mainstream commodities and acute nostalgic undertones. Vaporwave has been mostly explored as a music genre or sociological phenomenon, while its visual aspect has mostly remained unattended. This article seeks to analyze the conceptual aspects embodied within Vaporwave visuals, to briefly compare them with music, and to unpack the mechanism of nostalgia as an affective entry point to the movement. The interpretation is mainly lead by Jean Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreality, and interpretational principles of hermeneutics. Five Tumblr blogs were analyzed. Hermeneutic inquiry into the texts yielded seven distinct symbol categories differentiated by the affect they generate: nostalgic commodities, idyllic classics, melancholic landscapes, harsh distortions, gentle geometry, depressive texts, and ecstatic brands. Each of these categories here are elaborated in detail finally summarizing the multilayered symbolism of the movement. It can be described as nostalgically challenging visual conventions through harsh technical quality and opposing codes of behavior through open expressions of depression and melancholy, thus exposing the doubts of individual imprisoned in postmodern society. ’80s and ’90s here become hyperreal fantasy lands of the past where a nostalgic individual can find refuge. In comparison to music, the visual aspect of Vaporwave highlights the technology as central artefacts of nostalgia, introduces new ways to analyze late capitalist consumer culture, and brings an intimate dialogue with hyperreality to the front. The article suggests that Vaporwave is a post-ironic art movement which both celebrates and criticizes capitalism, finally remaining vague whether there are ways to escape the system, and whether these ways should even be looked for.
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Celebration of the Hyperreal Nostalgia: Categorization and Analysis of Visual Vaporwave Artefacts

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Art History & Criticism

Vytautas Magnus University’s scholarly journal “Art History &amp; Criticism” is a publication in Humanities, the branch of Art History and Criticism, published since 2005. It is distinct among other journals because of its wide profile. The topics of the journal cover almost all areas of art history and criticism: cultural heritage, architecture, visual arts, theatre, contemporary and new media art research. The journal also publishes scholarly reviews and primary sources, which are important for further research.   Why Submit All submitted articles go through double blind peer-review process, after which authors are provided feedback and an opportunity to improve their articles if necessary. After the acceptance for publishing all articles are thoroughly edited and the great attention is paid to the aesthetic quality of their presentation in actual issue of the journal. All the authors receive the printed copy of the journal.   Rejection Rate:   about 25 %   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 

Art History & Criticism

Volume 17 (2021): Issue 1 (December 2021)

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