“Parallel Kaunas” by Martyna Žukaitė
The visual culture is growing rapidly, new ways of seeing the past are being developed, which is why I chose to present the story in a visual way by creating simulacrum. Formerly considered modern, now obsolete solutions are necessary in order to create a new, postmodern modernity. Our ancestors do not stop haunting us – the memory and the past are recorded, but both are being rewritten over and over again. From time to time the ancestors who now live in our stories and memories return to the world that is already being created by “us”, which, no matter how changed, is still as human and familiar. In these photos, the people of the past unobtrusively get involved in the events of the city, various mundane situations. Some of them mimic our actions or live their usual routines that they got used to, the lives of others are still being continued through their grandchildren. Interwar Kaunas is a parallel world, where each building has its own spirit, created by the residents and creators of the Temporary Capital. Their expectations, dreams, ideas and feelings are still moving through the streets or resting in the squares and parks of the city. Sometimes we exchange thoughts or we dream one and the same dream of modern Kaunas, which was also dreamed by my great-grandmother, a seamstress of luxurious ladies of Kaunas. In any case – “here” the continuum of time and space ceases to exist, maybe everything is just a simulation?
Photocollages by M. Žukaitė, 2020.