How to Represent the Present? Constructing the Notion of ‘the Contemporary’ in the Lithuanian Art Exhibitions of the Last Decade of the Twentieth Century
How to Represent the Present? Constructing the Notion of ‘the Contemporary’ in the Lithuanian Art Exhibitions of the Last Decade of the Twentieth Century

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the theoretical concept of ‘the contemporary’ and its manifestations in the exhibitions of Lithuanian contemporary art of the last decade of the twentieth century. ‘Contemporary’ has a variety of meanings and has for a while been widely discussed by art historians, philosophers and curators. Some of them claim that it refers to the new historical period that started in 1989, while others say that it is a specific discourse, constantly (re)defined by various agents of the field of art attempting to represent the present. Both sides agree that exhibitions of contemporary art are crucial in producing the meanings of the present. The article presents a survey of several large-scale exhibitions of Lithuanian contemporary art that formed the notions of the contemporary in the 1990s and were organised by major Lithuanian art institutions: the Contemporary Art Centre and the Soros Centre for Contemporary Art (1993–1999). The particular focus is on the curatorial framing of shows, which is important in establishing different interpretations of the notion of contemporaneity.

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