Linara Dovydaitytė (PDF)
https://doi.org/10.53631/DIS/2014.6.7
The museum is an important institution of modernity, continually exercising control over images. The museum creates and legitimates hierarchies of images, determines their (in)visibility and place within discourses, and directly and indirectly influences how we perceive images. For several decades, artists associated with the so-called institutional critique have analysed how the museum, as a space of power, was producing and disseminating knowledge about the world. This article is focused on an art project Museum by Lithuanian artist Dainius Liškevičius, which premiered at the National Gallery of Art in Vilnius in the spring of 2012. The project consists of a museum-like space with an exposition presenting three historical figures famous for their anti-Soviet protests and the artist’s life and career. As part of institutional critique, the Museum differs from the classics of this trend in its relation to the institution. Rather than critically deconstructing the idea or space of the museum, the project joins the museum discourse with new ideas. The article researches the project in light of post-Soviet memory culture.
Keywords: cabinet of curiosity, post-Soviet memory, historical representation, post-colonialism