{"id":2025,"date":"2025-02-04T12:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/?page_id=2025"},"modified":"2025-02-04T12:44:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T09:44:48","slug":"susitinkame-prie-ambasados-socialiniai-tinklai-ir-spontaniski-antikariniai-protestai-2022-m-vilniuje","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/archyvas\/turinys-t-16\/susitinkame-prie-ambasados-socialiniai-tinklai-ir-spontaniski-antikariniai-protestai-2022-m-vilniuje\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Meet in Front of the Embassy! Social Networks and the 2022 Spontaneous Anti-War Protests in Vilnius"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skaidra Trilupaityt\u0117 (PDF)<\/strong><\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.53631\/MIS\/2024.16.1<\/a><\/p>\n

The article, presented at the conference To Prevent the Enemy from Winning: Art in the Information War<\/em> in the autumn of 2023, discusses the protests and artistic actions that took place in Vilnius over the course of approximately two months since the beginning Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in Ukraine. This phenomenon is approached with regard to the local factors in the social media milieu, rather than through the prism of war or international relations. After a brief comparison of the almost radically different traditions of protest and opposition to the authorities in Lithuania and in Russia, the analysis focuses on the public, mostly semi-staged civil initiatives organised at the outset of the war. Based on the Ukrainian philosopher Irina Zherebkina\u2019s insight about the new regime of sensuality, when war liberates and spontaneously legitimises hatred, the Vilnius events of the spring of 2022 are characterised as the first anti-war protests initiated and reflected upon via social media in the history of independent Lithuania.<\/p>\n

After it started the war on Ukraine, Russia was immediately and unequivocally condemned in Lithuania. The majority of the country\u2019s population experienced emotional shock, which translated into an outpour of indignation, rage, grief, and compassion on social media. In the first months of the war, the mass media amplified its emotional impact, yet later the emotions waned. The political\/artistic activism actions that had been held in Vilnius in the beginning of the invasion ceased. Those theatrical and spectacular actions frequently involved celebrities. One of the most remarkable ones was held on April 6, 2022: one of the ponds near the Russian embassy in Vilnius was dyed red, and the Lithuanian Olympic champion R\u016bta Meilutyt\u0117 was seen swimming across it (the action-performance Swimming Through<\/em> was conceived by Berta Tilmantait\u0117, Neringa Reka\u0161i\u016bt\u0117, R\u016bta Meilutyt\u0117, and Aurelija Urbonavi\u010di\u016bt\u0117). The hopeful swim through \u2018blood\u2019 was said by the organisers to symbolise \u2018the continuous, tireless, incessant effort to swim (through)\u2019 and testified to Russia\u2019s responsibility for war crimes against Ukrainians. The emotional responses of social media users and the viral effect not only made this silent and extremely spectacular act famous, but were also instrumental in inaugurating it into the art field. The artistic and emotional impact of the video documentation was evidenced by the favourable reactions of art critics and art institutions, and the recording of the performance was acquired by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

In summary, it can be stated that the spring 2022 anti-war rallies in Vilnius were visually striking, transgressive, and simultaneously peaceful. Their participants were united, and there were no provocations or confrontations, let alone attempts to dispel the gatherings by the authorities. The first pre-staged protest performance in Lithuania, the exceptionally impressive Swimming Through<\/em>, had a greater lasting value compared to other street protests initiated by civil activists. When the initial surge of enragement subsided, many professional Lithuanian artists adressed the war on Ukraine using their means of expression, yet at this point their work was shown inside the walls of art institutions rather than in the street or in front of the Russian embassy.<\/p>\n

Keywords<\/strong>: anti-war protests, Facebook, Irina Zherebkina, psychological crisis, war and social media<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Skaidra Trilupaityt\u0117 (PDF) https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53631\/MIS\/2024.16.1 The article, presented at the conference To Prevent the Enemy from Winning: Art in the Information War in the autumn of 2023, discusses the protests and artistic actions that took place in Vilnius over the course of approximately two months since the beginning Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in Ukraine. This phenomenon is[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2020,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2025","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2034,"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2025\/revisions\/2034"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arthistorystudies.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}