Monuments, memory, and mutating public space : some initiatives in Vilnius

ENRecent movements to endow public spaces in Vilnius with meaning via monument-building initiatives have been attended by inevitable paradoxes. On the one hand, the media extol the significance of certain events or persons; on the other, we hear assertions about the indeterminacy and inconstancy of any collective identity, which seemingly casts doubt on the need for any uniform national (or any other) representation. This creates difficulties in conceiving of forms of public art equally acceptable to all or a public representational space that unifies the national community. The article discusses how monuments transcend their function of simply being a cultural marker or decorative accent and emphasizes that questions of immortalizing the past in a democratic society be solved through public discussion in a maximally transparent public environment and not governed merely by political or financial power. [From the publication]