Exhibition menu
Exhibition menu

Prehistory

The Transformations Of The Rebellion

Political Resistance

"Silent" current

Hippies

Punks

Music

On the Road

Aesthetics

Towards The Roots Of The Nation

The Catholic Movement

About

Start

Lietuviškai

The Rebellion of Youth (1964–1991)

Aesthetics

Art, like music, shapes the emotional attitudes of evaluating the world and is an important factor in identity formation. Artists were the most free-thinking part of the enslaved society, and were quite closed. The regime had the hardest time controlling the art world. In the 1960s, aesthetic creation began to slip from the field of socialist realism propaganda. Most artists took a neutral stance towards the regime. The other part used symbols, metaphors and modern forms to provoke their compatriots to pursue ideological freedom. The world culture reaching through all barriers as well as their own influenced youth gatherings and promoted interest not only in music, but also in art, literature and philosophy. Young people admired the talented works of Jerome David Salinger, Jack Kerouac, Hermann Hesse, Julio Cortázar, Jonas Avyžius, Kazys Saja, Romualdas Lankauskas, Juozas Grušas, Justinas Marcinkevičius and Sigitas Geda, and rushed to the performances of Jonas Jurašas, Juozas Miltinis and Eimuntas Nekrošius.

Hippie and pioneer of Lithuanian underground rock culture Alvitas Taunys-Guru (1949–1979) and his wife Dangė Širvytė, daughter of the poet Pauliaus Širvys, mimicking the socialist realism Soviet partisans sculpture. Taunys was one of the organisers of the rock festival at the Žirmūnai restaurant in Vilnius that was held on 26 April 1970 and was the first of its kind in Lithuania. He was expelled from the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute for two years. He died in 1979 under suspicious circumstances.

Occupied Lithuania, 1970s. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Arūnė Taunytė)

The Modris Tenisons Pantomime Theatre Troupe (1966–1972) that was put together at the Kaunas Drama and Music Theatre captivated local hippies. Young people listened with fascination to the thoughts of the Latvian director about art and philosophy. A few of them started attending pantomime courses. In interacting with young people, the talented director got new ideas and learned to think freely. Pantomime spread at student dances, in the whirlwinds of frolicking youth. Modris’s student and friend, Raganiai (“The Withes”) drummer Natanas Gitkindas, roused the audience by pushing the partitions of the hall as if he was trying to tear down the Berlin Wall. Professional culture intertwined with street culture, and they influenced one another. At the end of the 1970s, during a performance of Light of Happiness at the Vilnius Palace of Culture of Trade Unions by a theatre group founded by actress Valerija Marcinkevičiūtė-Karalienė, verses from Jonas Biliūnas’s poem “Dream” were recited: “Will the Fatherland awaken, will there come a time when darkness, sorcery and slavery will perish?” Not long after, the KGB interrogated the managers of the theatre where Gediminas Storpirštis – who was still in school at the time – was acting. The military men reprimanded them for the “nationalist” poetry recited in the play. It was explained to them that these verses were printed in Soviet Lithuania, in a multi-volume collection Writings by Jonas Biliūnas. In 1973, some students at the Klaipėda Conservatory were almost thrown out of school for a performance they gave for International Women’s Day based on Sergei Yesenin’s poem “The Bitch”.

Gediminas Storpirštis at a rehearsal of Kazys Saja’s play Džinsai (“Jeans”) at the Antanas Vienuolis Secondary School.

Vilnius, 1977. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gediminas Storpirštis)

The rebellious youth shared philosophical, religious, historical and political publications that had been published both officially and illegally. In Vilnius, creative students, older artists, bohemians and other young people gathered at Žibutė and other cafés. Children of the Soviet nomenclature, teachers and white-collar workers would come, while the children of labourers – not as much. Alcohol, cheap coffee and burgeoning self-expression dissolved any social exclusion and created a place where people could exchange opinions, ideas and poetry. KGB agents plunged into the spaces of free-flowing thought, following and recruiting nonconformists and breaking their fates. After the self-immolation of Romas Kalanta in 1972, the Neringa restaurant was heavily bugged.

A theatrical performance at Vilnius Antanas Vienuolis Secondary School. First from the right – Gediminas Storpirštis.

Vilnius, 1978. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gediminas Storpirštis)

“Street Poetics” – poems by Raimundas (Rimas) Burokas and Borisas Lazutkinas, poetry readings organised by Company, the Kaunas hippie group, in the stairwells of the Ramovė cinema – turned stagnant “realisms” upside down. Burokas, a poet who died in the Lukiškės Prison hospital in 1980, became an icon of the freethinkers of the Old Town, and a brand of Lithuanian identity in the apartments of Moscow and Leningrad bohemians. Another youth legend – Liutauras Kazakevičius, who was a signatory of the Baltic Appeal and a walking library and encyclopaedia – read Bible passages aloud in Vilnius cafés and disturbed the townspeople who gathered for lunch. In the street, you could run into the Lithuanian philology student Juozas Erlickas rushing along with a string bag. His humorous typewritten short stories passed from hand to hand among the youth.

Kazimieras Šešelgis, a student at the State Art Institute of the Lithuanian SSR (now Vilnius Academy of Arts), engaging in a happening with a fellow student by the wall newspaper Laisvė (“Freedom”).

Vilnius, 1974. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Kazimieras Šešelgis)

Rebellious young people hungry for creativity, who had never studied art or learned any skills, began to paint – and how! The streets gave birth to talents. When enrolling in the State Art Institute of the Lithuanian SSR, Gitenis Umbrasas failed the loyalty exam organised by the commission, because he couldn’t stop himself… Instead of completing the assignment “40 Years of the Komsomol” the way he was expected to, he painted John the Baptist. Gitenis only passed the entrance exam on his fifth try. He worked as a carpenter, a postman and an ambulance worker, and also hitchhiked. In the early 1980s, he and his friends organised happenings in the springtime streets of the Old Town of Vilnius – theatrical protests against the grey everyday life – and celebrated Cockroach Day on 13 March. Seeing the strange procession of young people, passers-by would freeze with their jaws dropped open. Others joined the performance or followed behind. The militia would put an end to the fun, arresting the troublemakers and taking them to the insane asylum. In terms of health or career, this form of rebellion was suicidal.

Gitenis Umbrasas on the balcony of a Soviet apartment block, just before the March 13 celebration of Cockroach Day – a happening organized by Gitenis and his friends in the streets of Vilnius Old Town as a theatrical protest against the dullness of everyday life. For his role, the artist sewed a wooden board with a cut and a broken knife handle onto the back of a military overcoat, and placed another slit with the knife’s tip protruding from the chest. He shaved his head, leaving a few lonely braids – creating the perfect image of a “žertva” (victim) of the era.

Vilnius, early 1980s. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

Like around the world, interest in Eastern culture gained momentum in Lithuania. In 1967, the Friends of India Society was founded, which connected its activities with Baltic heritage research. Young hippies hitchhiked to the Buddhist monasteries in Buryatia. That was where Algirdas Kugevičius began to study the Tibetan language and spiritual teachings in 1979. Kugevičius later became a professional translator who translated Tibetan philosophical works. In the 1980s, Anatolijus Lomonosovas started the Indian classical music ensemble Svara in Lithuania. In 1987, as the USSR was collapsing, the colourful Hare Krishnas took to the streets of Vilnius with their mantras and chants.

In the early 1980s, artist Gitenis Umbrasas, together with friends, organized happenings in the streets of Vilnius Old Town each spring – theatrical protests against the grey everyday life. They celebrated March 13 as Cockroach Day.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

In the early 1980s, Gitenis Umbrasas and his friends organised happenings in the streets of the Old Town of Vilnius, celebrating Cockroach Day on 13 March.

Vilnius, early 1980s. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

Two participants of the Cockroach Day happening walking along Gorkis Street (now Didžioji Street). On the right – Kazimieras Seibutis.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

Participants of the Cockroach Day happening in a Vilnius trolleybus. On the right – Kazimieras Seibutis. This form of cheerful rebellion often ended on a grim note: participants were seized by the militia, taken to detention, fingerprinted, and sometimes locked in psychiatric wards, where, tied to beds, they were injected with aminazine by psychiatrists.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

A scene from the Cockroach Day celebration – several participants walk past a newsstand. On that day, among piles of dirty snow, the decaying walls of Soviet-era buildings, the gray sidewalks, and the shadowy faces of pale, unsmiling passersby, colorful, unusually dressed, and jubilant characters would appear like a dream.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

On Cockroach Day – March 13 – performance participants, including artist Gitenis Umbrasas and his friends, cross Komjaunimo Street (now Pylimo St.) in Vilnius.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

A “cockroach” crawling along a Vilnius sidewalk. In the early 1980s, artist Gitenis Umbrasas and his friends organized happenings in the spring streets of Vilnius Old Town – theatrical protests against the grey routine – celebrating Cockroach Day on March 13. Passersby, upon seeing the strange youth, would gape and freeze in astonishment. The fun was cut short by the militia, who arrested the troublemakers and took them to psychiatric institutions. In terms of health or career, this form of rebellion was nearly suicidal.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

Moments from the Cockroach Day happenings organized by artist Gitenis Umbrasas and his friends in Vilnius Old Town on March 13. First from the left – G. Umbrasas.

Vilnius, 13 March 1982. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

Members of the Hare Krishna movement and alternative youth sing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.

Occupied Lithuania, early 1980s. Photo author unknown (Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights)

Members of the Hare Krishna movement and alternative youth flipping through an album of artistic photographs.

Occupied Lithuania, 1980s. Photo author unknown (Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights)

Members of the punk rock band Mind’s Disorder, Arvydas Makauskas-Makys and Gediminas Simniškis-Gedson, during military training in the “jungles” of the occupying army.

Pabradė, summer of 1981. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Arvydas Makauskas)

Arvydas Makauskas-Makys creating surrealistic images next to a Nazi tank mock-up (target) during compulsory training in the Soviet Army.

Pabradė, summer of 1981. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Arvydas Makauskas)

The café Vaiva, a favorite spot of the Vilnius bohemia, located on Gorkis Street (now Pilies St.).

Vilnius, 1986. Photo by Vaidotas Jakubonis (personal archive of Vaidotas Jakubonis)

Young people sympathetic to the hippie movement in Vilnius’s “Broadway” (now Gediminas Avenue). From left: artist Gitenis Umbrasas, future director and actor Rimas Morkūnas, architect Gintautas Tiškus.

Vilnius, late 1970s. Photo by Audronė Ranonytė (personal archive of Gintautas Tiškus)

Hippie-style Vilnius youth with guests from Latvia and Estonia. In the front row on the right lies poet Raimundas (Rimas) Burokas (1953–1980), a free spirit of the Old Town who died in 1980 at the Lukiškės Prison hospital. In the second row, third from the left – his wife Silvija Vilytė-Burokienė. In the third row, fourth from the left – poet Edmondas Kelmickas.

Vilnius, 1975–1979. Photo author unknown (Lithuanian Special Archives)

A photography school student and future diplomat, Mindaugas Butkus.

Occupied Lithuania, 1980. Photo by Povilas Obuchovicius (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

A restless legend of Vilnius – Artūras Barysas-Baras (1954–2005) – filmmaker, actor, director, collector.

Vilnius, early 1990s. Photo by Vaidotas Jakubonis (personal archive of Vaidotas Jakubonis)

Resting on the “stones” near Vilnius Cathedral after hitchhiking: photographer Anatolijus Jakimovas, future businessman Valdas Bagdonavičius, modernist photographer Raimundas Urbonas (1963–1999).

Vilnius, 1982. Photo by Lina Bekerienė (personal archive of Stanislovas Masliukas)

In 1983, Anatolijus Lomonosovas started the Indian classical music ensemble Svara in Lithuania. From left: Rytis Kamičaitis (tabla), Valentinas Zaikinas (bell), Jovita Povilaitė (tanpura), Anatolijus Lomonosovas (sitar).

Vilnius, 1984. Photo by Vasilijus Degteriovas (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)

An Old Town icon – the freethinker and poet Raimundas (Rimas) Burokas (1953–1980), who died in the Lukiškės Prison hospital in 1980.

Vilnius, 10 December 1979. Photo author unknown (Lithuanian Special Archives)

Free-spirited Vilnius youth on the doorstep of the LSSR Writers’ Union bookstore. From left: artist Gitenis Umbrasas, freethinker Liutauras Kazakevičius. When applying to the LSSR State Art Institute, Gitenis failed the loyalty exam organized by the committee because, unable to endure the compositional assignment “40 Years of the Komsomol”, he instead painted a portrait of John the Baptist. Liutauras used to read Bible passages aloud in Vilnius cafés, disturbing the townspeople who gathered for lunch.

Vilnius, 1978. Photo author unknown (personal archive of Gitenis Umbrasas)