Studija Kūrybos laisvės diskursai vėlyvojo sovietmečio ir pirmųjų nepriklausomybės metų Lietuvos dailės gyvenime

Discourses on the Creative Freedom of Lithuanian Art in the Late Soviet Period and the First Years of Independence

Summary. With reference to public debate among the art community, this study deals with rhetorical functions of the discourses on creative freedom in Lithuanian art in the late soviet period and the first years of independence. With a concern for the development of a framework for analogous researches in the future, the study focuses on the issues and reflections of art broadly conceived. The discourses of creative freedom in the public field are discussed on the basis of the concept of field (champ) introduced by Pierre Bourdieu. It is pointed out that autonomy, which is necessary for the inner dynamics of the culture field, was evident in the soviet period, and in the post-soviet period as well. Still, due to different political regimes, artists had different possibilities to manifest their social behavior and expression of opinions. It is concluded that during the period of national revival in Lithuania the artists’ fight against the totalitarian regime was rather abstract, while their relationship to the political field after the regaining of independence was expressed as a reaction to newly adopted laws and practices. The paradoxes of the first years of independence, sudden and unexpected social changes enabled artists to reconsider their relation to the state. In the process of change of the system in the post-soviet period, freedom became more than just a paradigmatic concept expressing the objectives of intelligentsia and various social and political groups; the majority of artists soon faced the “cost” of material freedom when living in an independent society.

Keywords: creative freedom, sociology of art, art and politics, artistic field, heteronomous factors, autonomous factors, art institutions, (a)morality of art, cultural liberalism, artistic opposition.