My New Proposal

Christian Jankowski, 2019

In the early stages of my collaboration with the Kaunas Biennial, I drafted a proposal for an ambitious project; much to my regret, it could not be realized. In many cases, difficulties arise when trying to win over people from outside the art world as collaborators for my art works, which test and challenge ideas and perceptions. Sometimes though, I also encounter obstacles within my closer circle. In this case, after initial discussions with protagonists operating outside of the art context, the Biennial board did not consider my idea feasible. Accordingly, the curators requested a completely new concept. After some consideration, one sentence from the conversation with the curators struck me: “We would like to ask you to have another idea.” Paying attention to this sentence, it has at its core the idealistic goal of art itself: to send its audience on a transformative journey.

Resonating with the Biennial’s concept, “After Leaving | Before Arriving”, my new proposal was to rent two billboards along the motorway to display the curators’ request. This message, initially addressed to me, is enlarged, addressing all travellers on the motorway. Those leaving Vilnius read “We would like to ask you to have another idea”, and eventually continue the journey with something new in their minds. Just before arriving in Kaunas, a second billboard requests that they undergo another transformation. The blue background of each billboard is the exact complementary color of the yellow used for the Biennial’s corporate identity.In the exhibition, visitors then encounter a third billboard, presenting a photograph of the first billboard with cars passing by on the motorway.

The Biennial’s concept, the transformation of my artistic idea, the physical and mental journey of the visitor and the location of the artwork near a motorway all have inscribed in them the notion of a transition. My New Proposalreflects the Kaunas Biennial’s goal “to write new narratives for the present” and “to carve out a path to the future” for a city with a complex past – an understandable motivation for many cities hosting biennials.