Robertas Narkus (b. 1983 Lithuania)
Dépendance, 2019
Airport runway lights and mixed media installation
5m (diameter) x 3.5m (height)
Courtesy of the artist and CAC, Vilnius

Dépendanceis Robertas Narkus’s new commission for the 12th Kaunas Biennial. It integrates a number of airport runway lights, formerly used in Vilnius Airport, in a sculptural pavilion designed in collaboration with architect Linas Lapinskas and located in Ramybes Park in Kaunas. Also called Serenity Park, it originally functioned as a cemetery for the Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical and Muslim communities until it was converted into a recreational site in 1959 by the Soviets. Today the park continues to host a number of religious and civic institutions, including the Museum of Resistance and Deportation, a Russian school and a Lithuanian kindergarten. With its gazebo-like structure, Dépendanceis not intended as a catalyst for religious, cultural, national or ideological consensus. It is rather designed as a meeting point for local residents and communities, inviting daily acts of reconciliation and care amongst its users.

From Kaunas Old Cemetery to Ramybes Park and from airport runway lights to artwork medium, it is interesting to note that both the context within which the work is situated and the materials used have undergone a functional transition. The use of airport landing lights touches upon notions of orientation, guidance and direction while suggesting an almost blinding light on the darker, hidden aspects of the park’s history. In a multi-layered historical context such as this former cemetery, Dépendancedraws on the metaphorical potential of the medium to reflect on the trauma of the past while projecting a sense of direction and care into the future.

In parallel to the work in Kaunas, an almost identical pavilion by Narkus is installed in the CAC Sculpture Yard at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius. Does the twist in the orthography of the word (dependence/dépendance) play into the rivalry between these two cities? Or does it connect the two sites as an act of reconciliation? Drawing on ideas of negotiation and transition, Dépendancedoes not impose meaning on the context or on the materials. Rather, it manipulates these elements, allowing relationships and interactions among its users to emerge.