Vilnius Poker

At the top of the sloping incline, a church awaited me – the Basilian Church of Vilnius. I remember vividly its peeled crosses in the corner of the courtyard, the walls looming fiercely over me, threatening to engulf me at any moment. The old churches of Vilnius have been desecrated in many ways, defiled as warehouses or museums of atheism. This one had a cheap wine factory in it. […] THEY must blur everyone’s senses at any cost.

Vygintas Kisevičius. SPEAK TO YOURSELF, BUT INWARDLY AND QUIETLY

Following the period of external torture under the Soviet regime, after some time, the torture has seeped into the human soul itself – human beings are tortured by their own will. The only way out is to talk.

But even talking can only be done with yourself and in silence, because THEY are all around. In this piece, the composer analyses the collective subconscious psyche of society. He gives voice to the images from the introspective thoughts of Vytautas Vargalys, the novel’s protagonist, which are conditioned by his own personal memories and the nation’s collective experience.

“[…] Not everyone will believe Vilnius. I must believe it because it gave me Lolita. […] The high-ceilinged atelier was unreal as a recollection. A tiny fireplace, shabby antique armchairs, all different, with Lolita sitting in one of them with her legs stretched out, guarded by a myriad of beasts, people, plants, and clay and metal Bosch-esque phantasmagorias”. 

-“I was an 8th or 9th former at school, spending the summer with my grandparents…” she said in a sad voice. […] “Tedis was first and foremost a guru to me, not a man. […] He used to look at me and repeat: “You are my best sculpture”. Yes, I’m his creation. Not sure what I was made for”.

Matas Drukteinis. I AM, AFTER ALL, HOMO SAPIENS 

In the imaginary studio of Teodoras, Vytautas’ beloved Lolita talks about her life, her youth, her previous husband, and her first encounter with literature and philosophy. The work proposes a way for Vytautas Vargalys and all of us to overcome that mystical, distorted force that creates the world’s structure – THEM. It is a way of knowing the world in its entirety through art, philosophy, and other cultural and human sciences that enable us to take control of our own thinking and acting.

I can’t be well: we’re approaching Narutis, beside a lonely gateway that is talking quietly to St. Johns’ Church. I’m not supposed to talk here and must pass by quietly, without disturbing the old smells that have soaked into the walls. […] ‘Narutis’ is exactly the same as always. The same walls, the same faces. […] The face of a person who once frequented ‘Narutis’ has an indelible mark stamped on it, the meaning of which no one knows. […] Only in ‘Narutis’ will you meet alcoholic wastrels who “Thou” and “Thee” everyone and still remember their doctoral studies and the fiery speeches they delivered to scientific councils.

Mantautas Krukauskas. THE MONOTONY OF TIME FLOWING BACK

‘Narutis’ is described in the novel as the dregs of Vilnius with its clientele drowning in the traumas of the past, indifferent to the present. The faces of the customers are imprinted with an indelible mark that you cannot see in the mirror but that you can immediately recognise in others. These ‘community members’ drown their histories in alcohol, yet talk about their past in a special way, while at the same time trying to forget it. They are alone, waiting for their own Godot. Maybe there is a world somewhere, but not here. The composer seeks to reveal the state of people lost in the passage of time – the masked living dead.

University Square – thoughtful, willing to give away secrets. […] They were fooling themselves if they thought I’d only study the books in my own library. I spend a lot of time pouring over manuscripts at the University.

Marius Salynas. PARALLELS

Two fundamental places in Vilnius – Cathedral Square and Stiklių Street in the old Jewish district – are sonically implanted into the symbolic site of the Temple of Science, University Square, in one time and space. This symbolically connects a trajectory, like an artery of the city pulsating differently in various periods.

The Neris – the river of Vilnius time, the river of memory.  […] You can take a handful of water that witnessed the founding of Vilnius, […] an old sound echoes, words once spoken – perhaps even your own. The Neris remembers everything, it’s a magical river, you must just hear it speak. […] More and more often, I do not acknowledge the banality of human time; it is too deceptive, it lures me away from the essence, which lies in the one great WHOLENESS. 

Julius Aglinskas, Agnė Matulevičiūtė. WHAT DOES WAS, WILL BE, OR COULD BE MEAN? 

Echoing the thoughts of Vytautas Vargalys, the protagonist of ‘Vilnius Poker’, the composers reflect on time in the form of a dialogue:

– Time destroys everything;

– Time has no beginning and no end, like an event or process;

– Time doesn’t exist at all, but it influences human existence;

– Time is a human construct.