Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 1:00 p.m.
LMTA Central Building, Balcony Theatre (Gedimino ave. 42, Vilnius)
On 6th of May, 2026, Prof. Dr. Kevin C. Karnes (Emory University, USA) will be visiting the LMTA to give a public lecture to PhD students in art and art history, students, the LMTA community and alumni. All students interested in current art research are welcome to attend. The lecture will be held in English.
Lecture “’The Spirit of the Time, the Atmosphere of Place’: Hardijs Lediņš in (West) Berlin, 1988–92”
Perestroika and the end of the USSR radically reconfigured the landscape of possibility for artists, including by easing travel and exchange across geopolitical borders. This talk considers unexpected opportunities and insurmountable challenges presented by these transitions, as seen in a pair of Berlin residencies by the Latvian musician Hardijs Lediņš, co-founder of the legendary underground group NSRD.
It examines partnerships formed between West German organizations and the Latvian Artists’ Union and KGB, how opportunities provided by Western partners could re-inscribe the stark social hierarchies of Soviet life, and how efforts to provide Soviet artists with support could not only open previously unimagined possibilities but also bolster what sometimes proved to be impossible expectations.
Prof. Dr. Kevin C. Karnes is Professor of Music and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Emory University (Atlanta, USA), as well as a visiting professor at the Jāzepas Vītolas Latvian Academy of Music. His most recent book is “Arvo Pärt and the 1970s Soviet Underground” (2021). His research has been recognized with grants and awards from the Council of American Societies for Learning, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His current research focuses on European DIY music cultures of the 1980s and 1990s, including the Latvian and German post-punk, new wave, and techno scenes, as well as the Riga-based musician collective “Tornis,” founded in 1991.
