According to the late Leonidas Donskis, a Lithuanian-Jewish philosopher, identity is "a tense field of interpretation and understanding of ourselves and the world around us, where what others think and say, what we think and talk about ourselves and who we want to intersect". L. Donskis wrote that identity is not only the words of us and those around us, it is the influence of our community and culture, but also the great desire to talk about who we are and what our culture is.
The theme of the LT.art Vienna 2020 festival is identity. The festival invites you to discuss how time, place, culture and language influence our perception of who we are. What does it mean to be Lithuanian, Austrian, European? How do we present ourselves, what questions we ask ourselves and others? How has our identity been and is being influenced by different periods and cultures?
Contemporary people have a relentless desire to explore and contemplate the world around them. We try not to assign people to a group or category simply because we speak one language or are born in one territory.
The aim of the event is to create a dialogue between artists from two countries, Lithuania and Austria. Many have the opportunity to travel, study and work abroad, and are influenced by people and opportunities they meet. They communicate on the same topics and often, with their unique proficiency, their past and experience, differently comprehend the answer.
The program of the festival includes a group exhibition of visual art, musical performances, screening of Lithuanian cinema, contemporary dance and circus performances, and discussion.