Šaltojo karo kapsulė: lietuvių dizainas Londone, 1968. Vieno paviljono istorija

LTStudijoje pasakojama apie 1968 m. Londone vykusios sovietinės parodos lietuviškąjį paviljoną, pristatomi specialiai šiai parodai sukurti meno kūriniai, mados ir dizaino objektai, pramonės bei suvenyrų pavyzdžiai. Kadangi tai buvo eksportui skirtas projektas, jis liko beveik nežinomas. Visos su paviljonu susijusios istorijos buvo didžia dalimi pamirštos, neafišuotos, sunkiai prieinamos. Tad pagrindinis šios studijos tikslas – išsamiai atskleisti 1968 m. Londono parodos Lietuvos paviljono istoriją, kontekstualiai analizuojant sukurtus dizaino kūrinius, autorių intencijas ir laikmečio aplinkybes. Knygoje pristatomi 10 metų trukę dizaino istorijos tyrimų rezultatai. Per visą tyrimų laikotarpį buvo ištirti Lietuvos, Londono ir Maskvos pagrindiniai archyviniai šaltiniai, susiję su 1968 m. Sovietų Sąjungos pramonės ir prekybos paroda Londone. Tai – daugiaplanė ir daugiasluoksnė istorija, perteikianti autorių intencijas ir sudėtingas laikmečio aplinkybes, sovietinės propagandos absurdiškumą, Šaltojo karo lenktynių įtampas, uždaros visuomenės ir vizionieriškų dizaino projektų izoliuotumą, kurį autorė įvardija „kapsulės“ metafora. Knygoje publikuojama virš 200 iliustracijų, minima per 100 Lietuvos dizaino vardų – septinto dešimtmečio kūrėjų, nuo svarbiausių šio paviljono menininkų iki smulkiausių prekės ženklų аutorių, pakuočių ir bukleto dizainerių. Tuometiniams lietuvių menininkams, mėnesiui ištrūkusiems iš už geležinės uždangos, įsiminė ne tik spalvingas 1968-ųjų Londono gyvenimas, užfiksuotas Tado Baginsko ir Algimanto Stoškaus spalvotose skaidrėse, bet ir netikėta kulminacija paskutinėmis parodos dienomis: sovietų tankams įsiveržus į Prahą, Londone buvę paviljono dalyviai tapo prasidėjusių protestų liudininkais. [lvb.lt]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Pasaulinės ir tarptautinės parodos; Sovietmečio tyrimai; Šaltojo karo modernumo lenktynės; Dizainas; Vitražai; Kapsulė; Baltijos šalių paviljonai.

ENIn August 1968, a pavilion representing Lithuania as a Soviet republic opened in London at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. It was the most important exhibition the Soviet Union held abroad in 1968. Next to the main space-themed section with undertones of Cold War rivalry, special attention was devoted to the presentation of the Baltic republics. The London pavilion, like most export shows, was organised by the Directorate of the LSSR's Exhibition of Achievements in the National Economy, which coordinated all of the organisational activities between Moscow and local institutions. The concept and model of the Lithuanian pavilion was created by the young architect Tadas Baginskas (b. 1936). He developed a pavilion that combined Lithuanian ethnic symbolism with minimalist pro-Western design solutions. It presented Lithuanian products of the highest artistic level, the finest examples of industrial and household production, and the most progressive achievements in technology, design and the arts, including unique objects created especially for London, for example a unique constructivist amber panel designed for the exhibition by Baginskas himself. To make it, 81 near-fist-sized amber stones were collected in Kaliningrad. […] The study is built around the keyword capsule, both as an image and as a metaphor. It was suggested by the very era of the Cold War and the context of the Space Race - specifically a photo where the young models from the Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn houses of clothing design are posing in front of the capsule Vostok I. The name also refers to the circumstances of the pavilion's design process and the transportation of the exhibits. Before the shipping, all of the exhibits of the Lithuanian pavilion were packed into huge cases (mostly 415x42 x 10 m), and there were a lot of them, some extremely heavy (e.g. 9460 kg). The containers with the cases inside were shipped through Leningrad (now St Petersburg) and never returned.Most of the pieces for the Lithuanian pavilion were designed and constructed specifically for this exhibition, as if it was a space mission of some kind. They were exceptionally conceptual, atypical, novel and bold and showed off an uncommon quality and freedom. In the words of Antanas Kazakauskas, "they would not let anything like that come through, and they only did because it was intended for London", and that applied to most of the pieces up for analysis. The Cold War Capsule is an analysis of one particular pavilion, presenting the results often years of research in design history. During the research, analysis focused on the main archival sources of Lithuania, London and Moscow related to the 1968 USSR Industry and Trade Exhibition in London. Part of the contextual information was obtained by carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the periodicals of the second half of the 1960s. However, the most valuable discoveries were made by meeting and interviewing the creators of the pavilion themselves and its contemporary eyewitnesses, so it is firstly to them that this study is dedicated. The narrative of the book is based on their stories, which I address from a contemporary design researcher's empathic point of view. This research continues the tradition of research on world fairs and pavilions, Cold War design studies and research into the design history of Central and Eastern Europe, the discoveries and insights of which were particularly important both at the beginning of the research when formulating the premises and during its course when searching for contextual comparative materials. [From the publication]