PhD Project Presentation"Lithuanian Artivism for Ukraine as a Testing Ground for Collective Agency" by IFZO-Fellow Ieva Šakelaitė (Vilnius University).
The presentation will take place on Tuesday, 2 December 2025, at 12:00 p.m. c.t. in the IFZO seminar room at Bahnhofstrasse 51.
“I will present my research on the surge of public artivism in Lithuania in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While much research on artivism focuses on symbolic resistance to dominant visualities and discourses, this artivism does not seek to subvert the hegemonic order; rather, it aligns with the Lithuanian government’s stance on the war in Ukraine. I suggest conceptualizing this artivism as agentic politics beyond the resistance paradigm. I investigate the ways artivism can be utilized in maintaining hegemonic narratives, such as nationalism and victimhood, and at the same time be an expression of a newfound collective agency, questioning historical perceptions of Eastern Europe as a liminal space.”