Challenging Your Inner Narrative. Edwin Zwakman interviewed by Eglė Murauskaitė

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Podcast \ Society

Interviewer: Eglė Murauskaitė

Photographer: Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Editor: Karolis Vyšniauskas

2023 April 06

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In 2004, Dutch visual artist Edwin Zwakman simulated the UN peacekeeping mission in Vilnius, challenging our perception of things and bringing global conversation closer to the Lithuanian context at the time. This week Zwakman came back to Lithuania to join the group exhibition “Outsider’s Look on Vilnius”, opening this Friday, April 7, at the National Gallery of Art.

Co-organised by Contemporary Art Centre, the exhibition presents how artists from different countries saw the city of Vilnius in different historic periods.

Before the opening of the exhibition, Edwin Zwakman gave an exclusive interview to our contributor Eglė Elena Murauskaitė, a senior scholar at the University of Maryland specializing in international security. In this episode of the NARA podcast, they discuss Zwakman's work and challenge current geopolitical narratives embraced by the West.

From the project UNVIL, 2004, Vilnius, Lithuania. ©Edwin Zwakman

Public buses in Vilnius painted white with the UN letters simulated the UN peacekeeping mission aesthetics. ©Edwin Zwakman

Coming from the Netherlands, Zwakman is a vocal critic of the colonial past of his home country. He invites listeners to be self-reflective when engaging with the narratives we grew up with. But he is also aware of our limitations.

“I reap the benefits of the riches of the West – everything that’s brought in here by colonialism, imperialism, all the structures that are still in place sucking the world dry its resources,” says Zwakman. “I can say that I’m against colonialism. But at the end of the day, I am part of it all. I have an iPhone and a Mac laptop. These resources come from places that have near-slavery conditions. If they wouldn’t, I would never be able to afford them. So I am totally part of the system.“

Hear the full conversation by clicking the PLAY button at the top or the bottom of the page.

Dutch artist Edwin Zwakman in Vilnius, 19 years after his UN simulation work was presented in the city. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Edwin Zwakman and Eglė Murauskaitė in the studio. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Artist Edwin Zwakman and scholar Eglė Murauskaitė at the National Art Gallery in Vilnius. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

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For all the help with the publication we want to thank Giedrė Stabingytė from CAC.

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