Play as the Foundation of Markas Liberman's Life

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©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Contemporary circus artist Markas Liberman often presents his performances not to audiences, but to objects. When asked how he defines himself, he succinctly replies: “Soup.” He elaborates: “I’m extremely envious of people who have beautiful labels and can precisely explain who they are.” In the NARA podcast, amidst discussing his various identities, Markas delves into his Jewish identity, which he finds particularly significant. The interview is in Lithuanian and the episode description is in English.

This is the fourth interview in the series “We Too Are From Vilnius.” Listen by pressing the PLAY button on the NARA player or through the podcast apps listed below:

“I often felt like ‘the other’ in my life, which is closely tied to the experience of being Jewish. Among Jews, I’m not really considered Jewish because my mother isn’t Jewish. Among Russian speakers (I speak Russian with my father), I’m not fully accepted as a Russian speaker because I have a slight accent. Among Lithuanians, my identity feels completely different,” Markas shares from his family’s camper, where we are hiding from the noise of Vilnius traffic.

Markas’ father is a Jew from Belarus, and his mother is Lithuanian who observes Jewish traditions.

Markas attended the Vilnius Jewish school and, at the age of thirteen, decided to change his last name to his father’s, highlighting his Jewish heritage. As a teenager, he wanted to experience a more diverse Vilnius and transferred to another school. At his first party with his new classmates, they drew swastikas on Mark's back.

Project fellow Gerda Prusevičiūtė taking pictures. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
Project fellow Gerda Prusevičiūtė taking pictures. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
We’re sheltering from Vilnius traffic noise in Markas’ family camper. From left to right: Markas Liberman, NARA journalist Indrė Kiršaitė, and high school student and episode co-author David Farberov. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
We’re sheltering from Vilnius traffic noise in Markas’ family camper. From left to right: Markas Liberman, NARA journalist Indrė Kiršaitė, and high school student and episode co-author David Farberov. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Markas completed a master’s degree in Art Studies at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and currently creates contemporary circus performances and engages in education. Together with his wife, contemporary circus artist Marija Baranauskaitė–Liberman, they presented the performance “The Diaper Project” at the prominent contemporary circus festival “Circa”, in southern France in October, as part of Lithuania’s cultural season in France. During the performance's early preview in Vilnius, the audience had to squeeze into garbage bags and backstage containers to observe everything from the sidelines, as the seats were occupied by diapers of various sizes and types.

“Every object you work with brings very strong metaphors. It might seem like the metaphor of a diaper is funny—babies, something, something. But it’s deeply connected to therapy, trauma, pain, death, and cycles,” Markas shares.

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Play is the creative engine for Markas. He plays on stage, during workshops with refugees, and at home with his daughter. He even approaches interviews as a form of play.

Together with his wife Marija, Markas is raising their daughter Ūla. Parenthood is another significant part of his identity. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
Together with his wife Marija, Markas is raising their daughter Ūla. Parenthood is another significant part of his identity. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
Although Markas’ home is near a large and noisy street in Vilnius, it is surrounded by nature. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
Although Markas’ home is near a large and noisy street in Vilnius, it is surrounded by nature. ©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius
©Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius

Eighty years after the liquidation of the Vilnius Ghetto, NARA launched the podcast series “We Too Are From Vilnius,” featuring conversations with young Jewish people in Vilnius exploring their relationship with a city marked by immense loss, and with a Lithuanian society navigating between multiculturalism and nationalism. Listen to previous interviews in the series: with Naomi Koc, Ani Gandžumian and Miša Skalskis.

These episodes were created in collaboration with a team of Vilnius high school students. The conversation with Markas Liberman was co-produced by journalist Indrė Kiršaitė and students Gerda Prusevičiūtė and David Farberov.

While producing this series, the conflicts in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon reached new levels of destruction, affecting both Jewish and Arab communities in Lithuania. This inevitably became a topic of some conversations. We invite you to read and listen to NARA’s publications about the situation in the Middle East in Lithuanian and English.

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This episode’s recording was produced at the sound recording studio of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library, with sound engineer Justina Šimonytė.

The series’ music was composed by Kata Bitowt.

The project "We Too Are from Vilnius" is partially funded by the Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund by the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania and the Resilience initiative by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Lithuania. The NARA team maintains full control of the content and journalistic independence.

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