Fog of Signatures (digital collage), 2024

Digital collage on tarpaulin

Fog of Signatures The collage was created using a historical photograph of Vilnius (Churches of Vilnius from the Castle Hill, 1870–1880) by Juozapas Čechavičius, depicting a familiar landscape crowned by the Missionary Ensemble—often referred to as the “baroque crown” of the Old Town of Vilnius. The work also incorporates fragments of contemporary documents that bear witness to the human touch in the authentication of change. Through this piece, the artist questions the decision-making processes behind Vilnius’s urban development, drawing attention to the “dismantling” of historical landscape value by new constructions, the role of the part within the whole, and the shared nature of responsibility. The artist invites the viewer to become an active participant in discussions and decisions surrounding cultural memory. The historical photograph used for the derivative artwork was provided by the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Project implementation partner – Paulius Noreika. The collage was exhibited at the “Titanikas” gallery (Vilnius) space on June 2025. This piece is a part of Rėda’s artistic research White Darkness is a case-study-based artistic gesture of protest responding to the destruction of the cultural landscape of Vilnius Old Town (UNESCO) for the sake of short-term private gain. Who owns heritage—and who bears the losses? Is the “flawed” legal regulation to blame, or are we ourselves complicit? What happens when every link in the chain of public interest protection yields to human leniency? What are the mechanisms of power and the tricks practiced in contemporary society? Why, decades after the reestablishment of independence, do we still exhibit (post-)soviet tolerance for significant losses in the name of narrow, short-term interests? This research exposes and dismantles the “fog” that conceals and enables harmful decisions. Viewers are invited to critically reflect on the transformation of cultural landscape.