April 2026. Digest #6

Jump to

Publications 📚

Blusiewicz, Tomasz. “Policing the Informal Economy in the Soviet Baltic: Institutional Rivalry, Collapse, and Transition .” The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review, 37.03.2026 Open Access.

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of Soviet maritime contraband suppression from the Khrushchev era through the late 1980s, arguing that anti-smuggling campaigns functioned not merely as economic policing but as a site of institutional rivalry, ideological enforcement, and state security consolidation. Drawing on little-known investigative files and internal communications of Soviet policing agencies, it shows that jurisdictional competition between customs authorities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), and the KGB was structurally embedded by design. Overlapping mandates and fragmented oversight incentivized these institutions to vie for control over the lucrative maritime sector, actively seeking to widen surveillance prerogatives and prosecutorial authority.

Valiūnaitė, Mantė, Narius Kairys. “Was it Possible to Delink? Travelogues from Africa by Mykolas Liubeckis and Viktoras Starošas.” Eastern European Screen Studies DOI.

Abstract

This article examines Lithuanian documentary travelogues by Mykolas Liubeckis and Viktoras Starošas, produced under the Soviet regime in African countries during their decolonization. Starošas, a central figure in postwar Lithuanian cinema, created films that combine ideological correctness with aesthetic ambition: his voice-over is distant and restrained, yet the camera captures expressive details and unvarnished reality, emphasising socialism. Liubeckis, by contrast, remains largely outside the established Lithuanian documentary canon; his primary profession was journalism, and he travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, producing various travelogues, both written and filmed. Both filmmakers had to navigate Soviet ideological constraints, shaping what could be shown and how; in Liubeckis’ films, the critique of the West is stronger, reflecting the early 1960s context, while Starošas’ later films emphasise the success of socialism in countries that had already chosen it. By combining postcolonial and decolonial approaches, this study considers how the films reflect the filmmakers’ perspectives, how they reproduce or challenge Soviet narratives, and whether gestures of delinking from ideology are present.

Woodworth, Bradley, Violeta Davoliūtė, Darius Staliūnas. Ethnic Relations in the Baltic Reconsidered. Central European University Press, #0 March 2026. Open Access

Annotation

This collected volume offers an original perspective on the Baltic region by examining the intricate relationships between its diverse ethnic groups from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Rather than focusing solely on national narratives or comparisons of historical development, the book analyzes ethnic relations through the lenses of identity, governance, empire, and violence. The nearly constant redrawing of geographic borders and boundaries among communities during this period destabilized fixed identities, generating novel, hybrid ways of self-identification along with a hardening of oppositions. Innovative forms of coexistence came with violent, sometimes genocidal conflicts. The contributors explore topics such as evolving senses of belonging, the impact of imperial and Soviet rule, instances of cooperation and conflict, and the legacies of historical trauma. By incorporating new sources and interdisciplinary approaches, they update traditional understandings of nations and nationalism in the Baltic region and provide insights relevant to similar regions.

Valdur, Mari. “Extraordinary Estonians, Disappearing Duha: Tourism Imaginaries and Imperial Identity Economies of Northern Mongolia.” Central Asian Survey, 20.03.2026 DOI.

Abstract

Similarly to other ‘disappearing’ exoticized groups, ‘the Duha’ in Northern Mongolia are subject to touristic fascination. Covering the background to tourism in the area, this ethnographic article shows how tour operators and regional geographies of imagination enforce imaginaries of ‘the Duha’ as reindeer-herding non-moderns. The accounts of tourists of various backgrounds, including the case of the ‘Estonians’, indicate the centrality of the professed extraordinary qualities of the tourists as groups and as individual selves. This forms an identity economy where lived realities of ‘the Duha’ are often imaginatively constructed, and secondary to the Western identity work and the harvesting of symbolic capital. The sourcing of an imagined touristic other towards manifold gains is a manifestation of present-day imperialism, where its continued (re)production involves areas that have previously been deemed peripheral to empires. The technologies of the imagination facilitating this include media production, celebrity culture and (imaginary) intimacies established through multi-directional healing.

Vasiljeva, Elina. “The Holocaust and Jewish Identity: the Case of Daugavpils.” Holocaust Studies, 19.03.2026 DOI.

Abstract

The study is based on semi-structured interviews. Knowledge about the Holocaust is an essential component of Jewish identity. The generation under discussion serves as a pivotal point in uncovering the theme of the Holocaust: transitioning from a lack of information during the Soviet era to gaining knowledge and establishing traditions of commemoration in independent Latvia. This study examines the cognitive and emotional aspects of the Holocaust. The cognitive aspect is related to historical facts. The emotional aspect is reflected in experiences and narratives. For this generation, the Holocaust has become one of the defining factors in understanding Jewish identity.

Jerlei, Triin. ““‘fairy Tale’. Childhood in Lithuania in the Late Soviet Era”: Kaunas Picture Gallery, 12th December 2024 – 27th July 2025..” Journal of Design History, 22 March 2026 DOI.

Abstract

With the unsettling changes in contemporary global politics, totalitarianism as a concept is unfortunately becoming increasingly relevant. Where totalitarian power seeks to turn humans into homogeneous masses, its targets or victims are still individuals with their unique life experiences and relations to the surrounding society. “Fairy Tale”. Childhood in Lithuania in the late Soviet era” is an exhibition that focuses on a particularly vulnerable and nuanced stage in life: childhood. The location is Kaunas Picture Gallery, a spectacular late modernist building in which the exhibition inhabits three entire floors. The only other small exhibition that coincides with Fairy Tale is a permanent display of the locally born George Maciunas and Fluxus, thus creating an interesting bridge between totalitarianism and the struggle against it.

Laas, Anu. “Intelligence as Ethnography: Cia Reports and the Social Life of Soviet Estonia, 1947–1955.”, 31.03.2026 Open Access.

Abstract

This article reconceptualizes Cold War intelligence reports as a form of “involuntary ethnography.” Drawing on declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports on the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ESSR) from 1947 to 1955, it examines how intelligence gathering practices generated detailed accounts of everyday life under socialism. Produced for strategic and military purposes, these reports nonetheless contain systematic observations of housing conditions, food consumption, clothing, social behavior, and political attitudes. Situating these materials within debates on knowledge production and state surveillance, the article argues that intelligence reports functioned as a hybrid form of social knowledge, positioned between bureaucratic observation and ethnographic description. Focusing on Tartu and wider Estonia, it demonstrates how intelligence archives can be used to reconstruct lived experience under conditions of scarcity, repression, and militarization — among them a divided city in which the open intellectual space of the university and the sealed military space of the Raadi airfield yielded radically different kinds of social knowledge. By foregrounding intelligence as a mode of social observation, the article contributes to Cold War historiography and proposes a new analytical category: intelligence ethnography.

New Journal Issues 📖

Journal of Baltic Studies, Vol. 57, No. 1 (March 2026).
link

Kultūros barai, Vol. 2 (2026).
link

Call for Papers 📝

50 Years of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group: the Evolution of Dissident Movements in Central and Eastern Europe
Deadline: 2026-05-10
Apply

Annual Conference, Basees Slavonic and East European Music Study Group (seem)
Deadline: 2026-04-17
We invite proposals on the following topics: − The development of musicology in Slavonic/Eastern European countries after 1991 − Music historiography and musicological traditions in Slavonic/Eastern European countries − Post-Soviet cultural identity in Slavonic/Eastern European countries − Musicological networks and institutions in Slavonic/Eastern European countries − Nationality as a paradigm in contemporary Slavonic/Eastern European music − The reassessment and decolonialisation of former Soviet repertoires since the dissolution of the USSR
Apply

Conferences 📢

Baltic Symposium: “1945 in the Baltic and Its Legacies” “Borders, History, World War II”
Dates: 2026-04-13
Place: Cambridge, UK, McCrum Lecture Theatre, Corpus Christi College
Website

Transnational Approaches to the Long 19th Century History in East-central Europe
Dates: 2026-04-16 to 2026-04-17
Place: Vilnius, Lithuania, Old Arsenal
Description: The long 19th century in East-Central Europe was marked by the rise and fall of empires, the struggle for national self-determination, as well as by constitutional movements, the development of civil societies, and the emergence of modern capitalist systems. They also made their impact during the First Word War that also falls within the scope of the conference. These developments had a significant regional impact, yet at the same time, they were transnational phenomena, transcending the borders of one national group, states and empires. This conference invites scholars to examine the region’s history from an international perspective.
Website

Festivals & Screenings 🎬

GoEast “26”
Dates: 2026-04-21 to 2026-04-27
Place: Frankfurt, Germany, Various
Description: This year at goEast, several films from Baltic filmmakers will be featured in the program: Cat on My Mind (Es domāju par kaķi) – Directed by Laila Pakalniņa (Latvia) A Goodnight Kiss (Irena) – Directed by Giedrė Žickytė (Lithuania, Estonia) China Sea (Kinų jūra) – Directed by Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania) Laguna (Lagūna) – Directed by Šarūnas Bartas (Lithuania) Colourful Dreams (Värvilised unenäod) – Directed by Virve Aruoja and Jaan Tooming (Estonian SSR)
Website

The National Student Film Festival “Aurora”
Dates: 2026-04-17 to 2026-04-18
Place: Vilnius, Lithuania, Lojoteka
Website

Exhibitions 🖼️

Virgilijus Šonta: the answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
Dates: 2026-03-27 to 2026-06-21
Place: Vilnius, National Gallery of Art
Description: The National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, in collaboration with the artist’s family and the Kaunas Photography Gallery, is proud to present the retrospective exhibition of the oeuvre of Lithuanian photographer Virgilijus Šonta (1952-1992). The exhibition „Virgilijus Šonta: The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind“ has been curated by Margarita Matulytė and Gintaras Česonis, who have arranged a selection of more than 200 of the artist’s works, complemented by biographical documents that provide insight into the artist’s enigmatic yet exceptionally sensitive and dramatic personality.
Website

Baltic Music Days 2026
Dates: 2026-04-09 to 2026-04-17
Place: Riga and Liepaja, Latvia, Liepājas koncertzāle “Lielais dzintars” and several venies in Riga
Description: The main theme of this year’s festival reflects nowadays complex reality: it speaks of life in moments of simultaneous uncertainty, changes and awareness – socially, politically, technologically and artistically. During all ten events of the festival the listeners in Riga and Liepāja will hear music that offers not one answer, but many perspectives on what it means to create, listen and live right now.
Website

Inta Ruta: Places Called Home
Dates: 2026-03-14 to 2026-10-04
Place: Tallinn, Estonia, Fotografiska
Description: Between 1983 and 2008, photographer Inta Ruka photographed people in her native Latvia, capturing their lives in rooms, courtyards, and streets where everyday life unfolds. She returned to the same individuals repeatedly, working slowly and allowing trust to develop over time. The resulting photographs are not merely documentary, but preserve places, relationships, and lived experience from which a sense of belonging emerges.
Website

New (exciting!) exhibition season at LNMA
Place: Vilnius, Lithuania, Lithuanian National Museum of Art
Description: This spring, different subdivisions of the museum across Lithuania open 12 new exhibitions, among them, retrospectives of the iconic Lithuanian artists, projects of contemporary art, and an exhibition presenting the tradition of Ukrainian photography. The spring exhibition spree is not contained by the Lithuanian venues, the LNMA takes the Lithuanian artwork to the international stage. One of the key UK’s contemporary art centres, Tate St Ives will put an exhibition by Aleksandra Kasuba, while Eglė Budvytytė with her installation animism sings anarchy will represent Lithuanian at the 61st Venice Biennial.
Website

New permanent display of paintings by Mark Rothko
Dates: 2026-04-24
Place: Daugavpils, Latvia, Rotko muzejs
Description: The opening day programme on 24 April extends this conversation across disciplines. At 4 p.m., the new Rothko display will be unveiled alongside “Transposition. The Rothko Motif”, a satellite project by the Latvian textile artist Iveta Vecenāne, where she translates selected paintings from Rothko’s lesser-known Surrealist period into tapestry, echoing his expressive line and complex chromatic structures. At 5:30 p.m., the museum’s concert hall will host “Fields of Colour”, an acoustic jazz performance by the Matthias Van den Brande Quartet (Belgium), inspired by Rothko’s art. The opening day programme will mark the 13th anniversary of the Rothko Museum and will be accessible free of charge. Advance online registration for the concert will be required via the museum’s website
Website

Riga Photography Biennial
Dates: 2026-04-16 to 2026-07-03
Place: Riga, Latvia, Riga Contemporary Art Space
Description: he first Riga Photography Biennial (RPB) took place in 2016. This year, the Riga Photography Biennial 2026 marks a decade-long journey thematically examining the phenomenon of self-existence/coexistence in various possible contexts, including the impact of technology on human nature, the relationship between man and nature, as well as the informative code of the contemporary image.
Website

Media & Podcasts 🎧

Connective Dance, Body Knowledge, and Trauma Healing with Peter Trosztmer (Podcast)
By: EstoCast, a podcast presented by Estonian Museum Canada/VEMU, Estonian Music Week and Eesti Elu/Estonian Life newspaper.
A conversation with Montréal-based dancer Peter Trosztmer
Watch/Listen

The Motivation of Memory in Estonian Politics (Podcast)
By: Baltic Ways
On June 14, 1941, the Soviet Union deported more than 10,000 people from Estonia to Siberia. Eight years later, Soviet authorities deported 20,000 more. These deportations have left a lasting legacy on Estonian society, though the majority of the population today was not alive to experience them. Decades later, behind the Iron Curtain, those in northern Estonia got a peek of freedom, and the West, through Finnish TV. In this episode of Baltic Ways, Ben Gardner-Gill is joined by Isabelle DeSisto and Robert Lipiński to examine how historical experiences impact political views and participation.
Watch/Listen

Jobs

The Lithuanian Film Centre is looking for two proactive coordinators to join the Regional Film Archive “Naglis” team in Palanga to ensure the successful implementation of its cultural objectives.
Application Deadline: April 2, 2026.
Know more and apply

News 📰

Kino Raksti has released a special 106-page issue Arhivālijas in print.
Editor-in-chief Kristīne Matīsa describes the issue as a “celebration of the flight of thought,” drawing a linguistic parallel between Arhivālijas (Archivaria) and Saturnalia—a festive, unrestricted explosion of ideas.
More here

The Estonian Association of Film Journalists has named Meel Paliale’s “Long Papers” (Pikad paberid) as the best Estonian film of 2025. The Film Journalist of the Year award was presented to Ralf Sauter.

The EFTA Gala: The Estonian Film and TV Awards will honor the industry’s best on April 24.

Prof. Dr. Violeta Davoliūtė (Lithuanian History Institute) has been elected President of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) for 2026–2028, will serve alongside current President Prof. Song Eglitis, and—becoming the first AABS president based in the Baltic region rather than the diaspora—will assume the presidency at the end of the two-year term.

Quick Links 🔗

Read “Baltic Poetic Films in Paris: A Conversation on Baltic Documentary Cinema with Pompidou Film Curator Arnaud Hée” on EchoGoesEast.

Read “Political Filmmaking, Ex-Boyfriends, and Gay Propaganda: An Interview with Alise Zariņa on Flesh, Blood, Even a Heart” on There Were No Gods Left

Also watch Joshua Polanski’s (the author of the self-claimed ONLY blog on Baltic cinema in English) panels and interviews on Lithuanian films recorded at Boston Baltic Film Festical

Apply for Estonian summer courses in Tartu by 30 April 2026

Vaata Esti Filmi! This April marks the launch of Estonian Film Month, a brand-new annual tradition initiated by the Estonian Film Institute (EFI) to spotlight the nation’s rich film culture, heritage, and “new wave” creators. See complete program

“Weighing the Percentages: The Story of Latvia’s Minority Co-productions” by Ieva Augstkalna in Kino Raksti

Read a great guide to upcoming art exhibitions in the region at EchoGoneWrong

Back to list