Uzupis: The Post-Soviet Republic of Artists
The Republic of Užupis was founded on 1st April 1997. It is argued that the choice of their foundation date is a deliberate choice to reflect their circumventing the reality of the establishment. It was their statement of fooling the world. Užupis is in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The city had suffered demolition at the hands of the Nazis courtesy of it being a Jewish settlement. It went on to suffer neglect at the hands of the communists and by 1990, was a ghetto of dilapidated buildings without basic utilities inhabited by prostitutes, homeless and artists who were trying to resist the suppression of the erstwhile Soviet regime. It is from this foundation that Užupis gathered its element of deviation and rebellion.
After Independence, Lithuania was trying desperately to rediscover its national identity by coming out of the shadow of Soviet communism. Several statues of Lenin were being brought down reflecting the deep-rooted antipathy towards the Soviet regime. It was a time where the Lithuanian identity was in a state of flux. In 1995 a group of artists and intellectuals erected a statue of Frank Zappa in the nation’s capital, Vilnius. It was not that Zappa was some ironic crusader against communism. Saulius Paukstys a local photographer and civil servant notes, “[We were] desperate to find a symbol that would mark the end of communism”.
Užupis, contrary to Chistiania welcomes visitors and has street signs demonstrating the same. In the initial years housing prices were cheap thus attracting a community of artists. At Užupis a cafe doubles up as the Parliament. In 1999 the Foreign Affairs Ministry was inaugurated on the terrace of a café. Interestingly, the ambassadors of Užupis are appointed in small towns and districts in large cities, like Kreuzberg in Berlin or Monmartre in Paris. The Republic of Užupis seeks to organize diplomacy in visibly unorthodox ways. There are embassies opened in Poetry, in the Wind, in Holograms and in Whistling on the Streets. The element on which this kind of a polity is premised has never been induced in the political reality of the nation-state. It is humour. The concept was put together by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thomas Chepaitis who happens to be an artist. In a note on the website of the Užupis Embassy he adds, “I take all this seriously but with humour of course, because humour is vital fluid of life.”. He also happens to be a member of the European Culture Parliament.
The structure of the polity of the Republic of Užupis inverses the dictates of the nation-state regime. It has created a rupture by bringing into the political space, an absurdity completely defying the conformist political rationale. It has gone to the extent of detaching cultural diplomacy from the hegemony of soft power.
The duties of Uzupian Ambassadors and Consuls include and mostly constitute of spreading the Constitution of Užupis, writing articles and making ties for artistic exhibitions and events. In return, Ambassadors get a right to lecture and study at Užupis University for a lifetime and to share their worldview and lifestyle.
The Constitution of Užupis is also largely based on libertarian principles. The clauses include, “ Man has the right to individuality”(Article 5), “People have the right to be happy”(Article 16), “People have the right to be unhappy”(Article 17), “People have the right to have no rights”(Article 37), “Everyone may be independent”(Article 31), “Everyone is responsible for their freedom”(Article 32). The clause emphasises the importance of individual choice and non-interference. In 2018, the Uzupian Constitution became the world’s first constitution to mention artificial intelligence, when Chepaitis added a clause affirming the right of an artificial intelligence to believe in the good of humanity.
Užupis is a deliberate attempt to deinstitutionalize sovereignty. The inhabitants are not ‘given’ sovereignty by the politico-juridical institutions. The Uzupian political structure has moved away from the power regime of institutionalised politics. The ability to give up power, in the context of rights, that is embedded in the Constitution is symbolic of the bohemian culture that has been normalized, recognised, and upheld by the Republic itself. It is not that non-interference and the ‘free individual’ are not rational political realities but in the framework of the global empire, something so external to the institutional, conformist regime is regarded as an absurdity. Užupis’ intention to produce and reproduce this absurdity consciously is what makes it a persistent point in counter-empire. Oeulliet notes, “What they wanted was to create delirium, to create an artistic statement, to reshuffle some life into a derelict district. This has meaning. This is a successful micronation.”
The Republic of Užupis has been facing problems in the recent years. Real estate prices have inflated. Moreover, the significant number of immigrants that have come in were incentivized by the availability of an easy-going lifestyle. They do not share the philosophy of the builders of Užupis. They are unlikely to be part of either a ‘thought-state’ or assume a position of counter-empire. The significant investment in renovation has increased estate prices and made the community “less wilder and bohemian” according to Indre Mickaite, the manager of Užupis Art Incubators Gallery. A steady process of gentrification has significantly affected the purpose of Užupis.
Užupis has not yet been flooded with massive intrusion of the Lithuanian state, unlike Christiania. In reality, it is a project that has been allowed to exist. The creation of Užupis reflects the radical rejection of institutionalised, pre-conceived sovereignty by a community. The fact that the Republic has inverted almost everything that the nation-state stood for is symbolic of its defiance. To enumerate the characteristics of the political reality of the Republic of Užupis in terms of difference, would be as follows:
· No symbolic display of governmental authority in institutional architecture
· No display of power in conducting diplomatic relations
· Complete reliance on individual agency and non-interference
· Use of the element of humour in political structure
· Government based on philosophy rather than territory and coercion
· Direct contact between high-level officials and population
It cannot be said with certainty whether Užupis would always be able to maintain its commitment to defiance and inversion assuming that sooner or later the Lithuanian state would significantly intervene. However, the very act of the creation of Užupis has created a rupture in the history of sovereignty. The inhabitants of Užupis are not sovereign subjects. They have carved their own sovereignty, their own institutions and their own catharsis from Soviet communism. They refused to stay put at being a post-Soviet state. The neglect at the hands of the Nazis and the Communists showed the dynamic of the empire regardless of proclaimed ideology. The micronation was built by outcasts, which is a revolutionary act. The point in counter-empire is created by those who were offloaded by the empire- prostitutes, homeless and subdued artists- all deviant to the security of the conformist regime of the empire. Following that, Užupis has created a society which the nation-state never imagined and, in all probability, never will. They are a successful micronation.
