History and theory of arts

Topic title	Possible scientific supervisors	Source of funding
The distribution of loudness and silence in 20th-21st century Lithuanian fiction and music	prof. dr. Saulius Keturakis	state-funded	Research Topic Summary. Interdisciplinary studies of Lithuanian culture typically analyze the connections between music and fiction by examining influences—how literary features impact music or vice versa.This study proposes a more universal perspective: searching for a correlation between loudness and silence in the works of Lithuanian composers and writers. While music communicates these elements directly, the written word is "silent," resonating indirectly in the reader's mind. Utilizing Lithuanian linguistics research, the study will first identify verbal data that reveals loudness and silence levels within virtual literary worlds. Once criteria are established, trained Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools will analyze vast periods of Lithuanian music and literary history, rather than just a few works. The results will offer a data-rich perspective on Lithuanian culture, allowing for the observation of correlations between loudness/silence and sociocultural processes.
Identity as an Architectural Strategy: Narratives of Lithuanian-ness in Interwar, Soviet, and Diaspora Architecture	doc. dr. Vaidas Petrulis	state-funded	Research Topic Summary. The dissertation proposes to examine how Lithuanian architectural identity was formed and interpreted across different twentieth-century contexts. The study would be based on a comparative approach, bringing together three thematic fields that have most often been treated separately in previous academic research: the interwar period, the Soviet era, and the Lithuanian diaspora. The analysis would explore how political systems, cultural ruptures, and migration shaped the expression of Lithuanian-ness in architecture, how identity narratives were constructed, and what strategies architects and communities employed to preserve or reinvent cultural distinctiveness. The aim of the research would be to develop a new, integrated interpretation of Lithuanian architectural identity, relevant both to the historiography of Lithuanian architecture and to international studies of Eastern European and diasporic modernisms.
From "male gaze" to "human gaze": continuity between patriarchism and speciesism in audiovisuality	prof. dr. Dario Martinelli	state-funded	Research Topic Summary. The doctiral topic deals with gaze as a cultural construction (from Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze and Berger’s concept of the human gaze). The aim is to show, through an analysis of audiovisual texts how women and animals have culturally been the objects of a speciesist and patriarchal gaze, and how contemporary cinema and television display emerging alternative forms of representation.
Street Art as a Medium of Memory: A Semiotic Interpretation of the Visual Culture of Public Spaces	prof. dr. Saulutė Juzelėnienė	state-funded	Research Topic Summary. In contemporary cities, street art has become an important form of cultural memory expression through which communities visually commemorate collective experiences, historical events, and local identities. Public spaces are transformed into fields of memory where narratives of history, resistance, and everyday life intertwine. Drawing on theories of semiotics, visual culture, and cultural memory, the research explores how street art functions as a medium of memory that shapes urban identity and the cultural field of self-awareness. The project also examines the role of digital media and technologies in creating, documenting, and interpreting public art.
Built heritage in Lithuania Minor: issues of identity, memory and preservation	doc. dr. Aušra Mlinkauskienė	state-funded
The Semiotics of Public Spaces and Artistic Activism: Street Art as an Instrument of Urban Identity and Cultural Critique	prof. dr. Saulutė Juzelėnienė	state-funded	Research Topic Summary. In contemporary cities, street art has become not only a form of aesthetic expression but also a means of social communication and cultural critique. The research explores how street art created in public spaces functions as a form of artistic activism that shapes urban identity and fosters social dialogue. Drawing on theories of semiotics and intermediality, the study analyzes how visual signs, symbols, and spatial structures generate meanings that reveal aspects of urban culture, memory, and resistance. It also seeks to determine the role of contemporary technologies and digital media in the development and interpretation of public art.