The End of History

Participatory performance in public space

 19 June 2026

 5 Parādes Street, Daugavpils, Latvia

The End of History is a participatory performance exploring personal and collective experiences of crisis, war and oppression. Entering into dialogue with political philosopher Francis Fukuyama’s essay The End of History?, the work shifts attention away from the end of history as a theoretical abstraction and towards the moment when a person feels that the world as they knew it has ceased to exist.

The performance examines the threshold at which personal pain meets historical trauma. For one person, the end of the world may take the form of private loss, fear, despair or powerlessness. For another, it is the lived reality of war, occupation, forced displacement, violence or political repression. These experiences cannot be equated, yet each of them disrupts the familiar passage of time, dividing life into what came before and what remains after.

The End of History does not follow a linear narrative or prescribe an emotional response. Instead, it creates a space of choice. Visitors may remain still, read about different conflicts, complete a test, keep silent, observe or simply be present. Participation is neither an obligation nor a public declaration: the decision not to act also becomes part of the work.

In doing so, the performance considers not only the experience of crisis but also the position we occupy in relation to the suffering of others. What does it mean to be informed? Can observation ever be neutral? At what point does knowledge become participation, responsibility or powerlessness? Rather than answering these questions, the work allows them to emerge through the audience’s choices, physical presence and relationship with the surrounding space.

The performance was created as part of Youth Solidarity Stage: Theatre for Community Dialogue and presented in the public space of Daugavpils.

Creative Team

Emerging artists from the Art Academy of Latvia and the Latvian Academy of Culture:

Jegors Sņetkovs

 Eleonora Balode

 Elina Stoļerova

 Roberts Reikmanis

 Annija Zemīte

 Anastasija Šiklova

 Elīna Veinšteina