The project “The Emperor’s Masks” explores the figure of the contemporary leader as one who wears two masks. It is inspired by the Venetian carnival and its theatrical tradition of masks, each possessing its own face and symbolic meaning. The project emerged as a response to the growing crisis of leadership—both globally and within Lithuania—as well as from personal experience.
The project seeks to reveal how modern “leadership” or “imperial authority” is often constructed externally: through displays of authority, surface-level charisma, and manipulation in the pursuit of power. Beneath this façade, however, lie inner demons—lost identity, emotional fragility, feelings of inferiority, and unresolved complexes.
In this work, the Emperor is portrayed as a gambler who, operating through both masks—the external and the internal—attempts to increase his personal and professional gains. The people surrounding the Emperor are depicted as lesser figures: taught, controlled, or occasionally protected, all in order to demonstrate power and bestowed grace.
Models: Martynas Zakevicius, Mantas Kukenys
Venue: Lithuanian Writers' Union
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The Emperor’s Masks
Intro
The Emperor’s Masks
Power and inner emptiness
Two masks – one leader.
The outer mask, the Doctor, symbolizes authority and the illusion of knowledge and control. It is the speaking, persuasive face of leadership, used to influence others and maintain power.
The inner mask, Moretta, is silent and closed. It reflects inner insecurity, confusion, and helplessness. This is the part of the leader that repeats its actions, hides doubt, and struggles to express true feelings.
Together, these two masks exist as the outer and inner reflections of the same person, revealing the paradox of leadership caught between the display of power and inner emptiness..
The Emperor’s Masks
Joker is going
all in
A leader embodies many different faces, but one of the most common pairings is the imperial Bauta mask and the inner Joker.
The Bauta represents authority, power, and control. It is an unreadable, distant face that conceals true intentions and projects strength and dominance.
The Joker, on the other hand, reflects inner chaos, unpredictability, and emotional instability. It embodies irony, insecurity, and the urge to remain visible at any cost. It also symbolizes the act of going all in — risking everything in a single move. This mask embodies impulsiveness, gambling with consequences, and the tendency to make bold, sometimes reckless decisions driven by fear, ego, or the need to maintain control.
Together, these masks reveal another paradox of leadership: the external performance of order and power, and the internal turbulence that often drives decisions and behavior..
The Emperor’s Masks
Charming Control
The Columbina mask reveals inner charm and charisma that is hard to resist. It captivates, enchants, and leaves almost no one unaffected. It works through lightness, appeal, and emotional connection, creating an illusion of closeness and trust.
However, in contrast with the Joker, it highlights manipulation. This charm becomes a subtle tool – a way to influence, persuade, and captivate. The manipulation is hard to detect because it is intertwined with genuine charm. It creates the impression that the leader is always right, caring, and knowing what is best for others. Beneath this charming exterior lies a drive to control and maintain the balance of power for their own advantage.
These two masks – Columbina and the Joker – can work together to create an almost magical effect: helping to achieve success in power, secure more favorable conditions, and advance in a career. One mask charms and attracts, while the other manipulates and steers situations to the leader’s advantage. Together, they reveal how charisma and strategy can be employed to consolidate authority.
The Emperor’s Masks:
The Winning Pair
The Joker mask is the most popular mask of leadership. It combines humor, risk-taking, hidden intentions, and the ability to stay in the background—or sometimes appears completely innocent when unexpected events occur.
When paired with the Doctor mask, it becomes a powerful tool for achieving even greater victories at the highest levels, especially in the context of empire or power structures. By combining charm and humor with rationality and authority, a leader can manipulate situations and effectively consolidate their position.
The Emperor’s Masks:
Ilusions of Care
The two inner faces, when active together, appear simultaneously only rarely. Occasionally, a glimpse of authenticity breaks through, revealing several different faces—somewhat “innocent” and playful. However, this inner “authenticity” is not truly authentic. It manifests as a peculiar form of care for others, whom the leader perceives as less experienced—like children who need to be taught or allowed to learn. This role is symbolized by the figure of a girl, who will never meet the Emperor’s standards, yet becomes the object through which dominance and control are expressed.
This private, fleeting openness is accessible only in one-on-one situations, without witnesses, and reveals the subtle dynamics of authority, manipulation, and hierarchical positioning within leadership.
The Emperor’s Masks:
Presence over Power
Leadership is not an illusion. It is leading by example, uncovering and nurturing people’s potential. It is not black or white – it is a whole that truly supports and cultivates, without hidden agendas. A true leader seeks meaning, striving to change the world or an organization toward success and the greater good.
I am inspired and shaped by the experiences I hear around me. They help me grow as a leader whose purpose is to meaningfully assist people in discovering and developing their best qualities and potential.
