The Participatory Workshop: A series of workshops
Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum
Ukrainas neatkarības iela 1
March 7 to March 20, 2022
For two weeks, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LLMC) held a series of workshops at the Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum, with visitors having the chance to learn about different art techniques and their use in activist practices and protests under the guidance of renowned and recognized Latvian artists, as well as to go protest together and partake in art action on the stretch of Antonijas (now Ukraine’s Independence) Street between the embassies of Russia and Ukraine. The workshops were held daily from 4 to 7 p.m. on working days and 12 a.m, to 3 p.m. on holidays at the Conference Hall of the Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum. They were led by well-known Latvian contemporary artists: scenographer Liene Pavlovska, multimedia artist Kaspars Groševs, performance artist Anda Lāce, new media artist Anna Priedola, sculptor Ivars Drulle, photographer Vika Eksta, painter Rasa Jansone, director Krista Burāne together with artist Ieva Kauliņa, sculptor and interdisciplinary artist Gundega Evelone, graphics artist Sabīne Vekmane, illustrator Maija Kurševa, and scenographers Krista and Reinis Dzudzilo.
On the workshops:
The series of workshops was opened March 7 with a poster workshop led by activists from the Ascendum NGO and the Satori internet magazine, with the participation of Lolita Tomsone and the Latvian Museums Association. The workshop resulted in diverse protest posters, with representatives of the museum industry staging a protest at the Embassy of Russia.
March 8: painting and an International Women's Day protest with Rasa Jansone, a feminist artist. Airy textile prints were made in the workshop, bearing dedications and words of support for Ukrainian women. The Ukrainian women will win!
March 9: the ‘Pushkin vs. Putin’ initiative by director Krista Burāne and scenographer Ieva Kauliņa. Participants made posters from stickers and texts with the poetry of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin that the two artists had created beforehand. The stickers and the posters were placed in the cityscape, and a group of protesters went to the Pushkin Monument at Kronvalda Park during the workshop, covering the monument with the Ukrainian flag and chanting Pushkin’s poems.
March 10: the conservation of Putin, led by Gundega Evelone. A portrait of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was used for the workshop. It was placed into jars of water, and anger and curses were expressed during the conversation process. Medals bearing the portrait of the Ukrainian president were also made as part of the workshop.
March 11: drawing posters together with cartoonist Maija Kurševa. Participants made anti-war posters under the guidance of the artist, using a technique of copying images by projecting them on the wall of the workshop premises.
March 12: silk screening and printing workshop with Sabīne Vekmane. Posters bearing the dove of peace were made in the workshop and disseminated across the city by families and their children.
March 13: ‘Against the War, Using 33 Letters of the Ukrainian Alphabet’, a workshop for creating large-scale posters, led by Krista and Reinis Dzudzilo. Artists created texts and words in Ukrainian, for example, spelling out the name of Ukraine’s Independence Street and placing it across the museum fence which lies directly across the street from the Russian Embassy. Workshop participants likewise made letters to use on their clothing, with blue plastic coats bearing the text Я свобода (‘I am freedom’ in the Ukrainian).
March 14: object workshop with scenographer Liene Pavlovska. Blue-and-yellow raindrops and hearts of courage were created at the workshop, to be left in the park, on the street, or to be taken home. Objects to be displayed prominently, stating a clear message in opposition against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Plywood shapes were available as part of the workshop, and the artist invited everyone to paint these in the colors of courage and freedom.
March 15: ‘Save culture!’, a painting workshop dedicated to Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko, led by Envija. On February 28, the Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum was burned down. Among others, it held the vivid works of Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko. With the slogan ‘Save culture!’ the Participatory Workshop presented and made use of Maria Prymachenko’s work, drawing inspiration from, copying and engaging with Ukrainian culture. Vivid large-scale copies as well as smaller interpretations of Prymachenko’s work were made during the workshop.
March 16: sound workshop with multimedia artist Kaspars Groševs. Participants had the chance to create a joint soundwork, recording the shouts, cries and other noises they made. As the workshop drew to a close, a protest at the Russian Embassy was staged from the museum balcony, filling Ukraine’s Independence Street with a forceful audio work, a cry demanding justice.
March 17: large-scale posters with painter and performance artist Anda Lāce. The artist called for a solidary protest, a collective discharge of feeling. A collective message was painted on large-scale sheets; it was a chance to formulate and express one’s feelings with the use of color, brush and other materials. The large-scale poster created in the workshop was to be carried by six protesters and said “Mы знаем, что тебe страшнo”.
March 18: data workshop with new media artist Anna Priedola. The new media artist Anna Priedola led a workshop of sunflower seeds titled “We are the seeds…”, using soil, water, seeds and the information we read on news websites. Sunflowers were planted during the workshop, in addition to creating data visualizations about the inhabitants of Ukraine and Russia that had fallen in the war.
March 19: poster workshop using vyshyvanka patterns, led by Ivars Drulle. Vyshyvankas are traditional Ukrainian embroideries that are worn as a charm to protect the people wearing them. The workshop consisted of studying vyshyvanka patterns and using them for posters, creating a Tree of Life pattern.
March 20: photo and participatory workshop with photographer Vika Eksta. The series of workshops drew to a close with artist Vika Eksta’s workshop, in which every visitor could create diptych self-portraits, expressing their feelings, both the good – their peacefulness, love, courage – and the rest – their anger, desperation and sense of helplessness. The artist used several creative methods for creating images and living statues. Workshop participants used both their body language and facial expressions to express their support for Ukraine and express their thoughts and feelings in the language of art.
The invited artists demonstrated different artistic techniques and ideas that can be used in activism, researching the possibilities provided both by visual and aural media. The practical goal of the Participatory Workshop is keeping the discussion and protest at the Russian Embassy alive through the use of creative techniques and joint activities, not allowing the ongoing war to disappear among the other cares of day-to-day life. But this is not the sole function of the Participatory Workshop. This series offers a space for politically-involved shared activities, promoting solidarity among the public and a critical discussion on the current events, as well as a therapeutic catharsis through creative and meaningful work.
The materials necessary for the workshops were collected with the support of KRASO, Dirty Deal Teatro, SIA Baltijas Papīrs and the Art Academy of Latvia. We thank to ISSP photographers for their help in documenting the workshops, in particular Kārlis Didrihsons, Reinis Hfomanis, Valdis Jansons, Marianna Lapiņa, Līva Rutmane and Andrejs Strokins!
We thank each and every participant of the workshops, as well as LLMC’s art mediators. Every minute of activism is a minute well spent.
Слава Україні!