From April 8 to June 5, the Pauls Stradins Museum ofF the History of Medicine will host the exhibition “Dairy Diaries” by the new media artist Anna Priedola. The exhibition focuses on dementia and the experience of people with dementia and their relatives. The exhibition will be complemented by the artist's "Data Recipe" workshops, where everyone will have the opportunity to create their own "data recipes". The first workshops will take place on the opening day of the exhibition, on April 8 at 5:00 PM.
Dementia is a disease that is very prevalent in today's aging society, but people talk little about it. It irreversibly affects the memory and perceptual processes of the sufferer, gradually moving a person away from a successful and independent functioning in society. The patient's personality changes, recent events disappear, but childhood memories return. The disease also has a significant impact on relatives of people with dementia, who often become the caretakers of the sufferers.
In the exhibition, the artist introduces and depicts the daily life and perceptual processes, socio-political realities, and human relations of seniors with dementia in audio format through data visualizations and experiences of dementia. The artist uses milk and its products as the principal means of expression.
Anna Priedola has previously focused on the research of food as an artistic material and the multisensory experience it provides in the perception of a work of art. Working on a topic that is personally important to the artist, she observed the visually fascinating processes of milk coagulation and transformation. In its constant development, milk created even more vivid associations with the experience of dementia. Its slow but constant progression results in the formation of unusual, the not always ugly character of relationships and communication. In the process of creating the exhibition, the artist has collaborated with dementia patients and their relatives, documenting their experiences.
"Aging processes are inevitable, but not always easily and immediately noticeable. When we seek comfort from our parents and grandparents, at some point we have to realize that what we know and look for is no longer available: parents have changed, and we also have to change. "Dairy diaries" document these processes of change, which seem to take place on their own, but not always easy, " says the author of the exhibition.
Anna Priedola's exhibition is complemented by a pop-up exhibition of the items in the collection of the Museum of the History of Medicine. The artist created the pop-up exhibition in collaboration with museum specialists. It discusses the research of the aging process and dementia as a diagnosis through time and in various institutions. Anatomical preparations, black-and-white photographs, historical data visualizations, and everyday objects introduce the visitor to the exhibition and draw attention to the presence and appearance of aging in everyday life.
About the time, place, and attendance of the exhibition:
The exhibition “Dairy Diaries” is open at the Pauls Stradins Museum of the History of Medicine (Riga, Antonijas Street 1) from April 8 to June 5 on Tuesdays-Wednesdays and Fridays-Saturdays from 11:00 to 17:00, on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entrance ticket price - from 0.70 to 2.5 euros.
The organizers of the exhibition - DOTS Foundation for an Open Society and the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art - also invite you to have a discussion during the visit. The exhibition will feature specially trained art ambassadors or mediators - experts in various fields, both art professionals and non-professionals. They have acquired skills and knowledge about art mediation and its social power, and with them it will be possible to discuss and go on a joint tour of the exhibition.
On April 16 (CANCELED), May 21, May 28 and June 2 at 12.00, every visitor will be welcome to participate in the "Data Recipe" workshops led by Anna Priedola. Participants will create their data recipes, reproducing data on dementia with food and thus making statistics easier to "digest" and experience with different senses. Participation is free of charge with a valid entrance ticket.
Families with seniors suffering from dementia and memory disorders are particularly welcome to the exhibition. Expressly trained LLMC art mediators/assistants will be available at the premises to accompany you through the exhibition and talk with you, in a non-formal setting, about dementia and the ability of art to help people with memory disorders in their day-to-day lives. In order to arrange a visit (both individual and group visits) together with an art mediator / assistant, please contact Māra Žeikare, the head of educational projects at LLMC by phone – 29586893, or email – mara@lcca.lv.
The exhibition "Dairy Diaries" is part of the international project "Agents of Change: Mediating Minorities” (www.memagents.eu). It aims to raise awareness of contemporary art as a community-based and conversational creation. The project aims to consider the needs of the local community and bring relevant topics to the fore. It is implemented in 2021-2022 within the framework of four countries, in cooperation with five organizations: the Cultural Foundation (Helsinki, Finland), the Tallinn City Museum (Tallinn, Estonia), the Tensta Art Space (Stockholm, Sweden), the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, and the DOTS Open Society Foundation (Riga, Latvia). The project is co-financed by the European Union program “Creative Europe”, the Society Integration Fund, and the Latvian Ministry of Culture.
Accessibility
There are two parking spaces for people with disabilities at the museum entrance on Ukrainas neatkarības iela 1. There's a ramp at the entrance. In order to ride up and enter the museum, press a specially marked ring button that will summon an assistant working at the museum. An elevator operated by the museum employee takes you up to the first floor. People with disabilities can access the first floor, which houses the ticket office, information center and exhibition spaces hosting Anna Priedola's show Dairy Diaries as well as the permanent exhibitions dedicated to medieval and Renaissance medicine. A lifting device operated by the museum employee takes you to the basement floor with lockers and toilets. The toilets aren't fitted for people in a wheelchair. We invite anyone with visual, hearing or mental impairments to apply for a guided tour in the company of an art mediator / assistant. Entrance to the museum is free for people with disabilities.
Organisers:
Pauls Stradins Museum of the History of Medicine
Pauls Stradins Museum of the History of Medicine first opened its doors to visitors in 1961 and is currently one of the most popular museums in Latvia. The emergency in a pandemic prompts clarification of the museum's health status and what the concept of health means in this context. The 2022 program of the Pauls Stradins Museum of the History of Medicine is dedicated to these issues.
Latvian Center for Contemporary Art
The Latvian Center for Contemporary Art (LLMC) is one of the leading non-governmental institutions that promotes and supports the development of Latvian contemporary art. By implementing international and national art events, the LLMC aims to educate and involve Latvian society in the creation of cultural diversity, an inclusive society, and to increase the understanding of the importance of critical thought. The institution is engaged in research, production of new works, and creation and maintenance of a contemporary art archive.
DOTS Foundation for an Open Society
DOTS Foundation for an Open Society is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to strengthen the quality of democracy and raise the culture of negotiation in Latvia. At the same time, the Foundation aims to stimulate interest and participation in public and political processes, as well as to create an inclusive environment for discussion, negotiation, and intellectual curiosity. The DOTS Foundation is the founder and organizer of the LAMPA Conversation Festival.
In 2022-2023 the main activities of the Foundation are co-financed by the EEA and Norwegian Grants Program "Active Population Fund".
Anna Priedola (1988) is an artist living and working in Liepaja. She has a master's degree in the study program "New Media Art" from the University of Liepaja. The artist currently works as a research assistant in the Art Research Laboratory of the University of Liepaja. The artist develops various interdisciplinary art projects, often collaborating with the local community, researching the issues of sustainable development and the aesthetics of consumer relations. She also works as a curator, researches and interprets the concept of nature, and simulates the experience of nature.
