The annual international art festival Survival Kit will take place in Riga from August 30 until September 28, 2025. The festival exhibition House of See-More, curated by the art collective Slavs and Tatars and Michał Grzegorzek, will be located at the creative city Grīziņdārzs on Zemitāna street 9. The exhibition will be complemented by a broad and multifaceted public programme, inviting visitors to, among other things, learn more about the leitmotif of this year’s festival – the mythical bird Simurgh.
The curator of the public programme, Evarts Melnalksnis, will introduce the mythical Eurasian bird in five events – on September 13, 14, 20 and 21 – by utilizing stories and practices from communities near and far, as well as by emphasizing the bird’s characteristic flamboyance and playfulness.
The festival’s programme will feature a workshop dedicated to birds by emerging fashion designer Jānis Norberts Krauja, as well as a presentation of his Amsterdam studio collection Eggs on Legs in a voguing performance called Elements of a Feeling, in collaboration with choreographer and artist Ivo Krieviņš. The performance will be followed by a techno dance night with the queer DJ collective KLIK KLAK.
To explore the history of Latvian textile art, which will be represented at this year’s Survival Kit exhibition by the works of artist Inese Jakobi, there will be a day of talks and skill-sharing dedicated to textile art, with participation from the local Grīziņkalns neighborhood community. Meanwhile, a symposium on politics, culture and religions in regions united by the Simurgh myth – Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East – will highlight postcolonial aspects that are underexplored in Latvia. The symposium will be complemented by a workshop entitled “Invisible Multispecies Communities” by the creative collective Fabula (Tīna Alise Drupa and Rūta Jumīte), which will invite participants to seek out and notice representatives of other species and ecosystems in the urban environment, visualising them via symbolic landmarks.
Evarts Melnalksnis’ curated programme will be concluded by the leading performance artist of her generation, Simona Orinska. She will invite people to experience the mythical bird through rituals at Grīziņdārzs, where the festival takes place.
A separate programme is planned for the opening of Survival Kit 16 on August 29, as well as for the contemporary culture forum White Night on September 6, including events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art.
Continuing the programme of events celebrating the 25th anniversary of LCCA, which began in May this year, the festival invites visitors to three performative walks in the urban environment. On September 6 and 28, the curators, organizers and artists of previous festivals will invite visitors on a tour of the previous venues of Survival Kit, recalling vivid moments in the history of the festival and highlighting the impact of Survival Kit on Riga’s cultural landscape. The first walking tour route during White Night will be complemented by a program created by Survival Kit 9 curator Jonatan Habib Engqvist, featuring a film screening by artists Gernot Wieland and Vona Kita Ji, a lecture, and karaoke.
And on September 27 the artists Līga Spunde and Joonas Hyvönen will hold a unique walk through The Great Cemetery of Riga. Following road signs in augmented reality, paricipants in the walk will experience their usual environment in a new, digitally performative way. After the walk, a conversation with the artists will take place at the festival’s venue in Grīziņdārzs.
The public programme of Survival Kit 16 will be kicked off on the festival’s opening night, with performances and music by artists featured in the exhibition House of See-More – Nadia Markiewicz, Kexin Hao, Filipka Rutkowska, DJ DĖMĖ (Demetrio Castellucci), and DJ Tim Jugla.
A detailed Survival Kit 16 programme is available here.
The festival is organized by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art.
The festival is supported by the Latvian Ministry of Culture, the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Riga City Municipality, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Embassy of Italy in Riga, the French Institute in Latvia, Goethe Institute in Riga, Investment and Development Agency in Latvia, Investment and Tourism agency of Riga, and VV foundation.
Festival partners: Creative City “Grīziņdārzs”, Molberts, Cewood, newspaper “Kultūras Diena”, Riga Neighborhood.