An exhibition titled AND OTHERS. Movements, explorations and artists in Latvia 1960 – 1984 organized by LCCA is on display at Riga Art Space. AND OTHERS discover lesser known pages of the Soviet period in art history of Latvia, concentrating on artists and phenomena that were left out of the canon of art of the time.
The exhibition also provides curator-guided tours to allow a closer look at the artwork, artists and phenomena featured at the exhibition.
Tour times:
Friday, November 26 at 16.00. Guidedby Irēna Bužinska
Friday, December 3 at 16.00.Guided by Līga Lindenbauma
Friday, December 10 at 16.00.Guided by Ieva Astahovska (in English)
Friday, December 17 at 16.00.Guided by Vilnis Vējš
Tuesday, December 29 at 16.00. Guided by Māra Traumane
The exhibition by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) centers on the pursuit of an independent and innovative art language in painting, graphic art and photography, performance art and happenings, installations and utopian projects in urban environment. The exhibition emphasizes the connection of visual arts with experiments: pantomime (in groups directed by Roberts Ligers, Modris Tenisons and Ansis Rūtentāls), experimental theatre and film (The Office Group – Ivars Skanstiņš, Juris Civjans, Mudīte Gaiševska, Andris Grīnbergs and Eižens Valpēteris), architecture (Workshop of Restoration of Unfelt Sensations), Valdis Celms), as well as action art, kinetic art and photography.
AND OTHERS introduces work created by artists in the pursuit of freedom of expression, taking no account of the stylistic and content norms of the Soviet time and not confining themselves to the modernism tendencies of pre-war Latvia. The exhibition will survey independent creative concepts and references to objectionable and undervalued phenomena in Soviet art, including abstract art, constructivism, surrealism, Op art, postmodernism etc.
Some of the represented artists have gained certain “non-conformist” recognition in Latvia and also the Western world – Zenta Logina, Biruta Delle, Atis Ieviņš, Māris Ārgalis, Valdis Celms, Artūrs Riņķis, Miervaldis Polis and Līga Purmale, Egons Spuris, NSRD; the work of others is less known – Visvaldis Ziediņš, Romualds Geikins, Vladimirs Glušenkovs, Juris Tīfentāls and, as accented in the title of the exhibition, many others. Some of the pieces, documents and artefacts at the exhibition will be on public display for the very first time. This kind of art was not supported, purchased or awarded prizes, also nowadays most of this work is found in private collections.
„Different-class, not second-class art!” is how curator Vilnis Vējš describes the work chosen for the exhibition AND OTHERS. The exhibition is co-curated by Ieva Astahovska, Irēna Bužinska, Līga Lindenbauma and Māra Traumane; exposition designer – Anna Heinrihsone.
Along with the exhibition AND OTHERS includes a comprehensive study on the innovative and unofficial art phenomena in the post-war time. The complete study will be stored in the database of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art.
This exhibition is a part of the international cooperation project Recuperating the Invisible Past coordinated by LCCA and including a broad range of activities (research, exhibitions, conferences, publications) as well as focusing on the ‘revision' of the socialist period in art and culture legacy of the former Eastern Europe from a contemporary perspective. The international partners of this project are: art organisation Tranzit.hu in Budapest, Hungary, Art History Institute at Tallinn Art Academy, Estonia, Vilnius National Art Gallery, Lithuania and Art Institute Wyspa in Gdansk, Poland.
Curator: Vilnis Vējš
Co-curators: Ieva Astahovska, Irēna Bužinska, Līga Lindenbauma and Māra Traumane
Exposition designer – Anna Heinrihsone.
Financial supporters: Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga City Council, EU programme Culture (2007-2013), the European Economic Area (EEA) financial instrument.
Partners: Ministry of Culture of Latvia, State Art Museum, Latvian Artists Union, "Noass", RIXC.
Informative supporters: Euro AWK, literature and philosophy portal ¼ Satori, Easyget.lv, www.draugiem.lv, Māksla Plus, Studija, Ir, Diena, Rīgas Laiks, Mūzikas Saule, Riga This Week,Radio „Naba”, Bad Dog.