The creative impulses and the directions for the interpretation of the material at the exhibition were sought in the LCCA’s data base and archive, which was created and has been added to since the 1990s. It is the largest collection of information about Latvia’s contemporary art processes. A captivating educational programme, The Big Magnifying Glass, as well as a series of lectures and a video programme called The Newest Moving Image Art in the Baltics fills out the exhibition. The exhibition will be on view from the 16th to 31st October this year in Rēzekne, at the Eastern Latvia Creative Services Centre Zeimuļs, from the 10th to 23rd November at the Kandava Art Gallery, and from the 2nd to 9th December at the Museum of Regional Studies and Art of Bauska.
The exhibition focusses on the archive’s potential as a significant collection of culture, examining it as a diverse carrier of information, a dynamic and changing process which shapes and reformulates relationships with history. The expanded stories from the creative tandems of artists and curators transfer the emphasis from the general (the immensity of the documents, images and facts) to the specific, including the subjective, attempting to involve the viewer as an active user of the archive and the art works.
The creative team for the exhibition has been formed by an interdisciplinary group of curators and artists:
Art historian and critic Jānis Borgs, together with artist Laura Feldberga, curator and art historian Līga Lindenbauma – with designer Kristaps Grundšteins, art historian Aiga Dzalbe – with artists Kristaps Epners and Ieva Epnere and operator Baiba Legzdiņa, and publicist and anthropologist Haralds Matulis together with artist Ieva Saulīte.
The Big Magnifying Glass Educational Programme was created using the material which is found in the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art’s archive about Latvia’s contemporary art processes. The goal of the programme is to introduce viewers both to the language of contemporary art, as well as the history of Latvia’s art and culture in an interesting way. It will be possible to find out more about the artists, to examine works of art, to find out about current processes in Latvian contemporary art, as well as to create new works of art with the assistance of digital and analogue games. The educational programme is focussed on a wide audience – both on children who are just getting to know the basics of art, as well as on adults of all ages.
As part of The Big Magnifying Glass Educational Programme within the framework of The Five Versions. Notes About an Era Exhibition, there will be a:
Little researchers’ workshop – a place for the youngest visitors to the exhibition (from six months to five years of age) and their parents. There will be various educational toys based on works of art here – wooden puzzles and games, which teach them to create forms, recognize colours, develop attention and the nimbleness of their fingers.
An artist’s work bench for everyone who knows how to hold a pencil, use scissors and glue. There will be works sheets suited to a variety of age groups there, which are meant for colouring in, drawing, for solving ingenious tasks and for the creation of three dimensional models.
A large computer is also an element of the programme allowing one to peruse the Centre for Contemporary Art’s archive – to get to know contemporary art and artists by looking at photos and video interviews, by digitally developing an exhibition exposition or an art festival poster themselves, as well as to become Miervaldis Polis’ Bronze Man with the assistance of modern technology.
Games of ingenuity for school children are a part of the educational programme meant for groups of schoolchildren (the youngest school age, last year of primary school and for high school students). Their goal is to get children interested, through the assistance of games, by focussing attention on specific art phenomena and their interpretation.
A competition for the best comment on one of the works of art in the LCCA’s archive – this is meant for people of all ages. The task for the participants is to create a witty comment about a work of art in a form selected by the participant – poetry, video, a painting or drawing, a three dimensional work, or through a performative work. As a prize, the author of the best work will receive the opportunity to have lunch with an artist of their selection.
Furthermore, in The Newest Moving Image Art in the Baltics series of lectures and video programme created by Anna Veilande Kustikova, one will be able to look at the Baltics’ moving image art works which were created to evoke visual pleasure and an emotional experience in the viewer, at the same time, thematically as well as stylistically reflecting on current trends in contemporary culture. The lecture and video programme is planned for the closing day of each exhibition.
Exhibition curator – art historian Andra Silapētere
Exhibition lay-out and design – Asnate Bočkis
Author of the educational programme concept and project manager – Linda Veinberga
The project was produced with the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation and the ABLV Charitable Foundation , Trusis Kafe, Dizainu paklājs, Paklāju ātrā palīdzība, Trusis kafe.