As part of the Liepāja Art Forum, art space Civita Nova of the Liepāja Concert Hall hosted the exhibition Dairy Diaries. Dementia through Statistics and Stories by new media artist Anna Priedola, from September 29 to November 5, 2023. Inspired by the author’s personal experience, the exhibition used audiovisual pieces and data visualizations to speak of topics like aging and loneliness, dementia, and shifts in family relationships as people encounter these natural life processes.
The exhibition was very closely connected to the festival motto, All the Birds Sing, which is an ode to the various and unique voices of our world. Hearing the voices of dementia patients and their loved ones leads to a more inclusive, socially just and sustainable world. Contact with people who have a different perception, who pay attention neither to the experiences of the past nor worries of the future, may sometimes be positive by forcing focus on the present, human presence, and surrounding beauty.
The artist chose milk as her material for visualizing dementia-related data, as she associates it with personal childhood memories – summers she spent in the country with her grandfather, where fresh milk would always be available. Unfortunately, her grandfather was diagnosed with dementia, and he gradually grew more distant from his family, reality, and life. The many blind spots that appeared in her grandfather’s memories and also in the artist’s and other relatives’ understanding of dementia, resemble the white of milk, which is used in the elements and design of the exhibition.
It is curious that coagulated milk starts resembling the human brain. The brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease experience shrinkage of grey matter, which looks like larger ‘holes’ in the total volume. Data visualization through food as material is an indirect way of showing the irreversible processes of cognitive decline, the deterioration of identity and relationships associated with dementia. The unusual data visualizations were created as a way to present abstract statistics in a way that is tangible, so that it can be perceived by all senses and thus become easier to ‘digest’ and be memorized.
The exposition was complemented by video recordings of milk fermentation processes in cross-sections and accelerations, as well as audio diaries created by anonymous relatives of dementia patients, a granddaughter, a son, a daughter-in law, a wife, recorded by actors of the Liepāja Theater. For the exposition in Liepāja a secluded space was created where visitors were invited listen to the stories and explore the milk degradation processes alone or in small groups. By revealing these natural processes, which mostly occur in isolation and darkness, the artist invites a discussion on stigmatized topics like dementia and other challenges people face as they age.
On September 30, October 21 and November 4 ‘Dementia data workshops’ led by Anna Priedola and art mediators of the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art were held. Visitors had the opportunity to create data recipes for improving their cognitive health from various everyday and familiar food products, highlighting the challenges caused by aging of the body and humanity's efforts to stop it, in an attractive and informal way.
The exhibition Dairy Diaries. Dementia through Statistics and Stories was created as part of the international project Agents of Change: Art Mediation as Conversation in collaboration among the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, DOTS Foundation for an Open Society, artist Anna Priedola, and the Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine. The exhibition organized in Liepāja till be transformed and enhanced with more personal stories.
Author of the exhibition: Anna Priedola
Project manager: Māra Žeikare, LCCA
Sound artists: Milda Ziemane, Roberts Dinters
Video technicians: Rogier Jupijn, Patrick Borgeat
Actors: Mārtiņš Kalita, Agnija Dreimane, Anna Priedola, Vija Akselrode
Art mediators: Mariona Baltkalne, Tatjana Bicjutko, Karina Bočkis, Olga Ipatova-Ignatjeva, Aija Kaula, Laine Kivilande, Santa Pētersone, Ieva Marija Rūme, Rita Rūme Rigerte, Antoņina Zēberga
Graphic design: Līga Vēliņa
Venue: Art space Civita Nova
Organised by: Great Amber in collaboration with The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art
Supported by: Liepāja City Council, European Regional Development Fund and DOTS Fund, State Culture Capital Foundation, Kurzeme Planning Region, Latviešu vēsturiskās zemes