Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) Summer School “Re-Enchanted Worlds: Contemporary Practices and Traditional Knowledge”
Location: Madona Local History and Art Museum
Dates: 6–10 August 2026
OPEN LECTURE PROGRAMME AVAILABLE HERE
Additional information: Andra Silapētere – silapetere@lcca.lv
LCCA SUMMER SCHOOL 2026
Many have claimed that the modern world is stripped of presence, wonder, and meaning – it has become disenchanted. In response to this thought, we call for exploring creative practices of re-enchantment. Herby, we invite you to address subconscious experiences, archetypes, mythologies, and alternative systems of knowledge. It might be both through an emphasis on affect, awe, and the sublime, or intuition, ritual, and embodied ways of knowing. These approaches echo mythic traditions in which humans are not separate observers of the world but part of a larger whole: nature, cosmos, spirit, restoring a sense of connection and belonging.
The programme is focused on traditional knowledge as inspiration for contemporary creative practice and as a vehicle for (re)enchantment. It will cover topics like resonance with surroundings and embeddedness in more-than-human worlds, contemporary meanings of ancient myths, artistic quests into the underworld of culture and consciousness, and will offer interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches on how to think about them.
We will explore how contemporary artists, theorists, and researchers respond to the disenchanted condition and how creative and embodied practices can reopen space for mystery, intuition, and imagination. Here, the art may serve as a site of re-enchantment where knowledge is felt, sensed, and experienced rather than merely explained, and the location becomes a terrain of encounter where participants can attune to stories, materials, and presences that exceed the rational and the visible.
Who Should Apply?
The LCCA Summer School is open to early-career artists, art historians, humanities and social science scholars, curators, and cultural studies researchers. MA and PhD students are particularly encouraged to apply.
Application Process
Participation in the Summer School is free of charge; however, participants must cover a 200 EUR contribution towards accommodation and catering costs.
To participate, please fill out the application form HERE and enclose a motivation letter.
The deadline for applications is June 12 2026. We will respond to applicants by June 22. For any questions regarding the application, please get in touch with Andra Silapētere at silapetere@lcca.lv
Organisers & supporters
The curators of the Summer School programme are Andra Silapētere (LCCA) and the UNART team (Toms Ķencis, Jana Kukaine, Ieva Melgalve and Maija Rudovska).
LCCA Summer School is organised in partnership with the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia through the Latvian Council of Science funded project “Contemporary Art and Folklore: Unlocking the Underworld (UNART)” (lzp-2024/1-0479), and in cooperation with the Madona Museum of Local History and Art. Financial support has been received within the framework of the “Vidzeme Cultural Programme 2025,” implemented by the Vidzeme Planning Region as part of the State Culture Capital Foundation target programme “Development Programme of Latvian Historical Lands” and the State Culture Capital Foundation.
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