Track Changes
Exhibition and discussion
Participating artists: Līga Laurenoviča, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Kate Krolle, Laura Stasjulīte, Kārlis Lesiņš, Reinhards Krēls, Markuss Ambahs, Baņuta Rubess, Sanita Muižniece, Dāvids Šilters
Curator: Zane Zajančkauska
What have you learnt from the changes in Latvia and globally in the last few years?
Within the context of the crisis, the most surprising thing was to experience the mass panic which governed in Latvia for a time, although in actual fact the rhythm of life only slowed down comparatively little and the situation was thrown back by a couple of years. A comment read in an interview “you can’t jump the welfare queue”, in my opinion capitulates the events taking place. Alongside the short-term discomfort is the bling bling society, which leans on leaving an impression, on clubbing together and bluffing which can only be at the fore temporarily; it’s worth relying on substantial things and values in the long-term - education, which results in thinking, talent which goes hand in hand with activity, human relations, which are aimed towards mutual support and co-operation.
How does your project for SURVIVAL KIT 2 relate to the festival theme?
The project Track Changes attempts to follow the changes in the economy, the urban environment and in people. The project was created for the Contemporary Art Museum in Leipzig. City allotments provide a model for survival: the practical, tomatoes and cucumbers from one’s garden; and the emotional: allotments as a micro-community, communication and meeting place. Kārlis Lesiņš records allotment owners as the sub–culture of Riga which has been underestimated to date. The German artist Reinhard Krell, enthused by the underestimated worth of the allotments, grounds himself in the allotments of Torņakalns and sets up a Rescue station, promoting thoughts on who is taking part in city planning, and how. The satirical comment of Markuss Ambaha, Sanita Muižniece and Dāvid Šilters, is potatoes, which flower along the lane dividers of a street in Riga. The Berlin interwar strategy – to use each green belt of the city for providing food, in Riga reminds us of unused opportunities and a change in perspective. Both the crisis and the artists’ comments draw attention to the existing opportunities and the use of resources and to a calm, but observant look around.
Why haven’t you left Latvia?
In summer 2009 I left for one and a half years to get new impulses for continuing work in Riga and Latvia. Three months in South Africa, where there is no economic crisis and 14 months in Germany where the individualism of welfare society creates lack of human warmth is good baggage to come home with.
—Zane Zajančkauska, curator