PERFORMANCE ART EXHIBITION „APARTMENT”
Performances, exhibition
Participating artists: Gatis Vectirāns, Zane Matule, Laura Zvilna, Ilze Treima, Haralds Matulis, Steve Vanoni (US), Patrick Jambon (DE), Mari Aaltonen (FI), Vera Arjoma (FI), Elise Makitalo (FI), Paivi Viinikainen (FI), Pilar Talavera (PE), Evamaria Schaller (AT), Philip Pedersen (FI), Janne Rahkila (FI)
Curated by: Gatis Vectirāns
What have you learnt from the changes in Latvia and globally in the last few years?
The lesson is – only rely on yourself. The State of Latvia does not wish to, and cannot give anything. Our organisation subsists from international funds. Of course, it’s absurd that the Performance Art Union of Latvia is maitained by funds in foreign countries. The lesson is – do not become diseased by money, because now we are suffering the consequences of this disease. People in the creative field have never suffered from this and therefore do not feel the impacts as heavily. By observing others with the disease, new ideas are created.
How does your project for SURVIVAL KIT 2 relate to the festival theme?
Our project Apartment emerged at the time of the crisis. As there was no money, the idea of performances in apartments originated – for small events in different apartments in Riga. The interest shown by both the participants and the audiences grew with each event, because secretly everyone wants to look around other apartments. In addition, during a crisis, there is a need to meet others and feel a sense of unity. We concluded that the intimate setting of an apartment is more interesting than a performance in the more common venues of factories and galleries. We are bringing our project Apartment to the festival with a programme of international performances and an opportunity to see events which have taken place in the apartments to date in the form of photo exhibitions and videos. The events in the apartments provide a very direct and intimate contact between the performance artists and the audience. People coming to a public event, feel as though they have been to visit friends at the end of the evening.
Why haven’t you left Latvia?
The dominating state of mind in society these past two years has created a favourable environment for different initiatives, both in the art world and the business world. This is why living in Latvia is more interesting today than it was three years ago, when it was a more affluent society. However, some members of our organisation will probably leave Latvia for a period of time to return later and finish what they started. Because working on an international level it can be difficult to make contributions of equal worth if you are permanently living in poorer conditions.
—Gatis Vectirāns, curator