"Courage, onwards!" by Solvita Krese
An acquaintance of mine who I caught up with recently, asked me with an obvious lack of understanding, “Why does the Latvian Contemporary Art Cen- tre mess about with all sorts of survival kits? Wouldn’t it be simpler to put good art in a normal exhibition hall?” Obviously, it is much safer and more predictable to operate in the “white cube” exhibition hall context and focus on art’s aesthetic or conceptual aspects. But the role of art can be much more capacious. I’m inclined to gather information about it in close interaction with the processes, which take place in our society, in the world we live in.
It could be that the conviction, that it’s possible to change something in the world with the help of art, is echoed in the message of the idea of progress, which foresees that everything is capable of being perceived and addressed, or perhaps the complete opposite, is rooted in some redolent mystical theological experience.
It is possible that our plan is naive and unrealizable, but within the framework of the SURVIVAL KIT 2 Contemporary Art Festival, we are still inviting artists to implement their creative ideas about various survival strategies in today’s world, raising the question, “is art able to influence or change the world in a positive way?”.
We held the first SURVIVAL KIT Festival in autumn last year in empty shop fronts in the centre of Rīga, as it seemed that these shops were one of the most noticeable expressions of the crisis. Over the course of a week artists converted the empty spaces into creative laboratories and non-traditional exhibition venues. For example, Katrīna Neiburga together with Agnese Krivade, opened a soup kitchen, where they presented their works with food being prepared by poets and artists. The creative group Zapte set up a second hand fashion salon in one of the empty shop spaces, where a range of recycled clothes were presented and creative workshops and fashion parades took place. Egija Indzule and Maja Weismer in turn created a little book shop, where discussions, presentations and lectures took place throughout the Festival. SURVIVAL KIT turned out to be a noticeable event, which cheered up not just the residents of Rīga and their guests, but was also appreciated by local and international art circles.
The festival, which was created as a response to the crisis, will continue each year as an attempt to feel the “pulse” of city, society, and world events and to contemplate, what has changed over this time and what artists can do to improve things. We plan to develop this initiative and to follow this topical theme until 2014, when Rīga will be the European Capital of Culture.
What then has changed over this year? A number of creative quarters have developed in the city, with small multi-functional shops, cafes and hairdressing salons, which at the same time operate as cultural nests in the empty spaces. For example, the Melnais knābis hairdressing salon operates both as a reading room and while creating its own cultural programme. Similar activity also takes place at the Taka cafe, at the Satori bookshop, the 20.gadsimts vintage shop, the Baba shop – creative workshop and other newly created spots like the Muhamors cafe/shop, the Dad Cafe exhibition and concert hall, or the Miit bicycle workshop/cafe. The development of creative incubators, which promote the interaction of culture and business, can also be observed. The Latvian Contemporary Art Centre in cooperation with the Soros Foundation has started up a support programme for creative initiatives called Brigādes. These new initiatives pronounce culture to be a successful “survival package” and tool for overcoming the crisis.
That’s why the survival kit this year is located at the newly created culture island archipelago at Miera iela, Baznīcas iela and E.Birznieka-Upīša iela, as well as at Upītis Passage and the Bergs Bazaar. A number of other festival venues are scattered around the ciy centre. Many Survival kit stop offs will also be located at the Spīķeri, Vecrīga, the VEF factory buildings and at Andrejsala.
In SURVIVAL KIT 2 the wishes of artists to seek recipes for survival both in family values (Katrīna Neiburga, Elīna Eihmane) and the “little stories” of individuals (Ēriks Božis, Performances apvienība, Miķelis Fišers), as well as in the presence of nature (the Serde Creative Group, Mājas svētība project, Markus Ambach’s and Reinhard Krehl’s activities in the city’s garden allotments), increating flexible institution models (Muzejs project, Radošo sapņu workshop), developing various “do it yourself” practices (Benjamin Sabatier, Pauls Bankovskis, Peahen Studio, various creative workshops), in offering alternative world models (Patrick Graf) and in variations on strategic city development (Apolonija Sustersic) can be felt.
Artists also address the dialogue between power and society (Aigars Bikše, Izolde Cēsniece), emphasizing various aspects of migration (the Festival Film programme, Pavel Braila, Ineta Sipunova), registering the imprints of economic utopia’s mistakes in the city environment (Arnis Balčus, Andris Vītoliņš), highlighting various “anti-system” territories (Nataša Burliko, Irina Špičaka) and ironizing about global capitalism’s “drowning” ambitions (Superflex, Flo Kasearu) and local rescue measures (Petra Petileta, Krišs Zilgalvis).
Increased communication, the desire to come together, to converse can be noticed as one of the strategies which are currently being activated by people, and which is expressed in Krista Burāne’s initiative. The residents of E. Birznieka-Upīša iela are being invited to come out of their dwellings and to take part in a shared event, which also involves little shops, cafes, and hairdressing salons in the creation of a common story. It is not just the learning about the street’s or the neighbourhood’s local character or identity, but also the activation of the local community, of “being neighbourly” (Emīls Rode’s project, too) which is being stimulated.
As one of the thematic directions, the theme, which is sublimated in the Es mirstu – es dzīvoju [I die – I live] exhibition, which is taking place at the VEF Art Centre also looms out. One can only agree with the eternal truth, that each end is a new beginning and to create something new, one must climb over or sacrifice the old.
Will we succeed? See how the dog in the Festival emblem, which has always been man’s best friend, has already been planned for division into steaks. Our nation is divided up into zones of influence in a similar way and budget cuts threaten to reduce the prospects of culture’s survival. But I want to believe that this year’s Festival emblem’s dog, responding to the invitation “Courage, onwards!”, will still go forward. Just like the little shops, new creative initiatives and individuals, bravely attempting to realize their dreams. And even if things are blocked at the macro level, they are bubbling at the micro level; it is still possible to maintain a creative spirit and possible to create other, not just economic, values. If many others had this same intensity, then, even without seeing macro solutions, you could still participate in your life, interacting with others, enriching the world around you, and that certainly is of value.
Here’s to success!