Utopian Metro
Installation, 2014
The Utopian Metro is a metro system for a better, happier, more harmonious and efficient Riga. The original Riga metro was planned in the 1970s and 80s, with the first stage to be opened in the 1990s and the construction of three lines to be completed by 2021. Metros in the Soviet Union symbolized a utopian vision of the future and the potential of the country. The Utopian Metro takes as its premise the idea that construction of the metro has been taking place in secret since the 1980s, and will soon be open to passengers. The utopian idea of the metro has been updated for contemporary times: instead of workers from other Soviet countries, the metro will receive European Union funding and help to increase Latvia’s shrinking population by bringing in immigrant workers from the EU’s less fortunate countries, as well as attracting Latvians working abroad to return home. To speed up the construction and to bring in traditional Latvian values, metro talkas will be held for voluntary and collective work in building the metro.
Artist's Bio:
Laura Ķeniņš is a Latvian-Canadian artist and arts writer, born in Toronto, Canada, but now living and working in Riga. She studied printmaking and photography at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax, Canada. She works in comics, drawing, printmaking, installation and other media.