For the twelfth year in a row, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art are happy to present the international art festival Survival Kit. This year instead of visiting empty and abandoned buildings, visitors will be invited to Riga’s apartment memorial museums. The selection of the festival venues is drawing attention to individual stories in the context of collective memory and questions about the aging of society and the infrastructures of care.
The festival is curated by Övül Ö. Durmușoğlu and Joanna Warsza from Berlin and will take place from 3 September to 31 October 2021.
The works of the following 25 artists will be exhibited at this year’s festival: Oreet Ashery, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Pauline Curnier-Jardin, Oskar Dawicki, Vika Eksta, Ieva Epnere, Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze, Kaspars Groševs, Johanna Hedva, Gözde İlkin, Dagna Jakubowska & Joanna Gawrońska - Kula, Gülsün Karamustafa, Flo Kasearu & Elīna Vītola, Eva Koťátková, Ieva Kraule-Kūna, Anda Lāce, Warren Niesłuchowski & Simon Leung, Felicita Pauļuka, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Mia Raadik, Anna Salmane and Jenna Sutela.
“The memorial, apartment museums, common to Eastern Europe, seemed to us like appropriate places to ask questions both about memory and memorials, but also life, ageing, ageism, survival, community and immunity. We invite artists to respond with both context-specific and existing works hosted in the rooms of late poets, painters, writers, activists” – say the curators.
The festival’s exhibition will be opened to visitors at the Jānis Akuraters Museum, Krišjānis Barons Museum, Rainis and Aspazija House, Janis Rozentāls and Rūdolfs Blaumanis Museum, Andrejs Upītis Memorial Museum, Ojārs Vācietis Museum, Romans Suta and Aleksandra Beļcova Museum, Eduards Smiļģis Theatre Museum and Hotel Neiburgs.
The project is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, the Riga City Council, Frame Finland, SAHA Association and Goethe Institut Riga.
