A viewcam to the Latvian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale is unveiled in Riga
June 14, 2015
On Thursday 11 June at “Galerija Centrs” on Rīdzenes Street, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) and artists Katrīna Neiburga and Andris Eglītis unveiled a sculptural object-viewcam, which is a reference to this year’s Latvian Pavilion ARMPIT at the 56th Venice Art Biennale.
As LCCA Head Solvita Krese points out, the sculptural object is like a fingerprint of the impressive Latvian exposition in Venice. Together with photographs taken by Ansis Starks, the best-known photographer of architecture in Latvia, during the construction of the exposition, is an attempt to capture the atmosphere of the Latvian Pavilion and to embody it right here in Riga.
“Bearing in mind that we have received so much positive feedback about the Latvian Pavilion from all over the world and the fact that it has already been visited by 26,000 art viewers during the first month, we decided to install ARMPIT in the urban environment of Riga too. Venice is far away and cannot be reached by everybody, but here on Rīdzenes Street, each and every person can come and peer into the viewcam to get a feeling of the Latvian Pavilion built there,” said LCCA Head Solvita Krese commenting upon the sculptural object.
As already announced, the Latvian Pavilion this year is a sculpturally created system of structures, interwoven with the fragments of a video story. It was inspired and aesthetically refers to conversations recorded in video format with men who spend their free time in creative isolation in workshops installed for the purposes of their hobby. The opportunity to peer into this private existential space prompted the artists to use the environment documented in the garages to create a “distilled” version of this idiosyncratic micro-space for the Venice exhibition. In the work of art, the din of the workshop is generated by a musical composition created by musicians Andris Indāns and Shipsi (Jānis Šipkēvics), in collaboration with the Riga Cathedral School’s Boys’ Choir and the men’s choir “Gaudeamus”.
The Latvian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Art Biennale will be on view until 22 November 2015 at the Venetian Arsenal.
More information: www.armpit.lv.
Project commissioned by: LR Ministry of Culture.
Main supporters of the project: State Culture Capital Foundation and ABLV Charitable Foundation.
For further information, please contact:
Marta Krivade, marta.krivade@lcca.lv, 26486312
56th Venice Art Biennale Latvian Pavilion ARMPIT Public Relations Manager.
Photo: Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art.