The international contemporary art exhibition “Lost in the Archive”, organised by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in partnership with the Association of Culture Institutions of Riga Municipality, will be open from the 5th February at the exhibition hall Riga Art Space. The exhibition explores the archive of the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA), which not only preserves and organizes an important body of information, but also creates a unique view on the history, the present and the future of a certain place. The exhibition runs until 27th of March.
The exhibition will explore the close up of the archive of the LCCA, as well as place it in a wider context. The close up will examine and interpret certain elements that are documented in the archive – exhibitions, events and personalities. These archival materials will form the basis for storytelling, uncovering new connections between the events of the recent past and disrupting the prevailing order within the archival folders. Meanwhile the broader view on the archive will offer an insight in the work of artists who create and analyse archives, opening up important questions of how historical facts are construed, while looking at the relationships between culture, politics and ideology at certain periods in the past and nowadays. Central to the context of this exhibition are the notions of the post-Soviet and postcolonial as significant tools for understanding the current situation locally, as well as globally.
Artists that have been invited to take part in this exhibition are Babak Afrassiabi and Nasrin Tabatabai, Alberto Baraya, Jānis Borgs and Laura Feldberga, Ivars Drulle, Aiga Dzalbe and Kristaps Epners, Maryam Jafri, Viktorija Eksta, Inga Erdmane, Kristaps Grundšteins and Līga Lindenbauma, Žilvinas Landzbergas, Taus Makhacheva, Haralds Matulis and Ieva Saulīte, Agnieszka Polska, Laura Prikule, Mammu and Passi Rauhala, Tanel Rander, Centre for Tragic Research (Kaspars Groševs, Ainārs Kamoliņš, Daiga Kažociņa), Raden Saleh and Jevgeni Zolotko. Curators: Inga Lāce and Andra Silapētere.
The educational programme “Lielā lupa” (The Big Magnifying Glass), developed from materials available in the LCCA’s archive about the contemporary art processes in Latvia, supplements the exhibition. The aim of the programme is to provide a compelling introduction for children and young people about the language of contemporary art, as well as the history of Latvian art and culture.
A symposium with lectures and discussions, exploring the potential of archive in the process of preserving culture and knowledge, and interpreting history, will take place on 23rd March. The participants of the symposium will present a range of views founded in the development and research of the contemporary art and exhibition archives.
The exhibition has been supported by the EEZ financial instrument, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, ABLV Charitable Foundation, the Latvian National Museum of Art and the Artists’ Union of Latvia.
