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Jānis Filipovičs’ Пчеловек/Pchelovek solo exhibition

Solo exhibition Пчеловек/Pchelovek by Latvian artist Jānis Filipovičs will be opened at 6.30 pm on 20th November at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) Office Gallery. The artist transforms bee-hives into a variety of spatial witticisms and these form the central visual motif in the exhibition. Jānis Filipovičs speaks ironically about contemporary society and the nation in which we live through the use of these paradoxical objects.

In this exhibition, artist Jānis Filipovičs exhibits objects, which he uses to speak ironically about our society’s wish to always hit the right target, sometimes without even knowing who has set the target. Even though Latvians doesn’t usually act according to folk beliefs like “for the bees to produce honey, you should visit your neighbour’s house and shear his sheep”, without particular objection, they tend to listen to the sweet snoozing in their hive of our country’s 100 main bees, while someone shears their own, as well as their neighbour’s sheep. And the self-evident fact is often just a pun, as it could happen that if you lift the lid of the bee-hive, someone inside it may call out “Hands up!”

Jānis Filipovičs describes the exhibition like this: “Listening to the people or the card index of my mind to find the right medicinal prescription, the impression arises, that our “bright minds” are, every so often, affected by snoozing, just like bees in winter. The Saeima building also reminds one of a bee-hive with a “paper bee colony”. But every so often we should knock on it and wake them from their pleasant dreams about future well-being. Finnish or Swedish scientists have researched and discovered that having a 10-15 minute snooze at work is even very advisable, as it regulates the metabolism. Did you know that during a snap freeze blackbirds, when they can’t munch on frozen buds, start to disturb bees? Yes, they knock on the hive with their beaks and the sentry bees crawl out, but the cold stuns them, and the bees roll down from the entrance onto the white snow like convenient sushi for the blackbirds – the blackbirds just have to use their chopsticks to throw them down their throats. The moral of the story: don’t wake others, if you don’t want to be woken yourself.”

Jānis Filipovičs (1978) has been involved in other spheres in parallel with his artistic activity – he has worked in construction, sold biscuits and done mobile communication tower handovers. Adding to his knowledge from the Art Academy of Latvia’s Department of Visual Communication, the artist has also devoted himself to learning the skills of a welder at the Rīga Vocational School No. 3, and has also recently completed teaching courses. Jānis Filipovičs maintains that he takes part in exhibitions when he wants to and up till now has been a participant in a number of group exhibitions in Latvia and other countries. The Пчеловек/Pchelovek Exhibition which will take place at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art’s Office Gallery from 20th November to 18th December, will be the artist’s first solo exhibition.

The LCCA Office Gallery is open for viewing every work day from midday to 6pm; entry to exhibitions is free. Address: Alberta iela 13 (7th Floor), Rīga, LV-1010.