We cordially invite you to the opening of Survival Kit 10.0 Outlands at the building of the Riga Circus (entrance from Alfrēda Kalniņa street)
The tenth edition of SURVIVAL KIT, the largest annual contemporary art event in the Baltics organised by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, will take place in two parts: this September in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Riga in the building of the Riga Circus, while a broad concluding programme of the festival is planned for May 2019 at a venue yet to be announced.
In September and May, SURVIVAL KIT 10 will turn to the investigation of the concept of outland, questioning the traditional division of geopolitical and cultural space into centre and periphery.
Solvita Krese, director of the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, explains: “Outland is not always geographical, it can be any territory characterised by a complex politico-economic situation which makes it more difficult to reach both literally and metaphorically. Thus, although physical distances from Riga are similar, Western Countries are much more accessible and attractive than Kiev, Bucharest or Ljubljana, with which we share our recent history.”
Curators Solvita Krese and Inga Lāce from the Latvian Centre of Contemporary Art will be joined by curator Sumesh Sharma from Bombay as well as Barcelona and Berlin-based curator Àngels Miralda. Sharma is one of the founders of Clark House Initiative, an association of artists and curators, while Miralda has worked with exhibitions in the Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art in Chile and elsewhere.
Through the subject of outland, the festival will also look at the locally and internationally significant issue of global migration, which has brought to the forefront a row of other problems: racism, growing right-wing nationalism and intolerance towards difference. As part of the festival, Latvian and international artists will be invited to create new works dealing with this subject.
The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Riga has titled the September festival Tukšā | Telpa – Leer | Stelle.
Arne Schneider, director of Goethe-Institut Riga stresses: “Germany is a country in the middle of Europe. From Europe and all over the world, people come to us – as much-needed, highly skilled workers, as refugees, to realize their artistic or entrepreneurial ideas, or for many other reasons. We look forward to working with international artists to explore how these movements of people affect our societies in Europe.”
Ināra Kehre, CEO of VSIA “Rīgas cirks” says: “SURVIVAL KIT is an apt and symbolic messenger of the new season of the Riga Circus. This year, the building of the Riga Circus turns 130 years old, and this summer we will complete reinforcement and conservation of the building’s facade as well as structural strengthening of the roof thus eliminating the hazard discovered in 2016. The building awaits renovation, but while it is being prepared, we welcome everyone to different events in the building of the circus. A multi-faceted arts programme is planned for the next two years, including circus, theatre, dance, visual art, musical events and everything that goes together with artistic creation at the same time being able to embrace the wear of the building. SURVIVAL KIT is an experienced partner, which will make it possible to realise the potential of the various spaces and, most importantly, will let each visitor experience the magic charm of the circus space.”
18:00 Opening of the festival Survival Kit 10.0 and the exhibition Leer|Stelle with curators Solvita Krese, Inga Lace, Àngels Díaz Miralda Tena and Sumesh Sharma. The partner: Goethe-Institut Riga
18:30 Performance by Cibelle Cavalli Bastos
•Sonja Khalecallon’s Products for a Better Life, Their Story News from the Retrofuture
Sonja Khalecallon performs femininity to the point of short-circuit, breakage, and collapse in durational dystopian performances. Years in the future, Earth’s orbital path collided with another planet causing the wealthy to leave earth in search of new planets to colonise. Minorities and people from lower class were left behind on the ecologically deteriorating planet. With no option of escape, Khalecallon uses her feminine mystique to build up a hotel empire. Doing anything she can to keep herself afloat with limited resources, she builds the hotel in order to survive. The hostess embodies the female trait of ‘multitasking’ by offering herself as cook, cleaner, aestheticist, entertainer, and manager. Viewers become guests in her mystical empire and the site becomes a destination within the exhibition itself.
19:00 Performance by Iveta Pole
•Today in the world
Actress Iveta Pole in collaboration with director Kristīne Vītola and composer and pianist Rūdolfs Macats will present a selection of news stories accompanied by improvised music. Starting from the beginning of the previous century until today and the performance will shed light on the influence of various significant turning points in history on the flows of human migration. Tracing changes both in the geopolitical map of the world and the individual destinies, the long and at times monotonously sequenced flow of information lets the words become separated from their original meaning, uncovering the manipulative mechanisms of the media and accumulating doubt about the truthfulness of news.
19:30 DJ Set by Cassius Fadlabi
•Hits from shitholes and terrorist countries
Cassius Fadlabi will play almost everything, from diverse geographies. From South Africa or Yemen, Brooklyn or Tehran, Japanese hip hop or some hot Bhangra. He’ll try not to play overconsumed music and promises to bring it home. Put your dance shoes on!
21:00 Crazy Clowns’ Disco!
•DJ Set with the most famous people in the world (Marta Trektere, Kaspars Groševs, Labais Dāma, Jeļena Glazgova, Elīna Sproģe, Roy Rogers, Mārtiņš Ķibers and Sandra Mētra).
The yard’s scenography by Jānis Noviks
Established in 2009, Survival Kit is the biggest contemporary art event in the Baltics, attracting more than 10,000 visitors every year. It arose in reaction to the economic crisis in Latvia with the aim of calling on society to respond to changes in the contemporary world and consider various survival strategies. Each year, a socially relevant and important theme is selected for the festival. Empty buildings in Riga are used as festival venues, bringing our attention to their potential future development. The 10th edition of the contemporary art festival Survival Kit will take place in two parts — the festival’s introduction is in the Riga Circus building from September 6 until September 30 and an exhibition and a large
accompanying program will follow in 2019, in a venue yet to be announced.
Supported by: Rīgas cirks, Valsts kultūrkapitāla fonds, Rīgas dome
Leer|Stelle is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany
In cooperation with: Lux Express, Rixwell hotel, Caffeine LV, Ģertrūdes ielas teātris, Dirty Deal Teatro, Skaņu mežs 2018, Stirnu buks, Mežakaķis, biļešuserviss.lv, Narvesen, Latvijas Nacionālā opera un balets, Green Cola, Rāmkalni, Eden
Media partners: Pastaiga, Delfi, Naba, Satori, Punctum, Rīgas Laiks
