Photo reportage from the exhibition ‘Literally a Very Small Celebration’ by Kristaps Ancāns and Pauls Rietums at the Art Station Dubulti

This exhibition by artist Kristaps Ancāns and architect Pauls Rietums, curated by Inga Šteimane, marks the 10th anniversary of Art Station Dubulti — a space that, since 2015, has redefined how contemporary art can inhabit and activate public infrastructure.

Rather than being repurposed from one function into another, the Dubulti station has evolved into a hybrid environment where passengers and gallery visitors coexist. This overlap has shaped a layered and inclusive cultural experience, integrating contemporary art into daily life for a broader public.

At the heart of the exhibition are proto-industrial modular systems, developed in collaboration with Latvijas Finieris, Troja, and IGLU. After the exhibition, some modules will remain in the station’s public waiting area, offering a lasting functional legacy beyond the show. Literally a Very Small Celebration admires the fragile boundaries between art and design, while also touching on the soft zones where disciplines and authors — experience not only through shared materials and forms, but through mutual curiosity about everyday complexities in society.

The real celebration isn’t just in form — it’s in attention, in pause, in the glance that lingers just a moment longer than it needs to. Through spatial interventions and material experimentation, the exhibition reflects on Dubulti Station’s layered architectural identity — from its roots in socialist representational architecture to its embedded avant-garde formalism. Ancāns and Rietums celebrate this public space while gently reconfiguring its physical and symbolic presence.

The exhibition blurs not only categories, but behaviors — inviting stillness where there was motion, and attention where there was habit.Visitors may find themselves sitting on sculpture or leaning against the concept. One might feel unsure whether they’re a viewer or a participant, whether the object is meant to hold them — or to hold an idea. In this space, function wears the mask of fiction, and fiction finds structure in the everyday.

The exhibition is developed in close collaboration with three leading Latvian industry partners whose contributions are not only material but conceptual. The design and fabrication process itself became an integral part of the exhibition’s narrative — a live dialogue between creative intention and industrial precision.

Latvijas Finieris, one of Europe’s most respected producers of high-quality birch plywood, provided the raw material that forms the basis of the modular system.

Troja, known for its custom solutions in wood processing, collaborated in the development and prototyping of the physical forms.

IGLU, internationally recognized for its playful and ergonomic children’s furniture and soft play environments, brought unique insights into form, tactility, and adaptability — adding a dynamic layer to the design process.

Together, these companies contributed not only their expertise and infrastructure, but also a spirit of openness, curiosity, and cross-sectoral exchange. The collaboration between industry and artists here is not backstage production — it is part of the work itself: an unfolding story of shared experimentation and invention.

Supported by:
Jūrmala City Administration
State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia domobaal gallery (London)

Literally a Very Small Celebration
Kristaps Ancāns & Pauls Rietums
Curated by Inga Šteimane

June 6 – September 15, 2025
Art Station Dubulti
Jūrmala, Latvia