Empty Spaces – kim? Art Association
Posted on Friday, 5. July 2013
© Goethe-Institut
Text written by Wolfgang Kil, Weltstadt Correspondent
Improvization and do-it-yourself are out of question for Zane Onckule and Linda Pavluta. Three years ago, their art association kim? was able to move into splendid quarters – one of twelve old warehouses (Latvian: Spikeri) on the banks of the Daugava.
In the 1990’s, a trendy meeting place, art market and festival venue arose here. Now, with great effort, the historic brick architectures have been smartened up and transformed into an exemplary space for RIGA2014. The two curators run twenty exhibitions a year; since money is also flowing from the government, they are also being evaluated by the ministry of culture. The exhibition floors’ elegant ambient indicates that international standards apply here and that cooperation with international partners is welcome.
Zane Onckule, who has just curated the Latvian Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice, sees her association as a talent-scouting agency for next-generation Latvian artists. Conquering vacant spaces is not part of her business model: “We’re not in the business of pumping energy into run-down buildings - we prefer to seek out a finished set of surroundings that is suitable for us.” Now, it turns out the old warehouse floors are not all that suitable after all, and perhaps they will soon move out again. “Tabakas might be an option.”
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Wolfgang Kil
is a German architect, architectural critic and publicist. Long familiar with the vacancy problems in eastern German cities, he visited the project Empty Spaces in Riga for “Weltstadt – who creates the city?.” There, his expectations were confirmed that primarily players from the cultural areas involve themselves with great dedication and risk in new use concepts for old brownfield sites.kim?
The association’s name consists of the first letters of Kas ir maksla?, Latvian for “what is art?” and references the intention not only to present art in these gallery spaces in the freshly-renovated Spikeri district, but above all to discuss it, as well. “Kim?” sees itself as an interface between the Latvian and international art scenes. http://kim.lv/Defined tags for this entry: civic initiatives, conversion, crisis, cultural actors, cultural methods, culture, derelict, informal, intervention, kim?, public installation, public space, riga, upgrading, vacant, wolfgang kil
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