The 24th International Ice Sculpture Festival will take place in Jelgava from February 3 to 5 with more than 60 ice objects, ice sculpture demonstration duels and a wide entertainment program. 32 professional sculptors from 12 countries will forge and grind 80 tons of crystal clear ice in Jānis Čakste boulevard, Post Island and open-air concert hall “Mītava” to reveal their vision of the ancient deities.
“Every year, when choosing a theme for the festival, we face a certain challenge – it is important that it be interesting for the audience and that artists can express themselves creatively, demonstrating technical virtuosity. This time, we invited the sculptors to visualize the ancient deities and their meaning in different cultures. Deities are mythical and somewhat mystical, but at the same time, our ancestors believed in them, relied on them. So it is something intangible and to a certain extent similar to ice, which allows visual illusions to be depicted and fades as it melts,” says Mintauts Bushkevics, head of the municipal institution “Kultūra”.
In the informative materials of the International Ice and Snow Sculpture Association, Jelgava is included as one of the organizers of the world ice sculpture competitions.
In the sketch competition held before the festival, the jury selected 30 authors of the best works, representing a record number of countries. Sculptors from 12 countries – Indonesia, Mongolia, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia – will create 45 competition ice sculptures. 15 of them will be team work, while 30 will be created by individual artists. Many artists will participate in the Jelgava festival for the first time.
The ice sculptures will be made in less than a week – the sculptors will start work on January 30 and continue until February 3. However, the technical preparation process for the festival will start earlier, so the Post Island behind the skating rink and children’s playgrounds will not be available to visitors from January 26, while Čakste boulevard will be closed to traffic on February 1.
What is new for this festival is that the individual sculptures will be eight times larger than previous festivals. The artists will create individual sculptures from a large block of ice that is 1.8×1.1 meters in size and 50 centimeters thick.
Specially frozen ice without air bubbles from distilled water is used for the competition works. It is crystal clear and melts more slowly thanks to freezing technology. Each sculpture will have a separate canopy or tent that will protect against adverse weather conditions.
30 individual competition sculptures will be placed on J. Čakste boulevard. They will also be complemented by large-format ice photo sculptures created by sculptor Kārlis Īle. On the other hand, on the Post Island, team sculptures, photo objects, an ice bar and the sculptures created during the demonstrations will be conveniently displayed.
In the open-air concert hall “Mītava” there will be a duel of exemplary demonstrations, with two sculptors symbolically competing on the stage. The concert program of the festival will also be held there.
When going to the festival with your own transport, it is advisable to find out the most convenient parking lot in advance. Drivers are invited to use the Waze navigation app, where a map with marked parking lots and traffic restrictions will be available. You should also consider the most suitable time to visit the event, as the festival also offers a variety of entertainment options and a concert program. For example, the morning act is more suitable for families with children, as not only play shows are planned, but also the opportunity to visit various attractions.
Festival guests are also invited to visit other Jelgava tourist attractions, including the tower of the Holy Trinity Church and the Ęederts Elias Jelgava Museum of History and Art, which will have extended working hours. All tourism offers during the festival can be found on the website www.jelgava.lv.
