The ambitious exhibition Self-Determination: A Global Perspective presented by IMMA this fall is the culmination of a three-year research project focusing on the new nation-states that emerged after the First World War. It explores the role of art and artists in relation to expressions of national identity, the formation of the state and its administration.
Exhibition “Self-Determination: A Global Perspective” in Dublin. PHOTO: PUBLICITY PHOTO
Representing the story of the creation of Latvia’s independence, the Irish curators have chosen artifacts and works of art from the collection of the Museum of Writing and Music, an important private collection, from the collection of the Latvian National Art Museum for the exhibition, also presenting the multimedia work “Green School” by the artist Ieva Epner.
“For the exhibition, we found such objects that represent the ideas of the development of a sovereign nation and can connect an international audience. In order to show the significant international success of Latvian theater art in the first decades after the independence of Latvia, Jānis Munčs’s stage model for Irish playwright Bernard Shaw’s play “Caesar and Cleopatra”, which was exhibited in 1925 at the Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, in the Latvian Pavilion, has traveled to Ireland , and won the Grand Prix.”
“In the conceptual framework of the IMMA exhibition, the exhibition part “National identity” is planned, which creates an idea of the overall picture of the new nation-states. At the entrance of this part of the exhibition, Herbert Līkums’ set of decorations from Jānis Grot’s play “Welcome to Free Latvia!” is displayed as a business card. for a production at the Riga Workers’ Theater in 1929. In the second part of the exhibition, “Nature and resources”, one of the rooms will trace the productions of the play “Gas” by Georg Kaiser (Georg Kaiser, 1878-1945) in different countries, in different theaters,” says RMM associate exhibition curator Sanita Duka and adds:
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“This play was planned to be staged at the Latvian National Theater in 1922, but the stage lights were never seen, but from this idea, Ludolfs Libert’s (1895-1959) sets of decorations have been preserved, which is a bright example of Libert’s stage painting from the works created in the manner of functionalism and cubism. The play was staged at the Riga Workers’ Theater in 1926, so in this section, the overall story will be supplemented by the manuscript of the translation into Latvian by Kārļis Freinberg (1854–1936) and the program from the RMM collection, as well as a set of decorations from a private collection.”
Exhibition “Self-Determination: A Global Perspective” in Dublin. PHOTO: PUBLICITY PHOTO
From the National Art Museum of Latvia, the paintings of modernists Aleksandra Belcovas, Ęederts Elias, Jēkab Kazak, Niklāv Strunke, Roman Suta, Leo Svempa, as well as the stylization of the national ornament by Jūlij Madernieks and donation stamps drawn by Anš Cīrulis for the benefit of the Latvian rifle regiments, were exhibited at the exhibition of the Latvian National Art Museum. fourteen works of art, which are included in various thematic sections of the exhibition, creating a reconciliation of the story of Latvia with the message created by the curators of the exhibition.
Reflecting on the role of art and artists in connection with the formation of independent states and national identity, the curators focus on the new nation-states that emerged in the era of the collapse of empires and geopolitical changes after the First World War. Similar issues have been covered in two exhibitions of the Latvian National Art Museum in Riga – “From de facto to de iure” (2008) and in the exhibition dedicated to the centenary of the First World War “1914” (2014, within the Riga-European Capital of Culture program). The concepts and published catalogs of both exhibitions became the basis for cooperation with IMMA in selecting the exhibits for this exhibition.
Exhibition “Self-Determination: A Global Perspective” in Dublin. PHOTO: PUBLICITY PHOTO
22 contemporary artists (Ilya and Emilija Kabakovi, Jasmīna Cibic, Banu Çennetoğlu) participate in the exhibition. Latvian artist Ieva Epner, laureate of the Purvīša prize (2019), DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) program “Artists – Berlin” scholarship holder (2019/2020) is among those invited by curator Sean Kissane.
Ieva Epner’s multimedia work “Green School” has experienced development and continuation after its premiere in 2017. The artist works with ideas about early education, which are applied in the “Green School” kindergarten. The work was created in collaboration with historian Vineta Jonīti. It consists of video (13 minutes), archival material, photos, children’s toys and nursery furniture.
The exhibition will be on display until April 21.
2023-12-26 16:09:44
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