Culture year kicks off

RIGA - The start of the New Year brings with it the start of a year-long celebration in Riga, as it has been designated, along with Umea in Sweden, as a European Cultural Capital for 2014. Activities throughout the year await.
Kicking off the year-long celebration will be the exhibit “Visionary structures. From Ioganson to Johansons,” curated by The Latvian Center for Contemporary Arts (LCCA), held at The National Library of Latvia. The event will reflect on Latvian avant-garde art in the 20th and 21st centuries. Such artists as Karl Ioganson, Gustav Klutsis, Valdis Celms, Janis Krievs, Arturs Rinkis, Gints Gabrans and Voldemars Johansons will be represented at the exhibition from Jan. 19 to March 23.

These seven artists, who represent various generations where each of them is an art innovator of his time, give an insight into experimental, or maybe even utopic, artistic values and their historical change. The exhibition will be an attempt to highlight the parallels and connections between artwork which represent different time periods and ideological backgrounds.

The legendary artists from Latvia, Klutsis (1895-1938) and Ioganson (1890-1929), will represent the early generation; they were members of the Constructivist group in Moscow creating works that are nowadays considered to be the brightest examples of avant-garde art. Klutsis’ artwork, selected from the collection at The Latvian National Museum of Art, will represent the utopian, futuristic “flow” in his creative work.

More info at /goto/riga2014.org