Honouring the Extreme Sports Brand Volcom. Premier of the Film Escramble
On 1 September, the Andrejsala’s Power Shop (club Nobody Writes to the Colonel…) hosted the event to honour first night of the new film Escramble produced by the extreme sports brand Volcom.
During the event, one could enjoy music and demonstrate one’s abilities at the Skate Jam Session on the mini-stage in the large Volcom tent at the club entrance. The floor was also given to the band Cacophonics, Soundarcade and the Colonel’s… DJs. Inside the club, the Volcom Art Gallery offered to get unusual experience at a totally unusual exhibition: the visitors could familiarise with the best works of art by official Volcom artists and by the best Latvian snowboardists Ģirts Laube and Elza Sīle.
The evening culminated with the premier of the Volcom Stone’s new film Escramble. It is the fifth film by Volcom, and this brand has won wide recognition worldwide also beyond the extreme sports people, thanks to its unique cinematographic vision. The 38 minutes film is the result of 2 years’ work. The production of the film involved such professional snowboarding legends as Terje Haakonsen and Jamie Lynn. Since 2004, the Volcom team (Wille Yli-luoma, Erik Leines, Bryan Iguchi, Seth Huot, Janna Meyen, Cheryl Maas, Mark Landvik, Chris Demolski, Gigi Ruf, Shaun White) travelled to Australia, Bulgaria, Norway, Canada, Alaska and other countries to document their best tricks and experience and produce the fifth and the most outstanding of the Volcom’s feature films. For the whole week, from 26 August to 2 September, the first night was celebrated across the world: in the USA, Japan, Korea, New Zealand as well as 14 largest European countries, including Latvia.
Aristotle Festival Concert
On 3 September, the Dome square hosted the solemn Aristotle festival of the University of Latvia, during which the new students were greeted by the faculty deans, the rector of the University, the creative groups of the University: the choir Juventus and the folk dance ensemble Dancis, the orchestra etc. Following the event in the Dome square, the festival procession moved towards the Alma Mater, while the final event took place on Andrejsala with the participation of the Swedish group Covenant, the local band Jumprava as well as other Latvian bands and DJ’s.
Poster Exhibition Riga’s Image in the World
On 5 September, the Welding Workshops, which house the Dirty Deal Cafe, the Latvian Art Directors Club (LADC) opened the poster exhibition Riga’s Image in the World. Posters for this exhibition had been created by 33 Latvian advertising artists and graphic art designers.
The exhibition was on display for one week.
International Untamed Music Festival Skaņu mežs 2006
The International Untamed Music Festival Skaņu mežs 2006 (Forest of Sounds 2006) was held on 8th and 9th September in various places in Andrejsala. The Festival featured such prominent experimental musicians as the band Liars from the New York City, Keiji Haino, a Japanese psychedelic improvisation guru, Jamie Lidell, an eccentric star of electronic music, Evan Parker, one of the world’s most recognized saxophone players, Wolf Eyes, the most well-known American noise rock representatives, whose songs are published by Sub Pop Records – the publishing house that once published Nirvana records, Eliane Radiga, a veteran of the French electric acoustic music and the renowned American cellist Charles Curtis, Christina Kubisch, a sound art star, a new project called Woodpecker Project by the composer Andris Dzenītis, the promising video artist Evelīna Deičmane with one of her first sound art works, Jānis and Edgars Žilde with their new project Daylight Details etc.
The pioneer of sound art Christina Kubisch (Germany), Evelīna Deičmane (Latvia) and Lucinda Dayhew (Australia) during the festival presented their sound installations.
Jamie Lidell and Geoff Johnston alias Pablo Fiasco, who are known as ones of the most innovative producers of experimental electronic music and music videos, not only performed in a concert, but also ran music and video masterclasses.
It had already become a tradition that the festival hosted a high quality experimental film and video program. Those interested were able to watch early and contemporary experimental movies, films about musicians as well as music videos.
The curator of the Austrian experimental film studio Sixpack Film presented a selection of avant-garde works featuring the classics Kurt Kren, Valie Export and Peter Tscherkassky as well as the works by the new generation representatives, such as Granular Synthesis, Michael Grill and Michael Schwentner.
Poetry Video Session
On 10 September, the Orbit’s Poetry lab in Power Shop of Andrejsala hosted the presentation of the international festival Zebra (Berlin).
Zebra has existed since the year 2002, and it is the Europe’s largest poetry video festival. The collection of the best films of recent years was presented by Boris Niche, a participant of the festival. The event comprised the traditional Poetry Days program and was supported by the Latvian Authors’ Union, the State Cultural Capital Foundation and the Goethe Institute in Riga.
Workshop of Latvian Architecture students
Between 11 and 14 September, the Naïve Art Museum on Andrejsala hosted the architecture student workshop The Dwelling: the Way It Was, Is And Will Be. The title of the workshop was the next generation home and living environment within 25 years.
The workshop was held in order to enhance contacts between students of the Riga Technical University, the Agricultural Institution of Latvia and the Riga Construction College and to renew the activities of once traditional community of young architects in the Latvian Architects’ Union. The workshop lecture was read by Mario Bota, and the elaborated concepts were discussed. At the end of the event, an exhibition was held.
Guests from the Norrköping Town Council Deputies
On 12 September, Andrejsala hosted the Norrköping Town Council deputies, in order to visit the Naïve Art Museum and get acquainted with other objects on Andrejsala.
During the visit, a seminar was held in the Riga City Council related to the development of the city, environment and international cooperation issues. Norrköping has been Riga’s cooperation partner since 1988. A cooperation agreement has been signed by both cities.
Premiere of the Animation Film Melnā kaste (The Black Box)
On 15 September, the Old Customs Building of Andrejsala, which houses the Naïve Art Museum, offered the premiere of the animation film Melnā kaste (The Black Box). The visitors had a chance to see the boards, which demonstrated the process of film creation. During the event, there performed the Latvian rock group Zig Zag.
Symposium Everyday Rituals. Gender Role Constructions
On 29 and 30 September, the Hull Shop of Andrejsala hosted the symposium, during which the audience were acquainted with the creative operation of the exhibition Archeology of Reality by women artists, gender issues and art theory specialist lectures, discussions on feminist ideas in arts and gender constructions in everyday life.
The objective of the symposium was to become aware of construing mechanisms of the feminine and the masculine in the social system and the cultural traditions, and to compare different practical and everyday strategies. During the event, there were demonstrated several instances of female’s experience representation in visual arts. The participants were: Irina Novikova (Gender Studies centre of the University of Latvia), Aivita Putniņa (Faculty of social sciences of the University of Latvia), Viktors Freibergs (Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Latvia), Kirsi Saarikangas (Christine Institute for Women Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland), Anna Livion Ingvarson (curator of the exhibition Art Feminism, Sweden), Gite Vilesen (artist, participant of the exhibition, Denmark), Annika Erikson (artist, participant of the exhibition, Sweden, Germany).
