Serious art from Latvia?

Four young Latvian artists, Gints Gabrans, and the members of the F5 group, Liga Marcinkevich, Martin Ratniks and Ieva Rubeze, tell us how seriously Latvian history and the fast social change have influenced their art.

THE FAMOUS FIVE

One of the key themes of the exhibition is time. F5 denies being influenced by Latvian history or the rapid transition from post-Communism to EU membership. ”There are two different approaches, one of them is this socially aware art making. But we are more interested in aesthetics. Aesthetics is the main point in the work we display at Kiasma. The work is bound to neither time nor place.”

From a Finnish standpoint, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania form a common cultural area. It follows that we tend to think that what these countries have in common is history and a will to move towards the future fast. F5 rejects such an analysis. ”That is far too abstract!” the Latvians say. ”There are just artists, not national art. Today, we live in a global environment surrounded by computers and nationality is losing its importance. These issues may have significance from the point of view of cultural policy, but not art itself.”

F5 say that it is hard to find support for media and contemporary art in Latvia. Currently, there is a heated debate going on over the value and definition of con-temporary art: who has the right to evaluate whether contemporary art is bad or not.

FROM RAGS TO RICHES

Reality TV at its best or worst? The artist Gints Gabrans finds a bum from the Riga railway station and turns him into a national media star. The video shows how the ragged man is transformed into a veritable star. The process involves a haircut, manicure, solarium, style consultation and everything you might imagine. The viewer begins to doubt whether this is funny or not. You feel like laughing, it is such a comedy. Yet at the same time you are ashamed by your reaction.

The Starix Reality Show video displayed in the Faster than History exhibition and the project in the background were launched in 2001, and, according to Gabrans, the project will go on as long as it takes. For the project, Gabrans put up a production company, Neostar, which saw to the marketing of Starix. The homeless man has become a real celebrity in Latvia. ”Latvia is a small country, and everyone knows him now. He visits TV shows and people are interested in him,” says Gabrans.

So, it is socially aware art after all? What else is Starix other than media criticism revealing the mechanisms of media, the way in which people are increasingly exploited while reality TV formats become commonplace. ”Nah, it was more like a game… like sports. Perhaps there was a hint of criticism in the background, but that was not the point. Besides, we are living in a media society, the media are an inherent part of our everyday lives. So if this is media criticism, it is aimed at our entire way of living.” Gabrans also denies having exploited a homeless man. He says that Starix was an educated, sophisticated man who accepted the situation and was willing to join the project. ”Why should he have said no?”

Maria Isohanni