STILL LIFE
STILL LIFE, 2023
Art performance (11 min.) by Kristaps Priede and Dāvis Lāpāns
June 18 at 20:00, Art Academy of Latvia
Riga, Latvia
Acts of vandalism and ruins became widely visible after February 24, 2022, marking a long-awaited breaking point in Latvian national self-awareness. This event raised the issue of dismantling, moving, transforming, or renaming monuments that glorified or were related to Soviet rule. The emotional and passionate decisions of the Latvians, simultaneously chaotic and urgent, conveyed a sense of "revenge" that had accumulated over the years against the ideology, actions, and crimes committed by the Soviet political power. It represented the fundamental need for Latvians to rid themselves of negative energy, regain self-esteem, and assert their individuality, which has been a recurring theme throughout Latvia's renewed independence.
These political events also stirred personal reflection, self-expression, and a desire to "protest" and release the accumulated tension. Consequently, the contemporary art performance titled "Klusā daba (2023, duration 10 min.)" was conceived as part of the Riga Performance Festival "Space," organized by Latvian Arts in the academy. The festival's theme, "Collaborative Authorship," manifested in the mutual cooperation between the artist Kristaps Priedes and the pianist Dāvjas Lāpānas, as well as the interplay between the arts they both created. Moreover, the performance explored the profound connection between music, art, and politics, particularly the impact of the Soviet dictatorship and its influence on the new generation in Latvia's renewed independence.
The performance incorporated household items from a specific era, including an oriental carpet attached to the wall, resembling a mesmerizing and "absorbing" mandala. Porcelain vases and everyday dishes were arranged to represent the lack of individuality and the fragility of power during that time. The pianist's role was to interpret and transpose the pattern of the carpet into sound, occasionally dropping and shattering one of the porcelain dishes positioned in a still-life composition on the piano. The artist's task involved collecting the fragments with a broom and creating a new, unique, abstract form that symbolized the future and its inherent uncertainty. At the conclusion of the performance, a still-life photograph remained displayed behind the newly formed "sculpture" of fragments, serving as an indelible part of the collective memory of the past.
The performance created as part of the Riga Performance Festival "STARPTELPA": https://performancescentrs.lv/festivals/
Photo by Māris Klindžāns
