Creative cities: a look at Riga, Latvia

In the week 4 lecture we talked about creative cities, inevitably I think of home. I come from a small northern capital of Riga, Latvia, and despite being home to less than 1 million people our city is beautiful and full of vigor for new creative opportunities. So in today’s post, I will introduce a creative approach Latvian artists used to combat a problem.

On the night of February 4th in different locations in Riga 14 colorful and happy snails appeared for the city dwellers to enjoy. They were part of street art series to draw public attention to contemporary art and to promote discussion about the need of a Latvian museum of contemporary art, one of few European countries that still don’t have one.

Decorating snails was not a random choice – they symbolize the slow progress of the museum’s creation. This environmentally friendly installation is admired by citizens and visitors alike. The project “Snails” creator and promoter is a public initiative “Mākslai vajag telpu”(translates to art needs space) made with the aim of creating a Contemporary Art Museum in Riga. The museum aims to promote Latvian art processes and strengthen the nation’s identity, the tourism industry and the development of contemporary art education will also benefit greatly.

The media coverage has helped this project a lot, the pictures of the event were all over the major news agencies as well as on social media of everyone I know. I believe it’s due to the nature of the artworks, they are just so peculiar and wonderfully done. Something so small in nature has been made big and visible and with the perfect concept to suit the design. One of my favorite conemporary social art projects, not only from Riga, but in general.

This event can be considered a success story, since now Latvian governement is planning the location of the new museum. They aim to finish by 2018, the year Latvia celebrates its 100th birthday.