NEW THEATRE INSTITUTE OF LATVIA

contemporary performing arts in Latvia and abroad

In the final year of the “Magic Carpets” platform, from 3rd to 17th June, the New Theatre Institute of Latvia implemented co-creation laboratories, providing six young artists from Latvia an in-depth understanding of creative research and collaboration with communities.

In three different laboratories at Rucka Artist Residency Centre in Cēsis, six young artists from Latvia – Agate Bankava, Diāna Kondraša, Ieva Saulīte, Māra Ganģe, Antra Leite and Katrīna Dūka – got inspired by other artist experiences and works of art and worked practically with their subjects of interest. Work with communities was viewed from different perspectives: the needs of artists and communities, the daily trajectories of communities and group hierarchies in them. Ways to make the process of creating transparent, to understand the comfort zones of artists and the community and various conflicts were explored. The six artists were introduced to gaining individual experience stories in a mutually designed and safe environment. During the laboratories, the importance of the form of co-creation was accented as well as getting to know the community representatives before and after the project, conceptualizing and planning projects, also learning about examples of international projects and their methodology.

At the last day of the laboratories, 17th June, the participants presented short practical works all around Cēsis that resulted from the knowledge that they had gained at the laboratories and their individual work with different community representatives.

Contemporary dance artist Agate Bankava during the residency worked with a young person from Cēsis and explored his relationship with the city and himself in a specific place. At the end she created an active meditative walk in Cēsis emphasizing the thoughts, dreams and future plans of the youth.

Dramaturgy student Diāna Kondraša creates works in the aesthetics of documentary theatre. During the laboratories she got to know the story of a representative of the Cēsis Roma community and created an audiowalk based on it.

Artist and curator Ieva Saulīte focused on conversations and research related to the elderly, and as a result came up with a creative workshop.

Theatre director Māra Gaņģe continues working with topics that have been of interest to her for a long time – the perception of the world and art by the blind and partially sighted community and their current place in our society. During her residency, she met up with representatives of The Cēsis Society of the Blind and created an audio story.

Theatre director Anta Leite has a deeply personal interest in working with women who have become mothers in 2020. During the laboratories, she met a young mother in Cēsis and recorded their conversation in an audio format.

For theatre artist and playwright Katrīna Dūka the main research topic is LGBTQ+ community and working closely with it’s members. At the end of the laboratories she presented a performative experience in the gardens of Cēsis.

Photo authors: Monta Krūza, Sandra Lapkovska, Katrīna Dūka.

“Magic Carpets” platform is an international project to promote the mobility and visibility of young European artists from different disciplines, giving artists the opportunity to take part in creative residencies where they work with local communities and artists to create socially inclusive and responsible works of art.

“Magic Carpets” platform and artists’ residencies are co-funded by the EU’s Creative Europe programme.

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