SharedSpace: Retreat Latvia

SharedSpace: Retreat Latvia
Group residency for invited artists
June 19 – 22, 2014
"Lūķi", Jūrkalne, Latvia

SharedSpace Retreats are group residencies for several invited artists who spend some quite, thinking time together in hidden, mysterious, challenging places in Europe.

Artists and other intellectuals have learned to be project-oriented in order to survive in the system, to join networks through which they produce and exchange products. A 'salon' setting for intellectual conversation is an important part of European cultural tradition that used to have a crucial impact on the thinking in Europe. 'Salons' are now disappearing. It is our belief that we need to provide artists and intellectuals with space where 'just thinking' and 'just talking' happens. This space is needed for the already established artists, who are considered too busy and too recognized.

Each Retreat was hosted by a different artist who participated in the previous residence. In case of the second retreat it was Estonian visual artist and documentary maker Kristina Norman who invited other professionals from different art fields and countries to spend some time together. This Retreat took place in the traditional country house in Lūķi, Jurkalne on the west coast of Latvia. Jurkalne is located in the Catholic region of Suits and in the Middle Ages was called Felixberg (Lucky Mountain). The story tells this name was given to the place after the church that was built on the coast by the captain who managed to survive the storm. The current name, Jurkalne (Sea Mountain), was given to the place in 1925 because of the beautiful coastal cliffs covered with pine trees.

An art collective Fokus Grupa based in Croatia and formed by Iva Kovač and Elvis Krstulović, met Kristina Norman (Estonia) together with Jānis Balodis (Latvia), Ronen Eidelman (Israel), Inga Gaile (Latvia), Taija Helminen (Finland), Erbossyn Meldibekov (Kazakhstan), Heike Schuppelius (Germany) and Tal Yahas (Israel) to share their visions and look for the inspiration in this hidden beautiful space.

2^nd Retreat in Latvia was organized by Gundega Laivina from the New Theatre Institute in Latvia in cooperation with Prague Quadrennial.

There will be a total of 4 retreats in Macedonia, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic within the course of three years.