The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art's festival Survival Kit is one of the most eminent annual contemporary art events in the Baltics. Under the artistic direction of Finnish curator Jussi Koitela the festival, titled Measures, is happening for the 15th time this autumn.
With a vast exhibition, bringing together more than 30 local and international artists, and an extensive public programme, Survival Kit continues to revive empty buildings and spaces in Riga, this time inhabiting both banks of the river Daugava – the Old Town and Āgenskalns. Presented across a number of nearby sites in Riga’s city centre, festival demonstrates how the knowledge of a city emerges from acutely personal experience, but also from communal struggles and values. That is to say, it considers possible pasts, presents and futures by measuring, investigating and embracing the diverse knowledges embedded within the city of Riga and beyond, and invites audiences to engage with nature-culture environments, daily bodily experiences, and data and truth-making.