The opening of exhibition Archaeology of Reality will take place on September 28th in Andrejsala, Riga. It will show works of 5 Scandinavian and 3 Baltic female-artists: Annika Eriksson (Sweden, Germany), Ann-Sofie Siden (Sweden), Eija-Liisa Ahtila (Finland), Gitte Villesen (Denmark), Ann Lislegaard (Norway), Katrina Neiburga (Latvia), Ene-Liis Semper (Estonia) and Kristina Inciuraite (Lithuania).

The fact that participating artists come from the Baltic countries and Scandinavia makes us look upon the project Archaeology of Reality as one of the examples of "territory packaging" which strives to search for common features of identity and locality. This time the attention is focused on stories and storytelling; the stories stem from the woman's experience, autobiographical details and everyday reading. Gender as a biological precondition or social construction has become a relevant unit of the "women art" praxis, no matter whether the theme is manifested in the context of feminist art or, without special emphasis, is articulated within individual creative strategies. We have tried to follow this thread in organizing the exhibition Archaeology of Reality and the symposium Everyday Rituals. Gender Role Constructions.

Most of the well-known Nordic female-artists represent a generation of the late 60ties. Being aware of their powerful position and role in society they show a particular segment of Nordic art which noticeably reflects Nordic identity. This position is characterized by rooting between anthropology or "archaeology", social issues and feminism. In order to merge the borders of reality and fiction Scandinavian artists love to use documentation combined with staged situations, participation and relational methods. Similar reflections such as representation of reality, story-telling or maneuverings between public and private spaces can be seen in Baltic female-artists' works.

You will find well-known art works exhibited along with new ones created especially for Riga:

Ann Sofie Siden "QM, I think I call her QM"
Eija-Liisa Ahtila "The Present"
Ann Lislegaard "Eyes Wide Open"
Gitte Villesen "The Kitchen"
Annika Eriksson "Two Men and a Sheep", performance documentation 1994 - 1996
Katrina Neiburga "Solitude"
Kristina Inciuraite "Order"
Ene-Liis Semper "Untitled"

Symposium "Everyday Rituals. Gender Role Constructions".

September 29th and 30th in the project hall "Ednica" (Canteen) in Andrejsala.

Together with exhibition comes a symposium which will include artists' presentations, lectures and discussions by specialists of art history and gender studies focusing on subjects such as: feministic ideas in art and gender construction in everyday life. The aim of the symposium is to explore the construction mechanisms of a feminine or a masculine role build on social systems and culture traditions, as well as to make a comparison of these different experiences/strategies. Several examples of woman's articulation in art will be demonstrated.

Invited speakers

Irina Novikova (Gender Studies Center, University of Latvia)
Aivita Putnina (Faculty for Social Sciences, University of Latvia)
Viktors Freibergs (Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Latvia)
Kirsi Saarikangas (Christina Institute for Women's Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland)
Anna Livion Ingvarson (Curator, Riksutställningar, Sweden)
Gitte Villesen (artist, Denmark)
Annika Eriksson (artist, Sweden, Germany)

Publication

A catalogue will include an additional information about exhibited works, as well as theoretical texts about gender role construction and articulation of the woman's experience in the visual arts.

Authors: Aivita Putnina (Faculty for Social Sciences, University of Latvia), Alise Tifentale (art critic, Latvia), Solvita Krese (art critic, curator, LCCA), Anna Livion Ingvarson (curator, Riksutställningar , Sweden), Katrin Kivimaa (art historian, Estonia), and others.