Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

Latvians are in themselvesa kind of border. A borderbeyond which the unfamiliaror unknown begins.Important is the need for adequate infrastructure,cohesion of the social sphere and the city, creativeeconomy in the shape of support for different projects.In 6 years Riga will look different. Which of all of theabove-mentioned aspects will be topical still? Wemust focus on those who will remain topical.Depressedareas really arevery important.It would beimportant tothink about thistarget audience,it shouldn’t bethose who doattend eventsto a greater orlesser extent, but,if it is the city,then it should”encompass theentire city.Culture is aninterdisciplinaryphenomenon,which feeds off theIt is importantto encouragethe miniaturecreativity ineach district,in each placeof the city, tosearch for it,to find it andto support it.It isimportantnot justto build ahouse thatcreates theatmosphereof culture,but to dovery manyother thingsaround itas well,symbiosis of varioussectors. It is nota frozen dogma.Changeability and theability to react withprecision to whatis happening is oneof its qualities. Thecultural environmentof every city isdifferent, similarlyto food, which ismade up of differentingredients. Culturecan have severalaxes in a city, severalcentres of gravity.Migration of the centre=suburb in the centre,centre in the suburb.The everyday as art=art as the everyday.to put thetransportand all theother thingsin order.border expansionThe idea of border expansion encompasses the expansion of theborders of both space and time, with the aim of making full useof the potential offered by human resources and infrastructure.In Latvia’s case, Riga has amassed both cultural and spiritualpotential. The mobility of this creative potencial, and its promotionis envisaged in the “Mobile Centre” idea involving partners fromthe Riga region, other parts of Latvia and Europe.notion of spatial border expansion• The idea of spatial border expansion focuses on thecurrently dominant cultural forms being transferred to a differentgeographical space – outskirts, residential areas, out of the citycentre, stressing the idea of culture as a changeable centre ofevents. Currently, culture concentrates in the centre, while thesuburbs continue their life on the periphery. Through borderexpansion suburban cultural space is created anew, turningdepressed city regions into locations for creative and culturalevents.• The spatial aspect of border expansion also includes theexpansion of borders with the construction of new, significantcultural infrastructure facilities (the new Latvian National Librarywill connect Latvia’s regions into a common information networkand will develop intellectual and information cooperation networkswith other country databases; the new Contemporary Art Museumwill include Riga into the network of contemporary art processes,marking it as a new location for cultural dialogue on the map ofcontemporary world of culture).• Conscious of Riga’s dominance in Latvia’s spatial structuresand the growing intercity migration in Latvia, the borderexpansion concept also includes aspects of regional cooperation,development of cultural cooperation forms among towns andregions, thus decentralising cultural events and making use ofinfrastructure, encompassing as wide a cultural field as possibleand developing new forms of cooperation. The “Mobile Centre”idea, which is included in this concept, envisages the participationof Riga as the ECC in any location in Latvia, where it is possibleto create and make use of existing infrastructure, promote thecreation of new work and new forms of cooperation.• The spatial aspect of border expansion includesinterdisciplinary approach to changing the understanding of theconcept of culture, developing an open infrastructure, necessaryfor creative expression in various spheres of life, previouslyconsidered as not belonging to culture, and promoting thedevelopment of creative industries in Riga and Latvia.• The idea of border expansion sees Riga as a geographicaland cultural transit city, attracting creative people from otherplaces of the world, who would contribute to the developmentof a creative environment in Riga. Culture becomes not just aresource for participation, but also a significant instrument for thedevelopment of political, economic and diplomatic ties thanks toRiga’s geographic location and historic cultural ties – a bridgebetween East and West.border expansion time aspect• The concept of border expansion from the time aspectincludes predicting – what will be in six, ten years, who will be thepotential users of culture and participants of the creative processin 2014 and in the long-term, focusing attention on work withpotential target audiences already today.• Border expansion from the time aspect includes work with ageneration that is open to other, untraditional forms of the use ofculture, leading us to research and predict, what forms of culturethe younger generations are using now, in their formative years,and what could be their development in the future.• Border expansion from the time aspect includes predictionin the context of demographic changes and economic globalisation.• Border expansion in a dimension of time confinement –accessibility of culture at different times of the day and night,which opens up a new dimension of perception and culturalexperience.* Focus group comments22 23