Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

survival kitIn extreme situations a person reveals the seemingly impossibleabout himself. The “Survival Kit” section of Riga’sprogramme invites you to investigate the arsenals of knowledge,skills and values at our disposal that could be usefulin various different situations and circumstances or, onthe other hand, prevent life from passing by – in masteringnew talents, cultivating skills, gaining experiences andemotions.The “Survival Kit” could be seen as a return to basic truths andskills, or as a return to future basic needs in a person’s life, throwingoneself into a journey full of adventures in the IT jungles, cominginto contact with world climate changes and surviving theeconomic crisis in an inventive manner. By fusing tradition with innovation,we acquire a new resource, instrument and experience,which show us the right path and help us to implement the plansconceived. The boundary between the trivial things in everydaylife and global events is lost, because sometimes a trivial gesturecan change the advancement of the world. The meadow flowerspicked before Midsummer Day become a medicinal ointment, theamber thread acquired in a small laboratory provokes a revolutionin medicine, experiments with new technology present solutionsfor obtaining new energy and adressing ecological problems.The contemporary need of city-dwellers within this understandingof force majeure is to know the old story of ‘how to make fire’: howto milk a cow, how to knit a sock, how to effectively collect anduse energy, etc. Thereby, the theme ‘the rural returns to the city’ isnot a contrast, but the ‘survival kit’ of the person of today, whereknowledge, attitude and emotions stand next to the relativelypragmatic skills of everyday life. It is the ‘travel bag’, containinga symbolic loaf of bread, as well as spiritual wisdom that is botheternally young and as old as time. The travel bag will contain thesingle match with which a fire must be lit, just like in scout camp,as well as a couple of books which might have changed your lifeand become trusted travel companions. It may also contain asecret talisman, evidence of a mystical experience that at timeshelps more than rational arguments and sensible advice.The “Survival Kit” is an invitation to unleash the creative spirit thatlies dormant within every individual, at times serving as a test,as a trial of our thinking and behavioural capacity, our ability toquickly analyse situations and take extraordinary decisions, toachieve surprising results with minimum resources, to find wittyand innovative solutions.Joseph Beuys in his time asserted that anyone can be an artist.He also defined the so-called social sculpture, meaning thatsociety as a whole is regarded as a work of art, with every individualcontributing to its construction with his or her creative potential.In his way, Beuys changed the trajectory of artistic development,inviting us to merge life with art, with everyone interactingand becoming creative.What can an artist do in this situation? Develop audacious experimentsand surrender to creative explosion, using the current situationfor his own benefit. If it is not an appropriate time for heroicnarratives and large-scale representative events, one can turn todaily quests for poetry, footnote comments, spontaneous demonstrationsand interventions. With minimum resources one canobtain surprising results, bring to life witty ideas with DIY (do-ityourself),arte povera, ready-made resources, the help of performancesand campaigns, making use of Fluxus strategies.The “Survival Kit” is an invitation to develop life in the way that wewish to see it, just like with minimum resources surprising works ofart can be created. Everything is in our own hands. The universal‘survival kit’ recipe might be as follows: 20% bravery, 20% knowledge,10% endurance, 10% resourcefulness, 40% creativity.63