Riga - European Capital of Culture 2014 candidate

From above, everything can be seen better. There are places andpeople that I wish to see changing. Different periods have left theirlegacies in all the neighbourhoods of Riga – the shapes of factories,where manufacturing used to take place for both the Russian and forthe German occupying powers. Now they stand abandoned. I wantto wake up those living in ‘sleeper neighbourhoods‘ and who haveforgotten to greet one another. I want to landscape the banks of theDaugava River, where people go and meet each other. I want to seeRiga grow, not just spread out ever wider.Riga has always been a free city in its own way; it hasalways wanted a relationship with everyone. It has neverwanted to stand apart. Maybe that is why I am built ofFinnish granite and Italian travertine, while my figure hasbeen cast in bronze by Swedish craftsmen. Differentpeople have played a part in creating my colourfulRiga over the centuries – Livs, Latvians, Germans,Russians, Jews, Swedes, Estonians, Lithuanians, Poles,Belarusians, Ukrainians... they have all lived here together.Historians speak of a Liv settlement that was here,under my feet, a thousand years ago.I watch the bridges over the Daugava,connecting both parts of the city. I see thatfor some, the Second World War endedonly yesterday, and it is still not easy toagree on what happened on May 8 th or 9 th ,1945 in Europe, and what emotions shouldbe felt when remembering the decadesthat followed these dates in all of EasternEurope. I hope that an understanding ispossible for Riga.