The Art Museum of Latvia has used half a million euros of Covid-19 money to buy artworks, some so racy that Kristians Brekte's mural pales in front of them. The artworks can now be freely viewed by anyone, including minors, in the virtual gallery. Members of the Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee who answered Neatkarīgā's questions about it are convinced that some of the works in the virtual gallery are not suitable for children's eyes.
Last summer, the government allocated 550,000 euros to the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) to "mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the cultural sector, support the artists currently active in the crisis and at the same time supplement the museum's collection". The Latvian National Museum of Art set up a committee of experts whose members assessed the art scene of the last 30 years in the museum's collections and identified which art phenomena and artists from this period are not represented at all in the LNMA's collection or are represented with a minimal number of works. As a result of this procurement, the collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art was enriched with 107 works by currently active Latvian artists of all generations. According to the museum, this is the largest addition to the museum's collection since the regaining of independence. The collection represents a broad spectrum of visual art disciplines - painting, sculpture and objects, photography, video, mixed media installations, interdisciplinary projects and design artworks. The artworks cover a diverse range of themes and emotional moods - from universal human values and global current affairs to personal experiences, from neutral observation to ironic or provocative messages.
As of December 1 this year, works purchased by the state for Art Collection 2020 can be viewed online at www.makslaskolekcija.lv. The collection is free to view and without any age restriction, although parents are unlikely to want their underage children to see some of the works. Neatkarīgā selected two works from the collection, namely works by Miķelis Fišers from the series Sex'n'Spaceships, and asked them to be assessed by members of the Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee. Fišers' works in the Art Collection 2020 can be viewed virtually here.
Inguna Rībena, a Member of the Saeima, is convinced that these works are not suitable for the eyes of minors.
Ritvars Jansons, a Member of the Saeima, was even stricter: "I don't see such value in these works, for them to be brought to the attention of minors or adults."
Miķelis Fišers' series of paintings Sex'n'Spaceships, created in 1995, challenged institutional power and criticized tradition. The work, which was created to obtain a diploma from the Art Academy of Latvia, was rejected at the time. This legend is used as an example in the debate on censorship and conservatism, as well as an illustration of the paradox that the once-disqualified student is today the winner of the prestigious Purvītis Prize, explain the creators of the virtual gallery.
The virtual environment of Art Collection 2020 - www.makslaskolekcija.lv - has been created with the support of the law firm Ellex Kļaviņš and the State Culture Capital Foundation.
"The artworks that are purchased and become part of the museum's collection are a quality addition that researchers, curators and other interpreters can work with. We are very pleased that this unique artwork procurement will now be accessible to everyone through the targeted use of modern technology. Thank you to the decision-makers who listened to the suggestion of the Visual Arts Council of the Ministry of Culture for the establishment of such an artist support program and had the foresight to fund it, thank you to the artists for their cooperation and to the experts for their productive work. Thanks to the platform project working group, we have taken the next steps towards digital transformation, and this is the natural result of the long-standing support of the law firm Ellex Kļaviņš," emphasized Māra Lāce, Director of the Latvian National Museum of Art.
It would be impossible to show the entire Art Collection 2020 in the exhibition hall at the same time, but it is available to everyone on the online platform. The digital catalogue provides information in Latvian and English about the circumstances and idea behind each artwork, technical information and an image or video insight. The database offers the possibility to use different selection criteria - by category "Paintings and graphics", "Photography", "Video, sculpture and objects" or "Video and mixed media installations" - and to search for the following parameters: name and surname of the artist, year of creation of the artwork. The platform also provides information about the project as a whole.
"The Latvian National Museum of Art's online platform, Art Collection 2020, is an opportunity to virtually show the world what Latvian contemporary artists have created over the last 30 years," says Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis, pointing out that the Covid-19 funding from the Ministry of Culture for the new collection benefits both the museum, artists, art researchers and historians at home and abroad, as well as educators, schoolchildren and, of course, museum visitors - the entire public, both today and in the distant future, when the Art Collection 2020 will have become an old but important page in Latvian art history."
Līga Mervina, Managing Partner at law firm Ellex Kļaviņš, is convinced that "the Art Collection 2020 platform embodies the idea of a modern museum, as it is essentially the construction of a cultural infrastructure that is in keeping with the spirit of the times and that goes beyond the walls of the museum building. This project is proof that the preservation of art is an active process in which we can all contribute. Many artists have mentioned that the true meaning of their work is only revealed through interaction with the viewer, and the newly created platform directly supports this goal."
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