SAVVAĻA
Basic information
Project Title
SAVVAĻA
Full project title
Cross-disciplinary public arts space in the rural Latvian countryside "SAVVAĻA"
Category
Reconnecting with nature
Project Description
SAVVAĻA is a self-sustaining public gathering point for arts professionals, local community and curious visitors located in the rural Latvian countryside. It is simultaneously an open-air exhibition, an artist residence and public events site that is available for free throughout the year for everyone, it doesn’t have working hours or permanent attending staff. You are welcome to come by anytime you like and explore it yourself, all the tools you need to get closer to arts and nature are there!
Geographical Scope
National
Project Region
Latvia
Urban or rural issues
Mainly rural
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
Yes
Which funds
Creative Europe
Description of the project
Summary
SAVVAĻA is a self-sustaining public gathering point for arts professionals, local community and curious visitors in the rural Latvian countryside. It is simultaneously an open-air exhibition, an artist residence and public events site that is available for free throughout the year for everyone, it doesn’t have working hours or permanent attending staff. It is run by a creative collective of six arts professionals who are united under an NGO which develops programs and events, as well as coordinates activities there. Located in a vast territory of rural and wild Latvian countryside, its main focus is the professional arts community but it holds a strong network to the education and private sector, neighbouring social institutions, local municipalities and local community. It is a place that is open, inclusive, supports its communities and guests, and remains thoughtful and kind to the wild environment it's situated in.
As the pandemic started in 2020, galleries and museums were closed, yet people were encouraged to immerse themselves in nature. The basic idea then was to create several trails in the wild meadows and forests, showcasing artworks of various media – sculptures, installations, paintings to provide a combined experience of arts and nature. This has grown into the main objective of SAVVAĻA - a place where people can gather and experience arts, while living and working in wild natural environment. Arts here serve as a uniting force - a glue that holds the community together and attracts new members. We think of SAVVAĻA as a social sculpture, designed to rethink relationships between human and nature, culture and institution, traditional and contemporary. In the last four years it has turned into a stable and nationally recognized arts space with its distinct character and continuous effort to raise an awareness on the importance of each of our relationship to the natural world we live in.
As the pandemic started in 2020, galleries and museums were closed, yet people were encouraged to immerse themselves in nature. The basic idea then was to create several trails in the wild meadows and forests, showcasing artworks of various media – sculptures, installations, paintings to provide a combined experience of arts and nature. This has grown into the main objective of SAVVAĻA - a place where people can gather and experience arts, while living and working in wild natural environment. Arts here serve as a uniting force - a glue that holds the community together and attracts new members. We think of SAVVAĻA as a social sculpture, designed to rethink relationships between human and nature, culture and institution, traditional and contemporary. In the last four years it has turned into a stable and nationally recognized arts space with its distinct character and continuous effort to raise an awareness on the importance of each of our relationship to the natural world we live in.
Key objectives for sustainability
Our activities aim to put participants and guests of SAVVAĻA as close to nature as possible to meet the power of it and at the same time experience its unique resourcefulness. SAVVAĻA lies in a remote location, cut off from the country's infrastructure, therefore creative and eco-friendly solutions are used in every step of the process. Artist productions, events and residencies are asked to adapt to the natural environment, whether it’s a small set of solar panels to generate electricity, using battery-powered acoustic systems, being mindful of physical distances and transportation or recycling waste. Materials, food, services are sourced locally, whenever possible, both stimulating the local economy and involving nearby communities, gathering local knowledge about permaculture and resource usage. SAVVAĻA is based upon the idea of using resources efficiently while building and maintaining the physical location as well as organising its programs and events.
SAVVAĻA is based on ecologically mindful thinking. It invites both visitors and participants to experience nature and evaluate their needs, reimagine technologies that are used and solutions for them and their place within this ecosystem. Participants and guests have often highlighted this as one of the inspiring effects of the experience - to review their attitude towards the natural world while facing it directly.
Another objective has been implementing a self-sustaining organisational process both for the participants and visitors. Participants and visitors are invited to take agency and be responsible for their experience, subverting the idea of product/service and consumer relationship. The same approach is taken when working with arts professionals here who are encouraged to take agency and create a new structure that is necessary for their initiative using the resources and skills that are available. Thus, encouraging a new approach for the production of arts and running arts spaces.
SAVVAĻA is based on ecologically mindful thinking. It invites both visitors and participants to experience nature and evaluate their needs, reimagine technologies that are used and solutions for them and their place within this ecosystem. Participants and guests have often highlighted this as one of the inspiring effects of the experience - to review their attitude towards the natural world while facing it directly.
Another objective has been implementing a self-sustaining organisational process both for the participants and visitors. Participants and visitors are invited to take agency and be responsible for their experience, subverting the idea of product/service and consumer relationship. The same approach is taken when working with arts professionals here who are encouraged to take agency and create a new structure that is necessary for their initiative using the resources and skills that are available. Thus, encouraging a new approach for the production of arts and running arts spaces.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
SAVVAĻA was created by Latvian artist Andris Eglītis who used this location as his artist studio for many years before making it open for public. The whole area (around 50 hectares) over the last four years have became a residence and gathering place for creatives, a local community centre, a research laboratory for cultural professionals and simply a place to rest, relax and experience arts and nature. The central gathering point of SAVVAĻA is a building that was initially created as Eglītis’ semi open-air studio, but now serves as info point, a communal kitchen, a workshop, a library, a lodging, a concert venue and a rest zone simultenously. Every single element created in SAVVAĻA, is thought of as a (functioning) art object that becomes part of the environment – degrades, changes and gains new forms depending on the impact of natural conditions.
SAVVAĻA in its physical environment is actively breaking various borders – between architecture, design and art, promoting a functional over decorative approach. This project has been organised with interdisciplinary practise as a priority, bringing together artists, poets, musicians, technological innovators, researchers, architects and local audiences, stimulating creative searches of sincere arts expression and genuine interest in nature. It has been important to highlight the local practices and traditional forms of culture while complementing these with contemporary professional arts practices.
Experiences in SAVVAĻA have included a route through the swamp to see the artworks using intuitive map, academic musicians playing in the twilight to synchronise with the rhythm of the sun, poetry readings in the clay pit among many others. Every artistic expression finds its own place in the vast natural surrounding environment. These experiences in turn have changed the way every participant perceives and looks both at artistic creations and expressions as well as natural environment they are set it.
SAVVAĻA in its physical environment is actively breaking various borders – between architecture, design and art, promoting a functional over decorative approach. This project has been organised with interdisciplinary practise as a priority, bringing together artists, poets, musicians, technological innovators, researchers, architects and local audiences, stimulating creative searches of sincere arts expression and genuine interest in nature. It has been important to highlight the local practices and traditional forms of culture while complementing these with contemporary professional arts practices.
Experiences in SAVVAĻA have included a route through the swamp to see the artworks using intuitive map, academic musicians playing in the twilight to synchronise with the rhythm of the sun, poetry readings in the clay pit among many others. Every artistic expression finds its own place in the vast natural surrounding environment. These experiences in turn have changed the way every participant perceives and looks both at artistic creations and expressions as well as natural environment they are set it.
Key objectives for inclusion
There are several ways of participation practised at SAVVAĻA. Firstly, it is possible to visit and observe what's been created, experience an event or creative process, and witness new relations between a creative process and the natural surroundings it is embedded in.
Secondly, comes exchange - the remote location and architectural setup have proven to foster open human connections. People open up and get to know one another regardless of their social status, occupation, social group or educational backgrounds. Shared experience of “surviving” the wilderness is often a conversation starter in the open communal space where visitors are invited to make themselves a cup of tea and borrow a pair of wellies for taking a walk into the open-air exhibition through the meadows, swamps and woods.
Thirdly, it is possible to take part and engage to create SAVVAĻA together. Locals join the building of art installations and architectural dwellings with their equipment or skills, and give hand in the maintenance of the site. People staying overnight, take care of communal places - public room, kitchen, waste sorting etc. The choice of involvement is left to each person, activating the idea that everybody is responsible for the quality of their own experience, and shifting service provider-consumer relationship.
Inclusion is embedded in the first principles of SAVVAĻA - it is free of charge and accessible to all 24/7, 365 days a year. SAVVAĻA was created based on interest to work closely with a diverse range of people and professionals in order to exchange the experiences and knowledge, expand and create new networks and create new practices for working in cultural sector. Being in close contact with nature we see no other way of existence as diversity - it is one of the basic rules that nature is based on - it is as important to us as keeping the biodiversity in our premises and preserving the rare natural grasslands.
Secondly, comes exchange - the remote location and architectural setup have proven to foster open human connections. People open up and get to know one another regardless of their social status, occupation, social group or educational backgrounds. Shared experience of “surviving” the wilderness is often a conversation starter in the open communal space where visitors are invited to make themselves a cup of tea and borrow a pair of wellies for taking a walk into the open-air exhibition through the meadows, swamps and woods.
Thirdly, it is possible to take part and engage to create SAVVAĻA together. Locals join the building of art installations and architectural dwellings with their equipment or skills, and give hand in the maintenance of the site. People staying overnight, take care of communal places - public room, kitchen, waste sorting etc. The choice of involvement is left to each person, activating the idea that everybody is responsible for the quality of their own experience, and shifting service provider-consumer relationship.
Inclusion is embedded in the first principles of SAVVAĻA - it is free of charge and accessible to all 24/7, 365 days a year. SAVVAĻA was created based on interest to work closely with a diverse range of people and professionals in order to exchange the experiences and knowledge, expand and create new networks and create new practices for working in cultural sector. Being in close contact with nature we see no other way of existence as diversity - it is one of the basic rules that nature is based on - it is as important to us as keeping the biodiversity in our premises and preserving the rare natural grasslands.
Results in relation to category
The Baltics, with their unique location and practices, are places where people share a special connection to nature - walk in the forest is a regular activity, wild mushroom picking happens every autumn, products grown locally are accessible and affordable, usage of herbal teas is knowledge passed on from generation to generation. Nature is embedded in everyday life, cultural and art productions being no exception. Out of this context SAVVAĻA has grown out focussing on questions of human-nature and art relationships and taking a unique role in the local cultural landscape. It offers a rich and unforgettable art, culture and nature experience for artists, creatives and public visitors and has created a stable community around it.
SAVVAĻA uses the approach where topics of reconnection with nature through art and culture are taken almost literally and begin with the moment of arrival. The experience of nature in SAVVAĻA changes the perception of art and vice versa. When the main curator of the exhibition becomes nature itself, it leads to a true reconciliation with nature with the help of cultural processes.
SAVVAĻA is an analogue and physical experience. Due to its remote location and the time invested to get there, people stay there for longer stretches of time – from several hours up to several days. This slow rhythm in turn changes the experience of time. Social roles and hierarchies are no longer important here. People meet one another, interact, and often engage in conversations. It is a place where honest and open sharing and active listening is happening naturally among.
This place challenge and ask artists to reconsider the way that they produce art as they create it for outdoor environments - here the practices need to be adapted to work outside the institutional indoor setting. It invites everyone involved in the process to think about the footprint that is made, reconsider the materials used and the life of the artwork.
SAVVAĻA uses the approach where topics of reconnection with nature through art and culture are taken almost literally and begin with the moment of arrival. The experience of nature in SAVVAĻA changes the perception of art and vice versa. When the main curator of the exhibition becomes nature itself, it leads to a true reconciliation with nature with the help of cultural processes.
SAVVAĻA is an analogue and physical experience. Due to its remote location and the time invested to get there, people stay there for longer stretches of time – from several hours up to several days. This slow rhythm in turn changes the experience of time. Social roles and hierarchies are no longer important here. People meet one another, interact, and often engage in conversations. It is a place where honest and open sharing and active listening is happening naturally among.
This place challenge and ask artists to reconsider the way that they produce art as they create it for outdoor environments - here the practices need to be adapted to work outside the institutional indoor setting. It invites everyone involved in the process to think about the footprint that is made, reconsider the materials used and the life of the artwork.
How Citizens benefit
All four seasons of SAVVAĻA were enabled up by a large network of arts professionals and their friends that organised themselves around group of creative organising collective of SAVVAĻA. Main principles being enthusiasm, interest and willingness to create something beautiful and meaningful together in this particular location. This place and its program has been a collaboration between artists of various disciplines, cultural professionals, students, volunteers, local residents and visitors. Every season around 150 professionals are involved in creating content there.
The local and neighboring community has been very important for SAVVAĻA - participating in the creation of infrastructure and artworks, as well as being active participants in the events, becoming daily visitors as well as ambassadors in the regions to spread the information about the place. Some organisations have been particularly involved – there’s been an ongoing collaboration between the organisers of SAVVAĻA and nearby group home for people with cognitive disabilities. Local children have been active workshop participants and schools from the region regularly visit the place on field trips.
It has become important site for professional arts community - a place to meet, exchange, stay in a residency to create or rest, perform. It is a place where you come to meet colleagues in an informal setting and it is a place where you experience high quality cultural events. People interested in culture come from all around Latvia for the events here, an audience between 100-200 people come for each event.
The project has been carried out with public funding – national and regional cultural funds, municipality, material sponsorships from companies and individuals, volunteer work and donations. It is a project that is enabled by civic society, public resources and donations. At its core it is a large-scale group project that changes its character every season and addresses issues important at that time.
The local and neighboring community has been very important for SAVVAĻA - participating in the creation of infrastructure and artworks, as well as being active participants in the events, becoming daily visitors as well as ambassadors in the regions to spread the information about the place. Some organisations have been particularly involved – there’s been an ongoing collaboration between the organisers of SAVVAĻA and nearby group home for people with cognitive disabilities. Local children have been active workshop participants and schools from the region regularly visit the place on field trips.
It has become important site for professional arts community - a place to meet, exchange, stay in a residency to create or rest, perform. It is a place where you come to meet colleagues in an informal setting and it is a place where you experience high quality cultural events. People interested in culture come from all around Latvia for the events here, an audience between 100-200 people come for each event.
The project has been carried out with public funding – national and regional cultural funds, municipality, material sponsorships from companies and individuals, volunteer work and donations. It is a project that is enabled by civic society, public resources and donations. At its core it is a large-scale group project that changes its character every season and addresses issues important at that time.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
SAVVAĻA is innovative in several aspects in culture and arts sector. Firstly, by its location - its close and intertwined relationship to nature. Contemporary culture events usually happen in an urban setting; when it appears in nature, it usually takes form of festivals or organised parks. Here symbiotic relationship between art, nature and people are created. Borders between artworks, architectural objects and natural environments are blurred and become of a secondary importance creating an experience of a unified space. By its close connection to nature we attract professional attention to sustainable ways of art production, as well as giving place, time, knowledge and practical tools to artists to use environment-friendly approaches in their practices.
Secondly, by its approach to arts productions - artworks, events and programming. Here emphasis is put on a community rather than a creative individual. Starting from its core organizer - collective of six arts professionals it further grows into a cross-disciplinary arts network where the driving force are common values and interests that are unified by the physical location. Each season programs grow out of the interests and impulses of this artistic community. This flexibility and openness allows for multiplicity of voices, interests, approaches to coexist in one place and leaves space for being reactionary to issues important in the society at a particular time.
Thirdly, its involvement and interest in local and regional community by involving them in programs and running of the place.
Finally, by its approach with openness and working hours. SAVVAĻA is open 24 hours, 7 days a week with no permanent attending staff. All places are free of charge and open for visitors at any time. Thus, all visitors are encouraged to take care of themselves and the place as well. Sustainability is embraced not only by ecological manners; it is implemented as a social principle, based on trust and a sense of community.
Secondly, by its approach to arts productions - artworks, events and programming. Here emphasis is put on a community rather than a creative individual. Starting from its core organizer - collective of six arts professionals it further grows into a cross-disciplinary arts network where the driving force are common values and interests that are unified by the physical location. Each season programs grow out of the interests and impulses of this artistic community. This flexibility and openness allows for multiplicity of voices, interests, approaches to coexist in one place and leaves space for being reactionary to issues important in the society at a particular time.
Thirdly, its involvement and interest in local and regional community by involving them in programs and running of the place.
Finally, by its approach with openness and working hours. SAVVAĻA is open 24 hours, 7 days a week with no permanent attending staff. All places are free of charge and open for visitors at any time. Thus, all visitors are encouraged to take care of themselves and the place as well. Sustainability is embraced not only by ecological manners; it is implemented as a social principle, based on trust and a sense of community.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
The concept, principles and idea of SAVVAĻA are based on founder's artist Andris Eglītis practice and philosophy of utopian synergy between nature, art and people. One of the aims of SAVVAĻA is to create situations and space for innovative thinking where collective involvement is necessary. Creating such situations helps the participants (be it creators or visitors) to re-think or think differently about the environment, their behavior in and interaction with it. SAVVAĻA program makes use of the imagination and the language of art as an instrument, constituting a proposal and a testimony of the natural environment as a life-affirming and meaningful space with which one has an earnest and non-hierarchical relationship. Here questions of one's relationship to/with the natural world we live in are continuously present and the wild natural setting is a gentle reminder of that on every step on the way.
In SAVVAĻA culture and arts is used as a driving force to create a community that feels belonging to this physical nature site. Using culture and artistic expression (by residencies, exhibitions, co-production events) individuals of this community are encouraged to build emphatic and close relationships with the environment, that in a positive outcome would change the perspective on the state of nature, sustainable society, climate and planetary health.
SAVVAĻA aims to support cross-disciplinary artistic research, production and exchange by providing a place to meet, network, think, create and experiment in this unique wild, rural environment in the countryside of Latvia. It is a place where creative professionals of different generations from different cultural fields (visual arts, music, film, theatre, literature, traditional culture, architecture) exchange their skills, knowledge and experience when working in the wild environment. SAVVAĻA is not limited to arts professionals and are also open to innovators and thinkers who work outside art environment.
In SAVVAĻA culture and arts is used as a driving force to create a community that feels belonging to this physical nature site. Using culture and artistic expression (by residencies, exhibitions, co-production events) individuals of this community are encouraged to build emphatic and close relationships with the environment, that in a positive outcome would change the perspective on the state of nature, sustainable society, climate and planetary health.
SAVVAĻA aims to support cross-disciplinary artistic research, production and exchange by providing a place to meet, network, think, create and experiment in this unique wild, rural environment in the countryside of Latvia. It is a place where creative professionals of different generations from different cultural fields (visual arts, music, film, theatre, literature, traditional culture, architecture) exchange their skills, knowledge and experience when working in the wild environment. SAVVAĻA is not limited to arts professionals and are also open to innovators and thinkers who work outside art environment.
Methodology used
Arts in this project is used as an instrument, a unifying element, to attract people to the natural wild site of SAVVAĻA and create a community around it that is interested in spending time in nature.
One of the driving elements that started the project was realisation on how arts institutions have often isolated themselves into a closed circuit of niche audiences and closed communities. There is a gap between art professionals and the general public, as well as links between various arts disciplines.
Thereby it was critically important to organise SAVVAĻA to be as accessible as possible. Promotion and advertisement of SAVVAĻA is aimed at a wide audience – mixing the cultural elite with the local residents and nature tourism lovers, involving them in conversations through workshops, residencies, public discussions and community-lead experiences of the place.
People from the nearby region have been involved in organising and building SAVVAĻA. This means both paid work and cultural engagement. Alongside that, a principle of fluctuating roles has been important – a visitor could easily become a volunteer or a host, the participating artists can shift into roles of producers, volunteer or visitor. Everyone involved in the process is regarded as equally important, implementing a horizontal social climate.
It has been highly important to the organisers of SAVVAĻA to provide a diverse, cross-disciplinary and inclusive programme of artists and participants, providing a platform for ethnic and sexual minorities, ensuring openess towards the gender, age and background of the people involved.
Regarding affordability – visiting SAVVAĻA and attending events is free of charge (with optional donations) and trust is put on visitors of this site that they will use it with care and respect by having it always open and accessible.
One of the driving elements that started the project was realisation on how arts institutions have often isolated themselves into a closed circuit of niche audiences and closed communities. There is a gap between art professionals and the general public, as well as links between various arts disciplines.
Thereby it was critically important to organise SAVVAĻA to be as accessible as possible. Promotion and advertisement of SAVVAĻA is aimed at a wide audience – mixing the cultural elite with the local residents and nature tourism lovers, involving them in conversations through workshops, residencies, public discussions and community-lead experiences of the place.
People from the nearby region have been involved in organising and building SAVVAĻA. This means both paid work and cultural engagement. Alongside that, a principle of fluctuating roles has been important – a visitor could easily become a volunteer or a host, the participating artists can shift into roles of producers, volunteer or visitor. Everyone involved in the process is regarded as equally important, implementing a horizontal social climate.
It has been highly important to the organisers of SAVVAĻA to provide a diverse, cross-disciplinary and inclusive programme of artists and participants, providing a platform for ethnic and sexual minorities, ensuring openess towards the gender, age and background of the people involved.
Regarding affordability – visiting SAVVAĻA and attending events is free of charge (with optional donations) and trust is put on visitors of this site that they will use it with care and respect by having it always open and accessible.
How stakeholders are engaged
Local
SAVVAĻA keeps as a core principle building strong relationships with a local community and its neigbours in its thinly populated area. Throughout the years friendships and collaborations are built with local farmers, craftsmen, musicians, activists and institutions. Local community is involved in artwork, event and site production with their skills, resources and knowledge. At the same time they are active visitors and audience of the events created here.
Regional
SAVVAĻA is located in Smiltene Municipality. Throughout the years we are collaborating with the municipality by participating in their cultural program both as artists and as a site that provides cultural content in the region. Municipality has supported our programs financially, with material resources and by spreading information in their communication channels. We are inviting regional arts professionals and initiatives to participate in our programs alongside the national community, thus encouraging new collaborations to emerge.
National
Each of core creative collective members organising SAVVAĻA are established arts professionals active on a national level. They bring in their creative professional network when organising programs in SAVVAĻA. Regular collaborators are such organisations as Art Academy of Latvia, Ascendum, internet journal Satori, VFS films who organise events, new productions and residencies in SAVVAĻA. Main financial supporter of SAVVAĻA is Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation.
European
SAVVAĻA exhibition, residencies and public events have had international artists participating throughout four seasons forming around ~20% of all participants. It has been a valuable contribution to the diversity of programs and new impulses to the national arts scene by their topicality and approaches. In the fourth season SAVVAĻA started collaboration with like-minded artists residency in rural Estonia MAAJAAM by co-producing artworks and co-hosting artist residencies.
SAVVAĻA keeps as a core principle building strong relationships with a local community and its neigbours in its thinly populated area. Throughout the years friendships and collaborations are built with local farmers, craftsmen, musicians, activists and institutions. Local community is involved in artwork, event and site production with their skills, resources and knowledge. At the same time they are active visitors and audience of the events created here.
Regional
SAVVAĻA is located in Smiltene Municipality. Throughout the years we are collaborating with the municipality by participating in their cultural program both as artists and as a site that provides cultural content in the region. Municipality has supported our programs financially, with material resources and by spreading information in their communication channels. We are inviting regional arts professionals and initiatives to participate in our programs alongside the national community, thus encouraging new collaborations to emerge.
National
Each of core creative collective members organising SAVVAĻA are established arts professionals active on a national level. They bring in their creative professional network when organising programs in SAVVAĻA. Regular collaborators are such organisations as Art Academy of Latvia, Ascendum, internet journal Satori, VFS films who organise events, new productions and residencies in SAVVAĻA. Main financial supporter of SAVVAĻA is Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation.
European
SAVVAĻA exhibition, residencies and public events have had international artists participating throughout four seasons forming around ~20% of all participants. It has been a valuable contribution to the diversity of programs and new impulses to the national arts scene by their topicality and approaches. In the fourth season SAVVAĻA started collaboration with like-minded artists residency in rural Estonia MAAJAAM by co-producing artworks and co-hosting artist residencies.
Global challenges
“What are the possible and necessary relations between civilization, culture, technology, comfort, nature, wilderness and physicality?” These are themes that are addressed in SAVVAĻA broadening the definition of art, thinking about it as part of civic and social experience. Art here becomes a tool and an instrument to unify people - to create a community and tie them around a nature site. SAVVAĻA invites people to rethink their relationships with nature by inviting them to spend time in it - work, rest, experience, exchange and explore. Current climate changes is a grim reminder of urgency of redefining our relationships to the natural world we inhabit.
SAVVAĻA is constantly looking for ways to make art productions and cultural events in more careful ways in terms of material usage, transport, energy sufficiency, teamwork, and environmental impact. We question usual practices, norms and values of artistic communities and bring in small incremental changes in everyday work of our creative collective. We are acutely aware of the global problem of overproduction in art and the temporariness of the art events - materials and resources used in their production.
Another global challenge is social inequality, especially as a result of a pandemic. Arts is one of the most powerful tools to overcome it by inviting members of different social groups and providing a platform where people can engage in building a strong, trust-based community. SAVVAĻA has provided a diverse cultural programme that has attracted people from very different backgrounds and places that has enabled building of new social ties.
Finally, it is crucial to provide accessible high-quality culture to rural areas and to cultivate decentralisation of cultural processes. SAVVAĻA has served as a platform for discussions and brainstorms, embracing and fusing local knowledges with global ideas and tendencies in rural Latvian countryside.
SAVVAĻA is constantly looking for ways to make art productions and cultural events in more careful ways in terms of material usage, transport, energy sufficiency, teamwork, and environmental impact. We question usual practices, norms and values of artistic communities and bring in small incremental changes in everyday work of our creative collective. We are acutely aware of the global problem of overproduction in art and the temporariness of the art events - materials and resources used in their production.
Another global challenge is social inequality, especially as a result of a pandemic. Arts is one of the most powerful tools to overcome it by inviting members of different social groups and providing a platform where people can engage in building a strong, trust-based community. SAVVAĻA has provided a diverse cultural programme that has attracted people from very different backgrounds and places that has enabled building of new social ties.
Finally, it is crucial to provide accessible high-quality culture to rural areas and to cultivate decentralisation of cultural processes. SAVVAĻA has served as a platform for discussions and brainstorms, embracing and fusing local knowledges with global ideas and tendencies in rural Latvian countryside.
Learning transferred to other parties
SAVVAĻA creative collective believes (and with its activities and practices proves), that culture and artistic expression is one of the successful tools to limit climate changes and foster environmentally friendly mindset. We strongly believe that the changes start with individual actions (re-enchantment with nature of individual people, for example, our artists in residency or visitors that come by) then it moves towards cultural industry (respecting green production of exhibitions and artworks, reusing materials, using human resources mindfully), and then towards the policy making (inviting state and municipality policy makers to take actions towards green thinking).
Many of the principles of SAVVAĻA could be replicated elsewhere - the important aspect is that it grows from a local initiative and addresses a need that is valued and shared by a local community. We have learned that closeness to nature and simple but aesthetic living conditions with reduced comfort is a unique and valued experience. It changes attitudes to the environment and builts a strong and supportive community. A combination of open-air exhibition that is available at all times, artist residency program and public event program is a good combination that attracts a large variety of professional and general audience.
Throughout times and traditions people living at the coast of the Baltic sea have had a strong cultural connection with nature and natural processes. The practices of respectfulness towards nature that are basic knowledge for locals, especially the ones living in rural regions, for example, using of self-grown products in foods, wild mushroom and plant picking, combining use of wind and solar panels for production of electricity in properties outside the city, are often surprising to our guests from other European countries. From local communities this knowledge and practices can be shared nationally and internationally.
Many of the principles of SAVVAĻA could be replicated elsewhere - the important aspect is that it grows from a local initiative and addresses a need that is valued and shared by a local community. We have learned that closeness to nature and simple but aesthetic living conditions with reduced comfort is a unique and valued experience. It changes attitudes to the environment and builts a strong and supportive community. A combination of open-air exhibition that is available at all times, artist residency program and public event program is a good combination that attracts a large variety of professional and general audience.
Throughout times and traditions people living at the coast of the Baltic sea have had a strong cultural connection with nature and natural processes. The practices of respectfulness towards nature that are basic knowledge for locals, especially the ones living in rural regions, for example, using of self-grown products in foods, wild mushroom and plant picking, combining use of wind and solar panels for production of electricity in properties outside the city, are often surprising to our guests from other European countries. From local communities this knowledge and practices can be shared nationally and internationally.
Keywords
– Reciprocal relationship between arts and natural environment
– Strength in cross-disciplinary collaborations and knowledge sharing
– Resource efficiency
– Building trust through openness, accessibility and hospitality
– Arts as an instrument to encourage new experiences with/in nature
