A little bird in the sky of freedom
A conversation with iLiana Fokianaki, curator of the Survival Kit festival of contemporary art
For the 13th time running, Survival Kit has found home in one of the empty buildings of Riga; unlike previous times, the festival is staying in the very heart of the Old Town, the historical former Unibanka building ‒ originally erected to house another bank ‒ next door to Riga Bourse. The choice of venue was not random: it was here that many of the most significant events of Atmoda (National Awakening) took place, in front and in the vicinity of the Latvian Radio building located only a couple of dozens of metres from here. And it is these events and the culture of dissent and rebirth that iLiana Fokianaki’s curatorial concept is centred around.
The Greek-born curator has strongly contributed to transforming the art scene of Athens, bringing in projects by key international artists; she has also curated quite a number of art events at some of the world’s most influential art institutions: e-flux New York, La Colonie, KADIST Paris, Kunstinstituut Melly Rotterdam and Ljubljana Museum of Contemporary Art. Fokianaki is currently co-curating a group exhibition at Reina Sofía museum in Madrid and working on a group exhibition at Framer Framed in Amsterdam. Both projects are scheduled to go on view in 2023.
As the key motif of the 13th edition of Survival Kit iLiana Fokianaki has chosen a line from a poem by the Latvian poet Ojārs Vācietis – ‘The little bird must be caught’. Why? And what is her vision of this year’s edition of the festival held every year by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art? That is what we spoke about only a few days before the moment when the works of over 30 artists would be presented to the public and the extensive public programme of the festival would be launched at the Hearing Voices Café.
How did you begin your curatorial work for Survival Kit? Did you prepare the concept before meeting with the artists, or did your ideas come about as a result of talking to them? Were there any experiences or impressions of Latvia that helped you shape your ideas?
Before LCCA* decides who will curate the next edition of Survival Kit, every year they invite a handful of curators to Riga to see the current Survival Kit and propose concepts for the next one; then LCCA selects one. So this process already took place in October of 2021. The concept came to me because of the visit, namely, visiting the Ojārs Vācietis Museum, where the director there gave me one of Vācietis’ books as a present – a selection of poems in English.
I know that you were quite inspired by this visit to the Ojārs Vācietis Museum and even borrowed a line from his poem as the festival’s motto. How do you perceive this line, and why does poetry matter?
Exactly. I read the book of poems and I was inspired by the title of the poem, but not only – the most inspiring thing was the content of the poem:
*
The little bird must be caught,
Or he will escape up high,
And we will miss our chance
To stifle his little cry.
And then come springtime
Another hope may rise,
More like him may be hatched,
Which would be quite unwise.
The little bird must be caught,
Caught right by his tail,
Put in a box behind bars
To sing and practice scales.
He must sing what he’s told,
Or give up the ghost.
He must know that song
Gives good appetite to most.
The little bird must be caught,
So we can fill our tummies.
After singing his little heart out,
He’ll go straight to the tabby.
I am brimming over
After a hearty meal,
A tomcat with red whiskers
Stretched out at my heel.
The poem is extremely strong; it is truly an excellent piece of literature, and I love that he uses animals for this allegory. It has a tone that is ironic and sarcastic, discussing authoritarianism and censorship in a unique way that I found very potent and contemporary.
Visual identity by Rana Karan and Cécile Kobel
I got the impression that at Survival Kit 13 there will be a lot of works based on documentation – in both video and photo formats. As a curator, are you interested in art that is in direct contact with reality (and political reality foremost)?
Documentation can occur in various forms, not only through video and photography. Art always is, or should always be, in contact with reality; otherwise it becomes a bourgeois decoration.
As I understand, there is also a “sonic part” of the exhibition inspired by the Singing Revolution of 1987-1991. What are these works, and how do they interact with the audience?
The whole exhibition discusses the relationship of art and specific art and sound, and how they “echo” democracy. The little bird must be caught focuses on how sound, music, voice, the sonic, and utterance have played a role throughout human history in defining, marking, contouring and characterizing historical moments of emancipation: actions against repression and authoritarianism, the relationship of sound (or the absence of it) to freedom of speech, the power of the voice, and the role of the sonic in resistance, revolution and self-determination. The works presented discuss, consider and address the role of art in historical and contemporary modes of self-determination – resistance with an emphasis on music and the sonic as forms of peaceful protest, declarative gestures, or collective performativity. These inquiries aim to further connect with the aftermath of the global pandemic that changed our sonic landscapes and made felt the role of sound when the world’s slowing down meant a new-found numbing silence. Simultaneously, the pandemic also made clear that even in times of a health crisis, injustice cannot be silenced. This was demonstrated by several things: the global movement of Black Lives Matter, which filled the streets as well as our ears and minds with slogans about freedom, equality and social justice; the global manifestations of a revived environmental movement that made us listen beyond the human-centered perspective of the world; and the recent solidarity marches for the people of Ukraine that took place in anti-war demonstrations the world over.
How did the current situation and the war in Ukraine influence the exhibition? Why did you specifically choose Mykola Ridnyi as a participating artist from Ukraine?
Of course, the war in Ukraine and the moment we are currently living in make the questions these works ask take on a new urgency. I knew the work of Mykola from before, and just as everyone else, he was chosen based upon the excellence of his work and how the work fitted into the narrative of the exhibition.
Which Latvian artists have been invited to participate, and what added value do they bring to the body of the exhibition?
Three Latvian artists are participating in the exhibition: Kristaps Epners, Krišs Salmanis and Sabīne Šnē. They bring their own translation of the thematics discussed. All three have been commissioned to produce new works, so I much prefer that Latvians go see the works in person rather than have me describe them.
How do you perceive the term “festival of contemporary art”? Why do we still need this form of artistic activity? Should this form present more like an exhibition, or rather as an event focusing on discussions, talks and dialogues?
“Festival”, as a term, I think engages a variety of practices and formats that we can call “instituting outside of museum walls”, and it includes much more than an exhibition – such as performances, workshops, round-table discussions, lectures, and film screenings. “Festival” transfers what Survival Kit does more accurately, I feel. Just one look at the very rich public program for this edition will make you better understand what I mean.
How do you feel about the building where the festival is taking place – a former bank in the center of Old Town?
It has interesting architecture, and an interior design that alludes either to 18th-century American banks or 1980s aesthetics – since the ground floor and the first floor of the exhibition are very different aesthetically. The most important thing is where the building is situated: we chose to hold Survival Kit 13 this year in the historic center of Riga, the backdrop for the marches and demonstrations for what became known as the “Singing Revolution” – across from the state radio station, in a historical square. This is the reason why, in the exhibition, one also sees images from the Museum of the Barricades of 1991 blended in with the art works.
I hope it’s not too personal, but may I ask why you write your name with a small “i” at the beginning?
I write my name like this because I am a feminist and I am inspired by the Afro-American feminist bell hooks who wrote both her name and surname with small letters. I also chose to write the “L” as a capital letter because it is the second letter – second letter, second sex. It is symbolic. But it is also very practical: it makes all Northern Europeans pronounce my name correctly.
*LCCA – Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art
Title image: iLiana Fokianaki, curator of the Survival Kit festival of contemporary art. Photo: Thalia Galanopoulou
