COMMON GROUND. A New Foothold
Initiated by RIBOCA, a new community centre for refugees is currently being set up in a 19th-century building in Andrejsala. Its walls will be decorated with works of contemporary art thanks to the Arterritory team.
On 25 February 2022, the second day of the war, the team of Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA), announced that work on the third edition of the art forum, originally scheduled to open in July, has been postponed and the team is joining efforts to help people fleeing the invasion. During these first days of shock and sense of catastrophe, it soon became very obvious that the stream of refugees would be vast, that these were people who had experienced the trauma of war, trauma of separating from their families and leaving behind their familiar surroundings ‒ that they would need a place where they could meet other people like themselves, catch up with each other and the latest news, talk, perhaps switch off their worries for a brief moment, embrace a sense of community and inclusivity. And so the idea of the COMMON GROUND community and cultural centre was born.
Work by Miķeļis Fišers at the COMMON GROUND
Work by Ivars Heinrihsons at the COMMON GROUND
‘We live in a time of a humanitarian catastrophe, and it is only going to escalate. As a team of fifteen absolutely sane and well-organised people, we simply could not go on sitting around, planning the layout of an exhibition that may not even see the daylight,’ says Anastasia Blokhina, Executive Director of RIBOCA.
Inese Dābola, Director of Strategic Partnerships at RIBOCA
‘Initially half of the team was working on the concept of the centre and looking for the right place to set it up, while the other half was busy sorting humanitarian aid at the donation centre in Ventspils Street and answering the refugees’ queries. We currently all work together on opening the centre, having realised that the people who have arrived need a place where they can meet others who are in the same situation as they, spend some time with their children and distract themselves in some way at least for while. It is very clear that more and more people already are and will be arriving. We watch in awe the work of the refugee help centre at the Congress Hall: they solve problems with documents and find accommodation for women with children. But as soon as the most fundamental necessities will be met, these people will need a place like our centre. We are looking now for partners to make sure that children’s therapists are always available there, that there are psychologists, artists who teach workshops on drawing or pottery ‒ a wide range of specialists who can offer at least a brief respite for a few hours a day to people who have left everything behind and arrived here trying to escape from war. Having found themselves in a foreign country, in many cases ‒ without any contacts and acquaintances, they obviously feel lost, and they need help. The greatest thing about this situation has been finding out that we actually live among so many wonderful people: on Saturday, some 100 volunteers helped us clear out the building, paint the walls and tidy up the garden. These people now keep in touch with us all the time, offering their help in any way we need. Fantastic Latvian companies bring us furniture, paint, tools, install the internet; people donate books, and I already have a long list of people ready to donate their time as soon as the centre can start operating,’ says Anastasia Blokhina, Executive Director of RIBOCA.
Work by Artūrs Virtmanis at the COMMON GROUND
COMMON GROUND is located in Andrejsala, a Riga district adjacent to the port, the venue of the second edition of RIBOCA that was also to become home to the third one ‒ in the good-looking late-19th-century building of a former railway station; the station was opened in 1895. The building with its tall ceilings and arch windows is light and quite spacious (900 m2) but has been practically abandoned in the recent years.
Agniya Mirgorodskaya, the founding director and the commissioner of RIBOCA, Anastasia Blokhina, Executive Director of RIBOCA and Alexey Biryukov, architect
Children playroom
Inese Dābola, RIBOCA’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, explains: ‘On Wednesday, we were granted the rental rights to the building for a symbolic price until the end of the year. We immediately started work on the fit-out; running water is being installed; people are bringing furniture and donating all the necessary things. There will be a communal workspace for the refugees ‒ the computers have already been delivered ‒ and a library of books in Ukrainian (the local Ukrainian community helped us with that), but also in Russian, English and Latvian; there will be playrooms with board games and construction games. We are also furnishing a room where people will be able to have some rest. There will be therapists... We have so many partners. We also want to tidy up the garden ‒ we will bring over proper soil and plant lots of sunflowers and other plants. For the time being, concerts and events can be held indoors but in the summer the garden will be perfect for that. We don’t know yet how many refugees from Ukraine will come to Latvia. But we would also like to welcome people who have fled Belarus due to persecution and political pressure, and also those who are leaving Russia for the same reasons. We cannot stay indifferent to their fate as well. The name of the centre is COMMON GROUND, literally implying that this is a plot of land that should be shared by people of different nationalities but also of different views and different backgrounds.’
Work by Elza Sīle at the COMMON GROUND
Work by Sarmīte Māliņa and Kristaps Kalns at the COMMON GROUND 
Work by Helēna Heinrihsone at the COMMON GROUND
The walls of the centre will be lined with pictures by Latvian artists; responsibility for that has been undertaken by the Arterritory team; we contacted the artists who have collaborated with our portal for several years now. Editor-in-Chief Daiga Rudzāte says: ‘The therapeutic, healing aspect of art has been an important subject over the last couple of years, and it will find a tangible expression in this project. Art is an important instrument for restoring and preserving a person’s inner harmony. This centre is a space that will welcome people who have experienced the nightmare of war and flight from home, who have experienced unthinkable stress and mental trauma. We want the very fact of sharing space with art become part of the healing process. On the other hand, many people are coming here alongside the refugees, and these works are all available to them ‒ they can buy this art. Part of the proceeds is guaranteed to be donated to help the people of Ukraine ‒ via the donation site ziedot.lv. As part of the Supportissimo: Latvian Artists for Ukraine campaign held by the editorial board of our portal, over EUR 15 000 have already been donated for this cause. We have invited Helēna Heinrihsone, Ivars Heinrihsons, Artūrs Virtmanis, Ģirts Muižnieks, Elza Sīle, Laura Veļa, Dainis Pundurs, Andris Breže, Miķelis Fišers, Pauls Rietums, Kaspars Groševs, Sarmīte Māliņa and Kristaps Kalns, Zane Putniņa, Atis Jākobsons to contribute to the new project. They all responded and all agreed.’
Work by Ģirts Muižnieks at the COMMON GROUND
Work by Kaspars Groševs at the COMMON GROUND
The finishing stage of furnishing the building is still underway; the centre will open its door in the coming days. You can find all information about it at the commonground.lv accounts on Facebook and Instagram. We can only wish the RIBOCA team success in completing the work as soon as possible so that people who have been forced to leave their home find a new foothold in Riga, a new space for meaningful life and participation.
Work by Pauls Rietums at the COMMON GROUND
Work by Iveta Gabaliņa at the COMMON GROUND
