Untamed Assembly – Backstage of Utopia
Latvian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale / May 9–November 22, 2026
Exhibition by MAREUNROL’S and Bruno Birmanis
Titled Untamed Assembly: Backstage of Utopia, the exhibition for the Latvian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale presents a new work by the interdisciplinary artist duo MAREUNROL’S—Rolands Pēterkops and Mārīte Mastiņa-Pēterkopa—in dialogue with alternative fashion designer Bruno Birmanis and the archives of the Untamed Fashion Assemblies (UFA), a series of experimental fashion, art, and performance events founded by Birmanis that took place in Riga between 1990 and 1999.
MAREUNROL'S. Sketches of the work in progress. 2026. Courtesy of the artists. ©
MAREUNROL’S
Curated by Inga Lāce and Adomas Narkevičius, the exhibition links past and present, highlighting utopian thinking at moments of transition. It asks how collective imagination, desire, and visibility are produced as political and economic systems shift, and how futures and new forms of togetherness are rehearsed behind the scenes rather than on the main stage. The installation by MAREUNROL’S rethinks the legacy of UFA and is conceived as a backstage—a space of preparation, invisible labour, joy, improvisation and human connection. The clothing rack, ubiquitous in any backstage, becomes a holding device and the architecture of the stories, while recurring motifs such as birds and textile sculptures, carry memories of flight, risk and fragility.
Taking place during a decade of profound political transformation, UFA expanded fashion across visual art, music, and club culture. Defying conservative social norms inherited from the Soviet era, the Assemblies offered an alternative to the commercialised fashion markets in the West. Bodily display and costume also became tools for negotiating new identities through drag, role-play and deliberate exaggeration. For a short time, international media coverage positioned Riga as an unexpected avant-garde hub. Improvised and collaborative, the Assemblies brought students and international stars onto the same stage. Young Baltic designers such as Bruno Birmanis, Juozas Statkevičius, and Sandra Straukaitė appeared alongside Paco Rabanne, Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, and Andrew Logan; among future global icons, Viktor & Rolf passed through as students.
View from the opening performance of The Untamed Fashion Assembly, outfits by
Bruno Birmanis and Uģis Rūķītis. 1991. Black and white photography, digital image. Photo: Gunārs Janaitis. Courtesy of the artist. © Bruno Birmanis archive, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art
Across the installation, newly digitised footage from Birmanis’s archive traces the threads of travel and border-crossing, transnational community building, scarcity as the force for creativity and newly gained yet fragile political freedom. Returning to this archive, the pavilion asks what can be gathered today from the utopian visions of these festivals.
(left to right) MAREUNROL'S (Mārite Mastiņa - Pēterkopa and Rolands Pēterkops) and
Bruno Birmanis. 2025. Artists of the Latvian Pavilion at the Biennale Arte 2026 Photo:
Ralfs Cimmermanis. Courtesy of the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art
Commissioner: Solvita Krese
Organisers: LCCA (Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art)
Artists: MAREUNROL’S—Rolands Pēterkops and Mārīte Mastiņa-Pēterkopa and Bruno Birmanis
Curators: Inga Lāce and Adomas Narkevičius
The Latvian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale is located in the Arsenale di Venezia and commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.
