Riga stayed awake last night.
The international festival White Night took place in the Latvian capital, offering diverse programme of cultural events that lasted until dawn. I was pleasantly surprised with the high standard of nearly half a hundred performances, installations and exhibitions – great warm-up for the Riga 2014 cultural marathon!
Personal highlights from the festival programme in the city centre include:
- Circus performance Smashed by Gandini Juggling from the UK, inspired by the choreographer Pina Bausch. Nine skillful jugglers + eighty apples + tea sets = original, controversial, witty and joyful performance about human relations and tea drinking. You can see a short preview online.
- ISSP final work slideshow at Sķūnis at the Botanical Garden. This was worth attending for two reasons – great atmosphere and great photography, but you can still catch the latest online.
- Night programme in the central market, where local musicians performed everything from jazz to indy rock on a stage set up in a root pavilion, among gherkins and cups of brine sold in dim light – the most romantic concert I have ever been to!
We ended the evening retelling our dreams in a special time capsule designed by Italian artist Eva Frapiccini and caught a night tram back – tired, tipsy on the Latvian balsam and very happy and inspired.
Tina Remiz // News and Views 