The year 2016 will go down in history as particularly important for the museum sector in Latvia. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was one of the most successful years in recent decades, when society finally saw the results of investment of public funds (state, local and European Structural Funds). After renovation works, several museums (the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Riga Motor Museum, and the museums of Rainis and Aspazija) and their exhibitions were finally established, and, importantly, not only in Riga but also in other regions (Ludza Synagogue, the Green Synagogue of Rēzekne, the Museum of Rainis in Tadenava, the Rainis and Aspazija Summer Cottage in Majori).
Additionally, a number of building and museum restoration works are still in progress (the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Literature and Music, the National History Museum of Latvia, etc.), which allows one to speak of a potentially unprecedented period of investment for at least five years.
The year was also significant in the context of the need for new museums of contemporary art, accompanied by prominent discussions in the wider public space: activities by the fund "Art Needs Space"; a series of articles "Thinking Contemporary About a Museum" in the newspaper "Diena", supported by the corporate charity foundation "ABLV Charitable Foundation"; and the symposium "Cross-Training: 10 Exercises on the Way to a Museum" organized by "ABLV Charitable Foundation" in the "Kaņepes" cultural centre.
The past year also saw progress in the long-debated issue on the necessity to amend the Law on Museums. It is foreseeable that the changes will take effect this year.
Of course, there are areas in the museum sector which unfortunately have not seen significant progress in the last year – the issue of the terminated contracts of directors of state museums, improvement of availability and usability of the Joint Catalogue of the National Museum Holdings, salaries, continuing professional development and motivation of museum staff, efficiency of museum management, succession of employees, etc. It is to be hoped that at least one of these matters will be prioritized in 2017 by the governing bodies.
What kind of year has this been for the think tank Creative Museum (CM)?
The biggest news of 2016 for the think tank was that we have changed our focus from the coordination of intense public activity, creative sessions, seminars and public events to the undertaking of research and consultation work. Of course, there will still be public events, as well as reviews and analyses of museums, which in the museum sector of Latvia continue to be more of an exception than a norm, so it is still a field to be developed.
Summing up the activities of the think tank in the past year, I will highlight the following TOP 3:
Project "Jewish Rēzekne"
The project began in 2015 as work on the development of the concept of the exhibition for the Rēzekne city Green synagogue. The exhibition project was implemented in close cooperation with the Rēzekne city council and the design studio "H2E".
The synagogue was opened in January of 2016, but for us, the think tank, it was just the first phase of a larger project. Already during the development of the exhibition project, we came to the conclusion that the material to be researched is so extensive and little known that we should organize further research of "Jewish Rēzekne", involving experts who will study aspects of Jewish history in Latgale and especially in Rēzekne. As part of the framework of this project in March 2016, we organized a conference, "Jewish Rēzekne", in cooperation with the Rēzekne city council and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Furthermore, due to the support of the State Culture Capital Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, we plan to publish a bilingual collection of articles, "Jewish Rēzekne", a year after the conference in the spring of 2017, at which we are working in cooperation with a scientific editor, historian Dr. Hist. Uldis Neiburgs and a literary editor, Dr. Art. Baiba Vanaga.
Himsel
Joining the initiative of our close friend and partner, museum and book expert Artis Ērglis, we launched in 2016 what in my opinion is our most ambitious and exciting project so far: "Nikolaus von Himsel – the beginnings of Baltic museums".
In connection with this important activity from last year, it is worth mentioning the tradition that we have to issue the think tank's planner, created in collaboration with the design studio "H2E". The theme of this year's planner is Himsel's Grand Tour, highlighting twelve of his stops (Genova, Rome, London, Vesuvius, Venice, Amsterdam, Uppsala, Basel, Vienna, Avignon, and St. Petersburg).
Bearing in mind the almost rhetorical question amongst museum professionals – how much do we really know about the founder of Latvian and Baltic museum tradition, the traveller Himsel himself and his enlightenment legacy in the heritage institutions of Latvia and, possibly neighbouring countries – and being aware of the importance of the legacy of Himsel at a national, regional and European level, we started extensive research and popularisation of Himsel's collection in 2016. Of course, without the research input of the sector's experts and the support of heritage institutions, a project of such scale will not be possible. Therefore we are and will be very grateful for any support towards the implementation of the following objectives of the project:
- Popularising Himsel as the beginning of the Latvian and Baltic museums tradition;
- Discovering the collection of the Martini-Himsel family as an entity in the heritage institutions of Latvia and, possibly, neighbouring countries, and carrying out its full inventory;
- Launching a series of research projects on Himsel, the museum's main collection (which was named after him), and its effect on the genesis of the oldest and biggest museums of Latvia;
- Revealing Himsel to the wider European museology as a so far obscure, but significant source.
Above all, of course, stands the Artis Ērglis overarching objective of the initiative, and that is to publish Himsel's travel manuscript in a multilingual edition by 2023.
With a condition of successful fundraising this year we plan to:
- get started on the Himsel’s legacy research,
- create a mobile application "Himzel's Riga".
In cooperation with the Academic Library of the University of Latvia, Himsel's manuscript is being prepared for display at the first thematic exhibition of the House of European History in Brussels, "Interactions. Centuries of Commerce, Combat and Creation” in May of this year, thus symbolically returning Himsel to the European cultural space and presenting him as the beginning of the tradition of Baltic public museums.
Restart Museum
As previously mentioned, 2016 was notable for its ambitious museum renovation projects. So in May, in cooperation with the Department of Creative Industries of the Ministry of Culture, we organized an international conference "Restart Museum" during the creativity week "Create!" The main emphasis of the conference was on how the creative process of a museum receives and assesses the various parties involved – customers, artists and the potential visitors of a museum. Focusing on the synergies of museums and creative industries, the event offered a democratic platform for experience exchange and knowledge transfer, aimed at stimulating thinking, which, in our opinion, is also a ‘restart’ button.
Parallel to the main programme of the conference, and with the support of the British Council in Latvia, we organized a public discussion at the Žanis Lipke Memorial with the director of Liverpool museums and the president of the British Museums Association David Fleming.
Museums and creative industries, making and restarting museums have been a priority for CM in the last year, and it will continue to be such in 2017.
In addition:
- Even though we only participated in the concept development phase (in cooperation with the design studio "H2E") of the reconstruction project of the Riga Motor Museum from 2014 to 2015, the joy has not diminished after the opening of the museum for the freshness and innovative solutions of the new exhibition, which opens a new page in the local museum-making scene.
- The think tank Creative Museum continues to perform the duties of national correspondent to the European Museum Forum (EMF), and continues to strengthen the representation of Latvia within it.
- In cooperation with the Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO), we continue to coordinate the research project "Museums and Creative Industries. Mapping of Cooperation". Within the framework of the research project, we explain if and how museums in Latvia and Europe fit into the family of creative industries, and what the opinion of museums and potential cooperation partners is. Last year we continued cooperation and monitoring of good practices, and carried out methodological research in partner countries – Romania, Iceland and Poland. This year we will continue coordination of a working group and a research project.
- We continue to advise museums, municipalities and design studios in the development and implementation of museum concepts.
Photos by Didzis Grodzs and Rēzekne City Council