Twenty thousand square meters of art - a deliberate provocation of the cultural site «Točka» / Article / LSM.lv

At the weekend, perhaps the most unusual new cultural place will open its doors in Riga – it will be located in the historical rubber factory “Provodnik” in Sarkandaugava. The gigantic 19th century factory building, which was known as the Riga Electrical Engineering Factory after the Second World War, will house a contemporary art, theater and dance cultural space with a provocative name “Točka” for two months.

It is created by young Latvian artists with the aim of uniting different branches of art and together with viewers looking for answers to the question of what values society needs today, but what remnants of the past we must finally give up.

The adventure is already getting to “Provodnik” – a huge, 50,000 square meter dark yellow brick factory building is located in a part of Sarkandaugava, where the streets are dominated by trucks going to the port, but there is no room for people.

Under the car tires loudly down the manhole covers, the sidewalks are crumbling, and for a pedestrian or cyclist the road to “Provodnik” can give quite sharp feelings.

This theme will also be played by one of the performances in “Provodnik”.

The continuation of the road is already much more pleasant – turning to Kundziņsala and again to the left, you can get to the world of the former factory, which is by no means abandoned. Part of the premises has been rented out to companies, but the lawsuit has just been taken over by young artists for two months.

The authors of the idea are Beatrise Zaķe and Pamela Butāne – they work in theater directing, scenography, produce events and do everything on their own in arranging “Provodnik”.

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“There will be a theater floor – the main venue for three performances. The third, fourth floor is for exhibitions, the fourth floor also has one room for the dance residence. On the fifth floor, there is also a place for a dance residence and an art project. We laugh that we have 20 thousand square meters of art. Art can expand here, and Covid is safe here, too, ”the young stage artists tell each other.

The inscription above the entrance “Apparatus workshop” indicates the recent past of the factory.

“The last calendars have remained here from 1998-2000. There will be a part of the bar behind the glass, and there will also be discussion events. This will be the first installation, ”says the hostesses of the new cultural site.

The space is so long that there is even an archery alley for Paralympic athletes. It will remain here at a time when the more than a hundred meter long factory alleys will become the industrial backdrop for paintings, sculptures and installations.

“The works have been combined so that this column will have more masculine, monumental themes, but on the other side there will be themes related to feminism and sexuality,” Pamela Butāne leads through the infinitely long factory workshop, which is divided into two parts by built-in workshops.

“We have a lot of feminism in general, also in shows. The first show “Heda. On August 26, Human will study stereotypes of the role of women in society. But on August 29, there is the first dance residence performance “grosombols”, created by choreographer Klāvs Liepiņš – he, in turn, studies masculinity and what it is like in this society, ”adds Beatrise Zaķe.

Along with Beatrice Zaķe and Pamela Butāne, the creative team also includes choreographer Rūdolfs Gediņš, philosopher Pēteris Andrušaitis, designer Klāvs Priedītis. Everyone works voluntarily. But how did it all start? At the beginning, the two young artists were looking for only small premises for their theater association “PERFOrācija”, but the circumstances gave them the opportunity to reach as many as 20 thousand square meters for a while. The owner of the premises “Realto” has met with rent, which is covered by a municipal grant.

A magnet for visitors could be not only art projects, but also the factory building itself.