Search

Visvaldis Ziediņš (1942–2007). Rewriting Latvian Art History 21/02/2014 – 15/06/2014

Kumu Art Museum
Adult: Kumu Art Museum
€16
  • Family: Kumu Art Museum
    €32
  • Discount: Kumu Art Museum
    €9
  • Adult ticket with donation: Art Museum of Estonia
    €25
Visvaldis Ziediņš. Büst (Objekt). Detail. 1980. aastad. Visvaldis Ziediņši Fond
Exhibition

Visvaldis Ziediņš (1942–2007). Rewriting Latvian Art History

Location: 4th floor, B-wing

Organised in collaboration with Galerija 21, this the first foreign exhibition of the works of the Latvian artist Visvaldis Ziediņš (1942–2007) who deliberately avoided public attention.

A few days before his 19th birthday in 1961, Visvaldis Ziediņš recorded the following promise in his diary, which he adhered to his entire life: “I will not show my art to anyone or participate in any exhibitions.” Therefore, very few people have seen the artist’s works and the first public showing of his oeuvre occurred at a posthumous exhibition in Riga in 2012. Especially during the 1960s and 70s, Ziediņš based his work on a personal view of the world, in which he interpreted reality as a fusion of chemical, mechanical and biological truths, thereby creating very personal and totally unexpected works in the context of the times.

Visvaldis Ziediņš was born on 4 April 1942 and died on 11 January 2007 in Liepāja. He acquired his art education in the Department of Decorative Design at the Liepāja Secondary School of Art. He devoted his life to the cultivation of an independent understanding of art, thereby representing the non-conformist trend in art, which operated outside of the official Soviet art system.

The exhibition is accompanied by an English-language catalogue Movement. Visvaldis Ziediņš (2012).

Curator: Ieva Kalniņa
Exhibition design: Sarmīte Mālina

Collaboration partner:
Galerija 21 logo

We thank:
Dina Zuzāne, Jānis Zuzāns

Sponsors:
Institute for Contemporary Arts (Riga), and the Alfor Novomatic Group of Companies