The story
Survival Kit in Riga
Survival Kit is Riga's contemporary art festival, organized each year by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art. Rather than using a single museum, the festival occupies a different host building or set of venues across the city for its run, filling the space with new work from Latvian and international artists. Recent editions have leaned toward socially engaged themes, using art to examine political and economic change in the region.
Survival Kit began as a response to a gap: after Latvia's 2008-2009 financial crisis left buildings across Riga empty, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art started using those vacant spaces as exhibition venues rather than waiting for a dedicated museum of contemporary art to be built.