Time Line

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

2004 / the issues of establishment and building of Latvian Contemporary Art Museum were included in the Government declaration as one of the priorities in culture sector. In consequence, working group was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture whose task was to develop the concept and the mission statement of Latvian Contemporary Art Museum.

2004 / 28-31 October / International architecture plein air was held with participation of nine architect companies from abroad and two Latvian architect’s offices. Following the outcome of the plein air, location of Latvian Contemporary Art Museum was chosen — the building of Andrejsala power station, built on 1905 and designed by architects Oskar von Müller and Karl Johann Felsko. The motivation behind such choice of location is to promote resurgence process in Andrejsala, thus falling within concept of the Capital’s development and promoting the creation of a new socially and economically dynamic cultural environment.

2005 / 9 June / International commission of experts was approved. Its main task is selection of art works to be included in the museum's collection. Commission of experts consists of prominent art critics, researchers, artists, museum collection specialists, art and museum educators from Latvia and abroad.

2005 / 23 September / The Ministry of Culture and the bank “Aizkraukles Banka” concluded a long-term cooperation agreement, the latter thus became the first significant supporter of Latvian Contemporary Art Museum collection and undertook to allocate LVL 1 Million from 2005 until 2015 for the purposes of establishing the collection.

2006 / 28 March / Agency J3b in cooperation with consultants approved task assignment regarding sketches of the museum building.

2006 / 3 September / In accordance with the agreement mentioned above, internationally well-known Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Head of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, presented a sketch model of the museum building.

2007 / 21 June / Exhibition “Contemporary Art from Latvia. Focus on the Contemporary Art Museum collection” was opened at European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main within the framework of bank’s exhibition series “Contemporary Art from the Member States of the European Union”. The core of the exhibition was formed by art works from the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum collection.

2007 / 12 October / International conference “What is the future of the Contemporary Art Museum?” was held in Andrejsala. Art critics, researchers, artists, museum collection specialists, art experts, architects, exhibition curators and artists from Latvia and abroad discussed various significant issues pertaining to the museum.

2008 / 1 May / Exhibition of art works from the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum collection was opened at Berlaymont, the main building of the European Commission in Brussels. Exhibition was supported by Aizkraukles Banka and included works of artists Juris Boiko, Barbara Gaile, Leonards Laganovskis, Inta Ruka and Egons Spuris.

2008 / 28 May / Association “Contemporary Art Museum” was established. One of its main tasks is to promote accessibility, development and popularisation of the collection.

2008 / December / Catalogue “Documentation and preservation of Soviet period non-conformist cultural heritage for the collection of the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum” was published in Latvian and English. It envisages acquisition, documentation and preservation of the Soviet period non-conformist cultural heritage for the purposes of the Latvian Contemporary Art Museum collection, providing their scientific research and restoration. The implementation of project was supported by the EEA/Norway financial instrument.

2008 / 30 June / Agreement with consultancy company “Lordeurop” (France) was concluded in consequence of international tender, providing for technical and financial basic concept of Latvian Contemporary Art Museum’s activities, its institutional and business plans for the first years of activity.

2009 / 16 May / Pilot project kim? of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art was launched in Spikeri district. kim? programme encompasses monthly exhibitions and weekly lectures, film screenings, performances, concerts and other contemporary culture events. Programme is curated in collaboration with creative and professional partner-organisations: New Media Culture Centre RIXC, Visual Communication Department, website and publishing house "1/4 Satori", experimental music festival "Sound Forest", New Theatre Institute of Latvia, culture and art project NOASS, National Film Centre, Riga Film Museum, poet group "Orbita", META-KAFE and others.