Secondary school students invited to take part in a memory notebook competition with valuable prizes

A film special-effects workshop with a Hollywood analogue special-effects master, the creative director of the legendary Coachella music festival, Paul Clemente, and a radio amateur workshop with conductor Normunds Šnē—these are the prizes arranged by the creators of the exhibition "YOU HAVE RECEIVED 1243 MESSAGES. Life Before the Internet. The Last Generation" for a special competition for secondary school students.

This December, the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art will open an exhibition at the Latvian National Museum of Art about the recent past, when the search for oneself and others took place in an analogue rather than a digital environment. An educational programme has been prepared for secondary school students and their teachers.

On Monday, 6 November, the exhibition curators invite teachers to a seminar about the exhibition display, the possibilities offered by the educational programme, including a creative memory notebook competition for secondary school classes.

In the “Memory Notebook” competition, whose jury will include New Riga Theatre actress Guna Zariņa, artist Kristiāns Brekte, conductor Normunds Šnē, poet Inga Gaile, and the exhibition creators, secondary school classes are invited to create their own memory notebook together and enter the competition. The classes that win will have the opportunity to take part in special workshops.

Film special-effects workshop together with Hollywood analogue special-effects master and artistic director of the legendary Coachella music festival Paul Clemente will introduce participants to the techniques used to show incredible events convincingly on screen. How do you film the sinking of the “Titanic”, a bus crash or a flying superhero? Is it possible to do everything with a computer alone, or are other ingenious tricks needed? In the workshop, the winning classes will build models, film, light and edit them. Paul Clemente is an experienced Hollywood special-effects master who has worked on films such as "Titanic", "The Matrix", "X Men" and others.

Meanwhile, in the radio amateur workshop with Normunds Šnē, conductor of the orchestra “Sinfonietta Rīga” and world champion in amateur radio, participants will have the opportunity to compete in sending coded messages by installing an antenna on the museum roof. Amateur radio was one of the ways people could communicate with the whole world at a time when the internet did not yet exist. Morse code was used for communication, while the quality of radio communications depended on many random factors, including the weather.

The other educational activities for secondary school students as part of the exhibition, as well as the rules for participation, can be found in this material at ejuz.lv/vidusskoleniem

Read more about the exhibition at ejuz.lv/1243zina

The exhibition’s main supporters are the ABLV Charitable Foundation, the State Culture Capital Foundation, the European Union’s Creative Europe programme and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The exhibition is being created in cooperation with the Van Abbemuseum of Contemporary Art in Eindhoven and the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia.

About the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art

The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, a curator and producer of international and national-scale art events, is Latvia’s largest contemporary art institution. Since 1993, it has researched and shaped contemporary art processes in Latvia and internationally in order to provoke critical reflection on issues facing contemporary society. Among the LCCA’s trademarks are SURVIVL KIT, Latvia’s largest annual contemporary art event; contemporary art exhibitions at the Latvian National Museum of Art; Hardijs Lediņš Year; and Latvia’s representation at international events such as the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, the Venice Biennale, the São Paulo Biennale, Manifesta, the Rauma Biennale of Contemporary Art and others. The LCCA maintains Latvia’s only contemporary art archive.