"The Art of Inheritance" and "The Art of Creation": On May 24 and May 25, the Latvian Academy of Culture will host the student research conference "The-Art-of-Knowing"
On May 24 and May 25, 2018, the annual interdisciplinary student research conference “The-Art-of-Knowing” will take place in the main hall of the Latvian Academy of Culture (24 Ludzas street). The first day of the conference will be dedicated to the topic of cultural heritage, called “The Art of Inheritance”, and will be organized within the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, focusing on issues and topicalities of cultural heritage, its diversity, its new and controversial forms as well as inviting the participants of the conference to think of ways how to explore, hear and express our heritage. In turn, the second day of the conference under the title “The Art of Creation” will be dedicated to the latest developments in creative industries.
On the first day of the conference, on May 24 starting from 10:00 visitors will have the opportunity to hear experts in the field of cultural heritage such as Signe Pujāte, the Head of the Latvian National Center for Culture, Baiba Mūrniece, the Head of the Department of Cultural Heritage Policy of the State Inspection for Heritage Protection, Baiba Molņika, the Secretary-General of the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO, Gita Lancere, the expert in the field of folklore of the Latvian National Center for Culture, Ginta Zalcmane, the head of the Information Services Department of the National Library of Latvia, as well as Anda Laķe, the head of the LAC Research Centre. The participants of the plenary sesssion will cover topics such as national cultural heritage policies, cultural heritage during a time of change, UNESCO’s culture conventions, the list of intangible cultural heritage and heritage communities, resources of cultural heritage as well as what is the open approach to cultural heritage.
The afternoon session, starting from 13:00 will be opened by Rosario Napolitano, from the University of Naples "L'Orientale", who will report on the international dimension of the cultural heritage (Latvia - Italy in the interwar period). The Italian guest professor will open the session of students' research presentations, during which visitors will have the opportunity to hear presentations on topics such as circus art, the symbolic elements of ethnicity, the preservation of Latvian identity, the restoration of Baltic German estates in the 21st century, the influence of El Greco on Latvian painting, et al.
At the end of the first day, starting from 16:00, visitors will have the opportunity to attend a screening of three graduate films of the programme Audiovisual Art: ExAm (dir. Inese Kļava, 2005), Matches (dir. Didzis Eglītis, 2007) and "Drained by the Moon" (dir. Dace Pūce, 2015). All films will be screened with English subtitles.
In the morning of the second day of the conference, on May 25 starting from 10:00 visitors will have the opportunity to hear presenters specializing in the field of creative industries, such as Liene Pērkone, the head of the Business Incubator of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Liene Rubina, the head of the IdeaLAB of the Riga Technical University, Una Rozenbauma, creative director of the marketing campaign for the Latvian delegation in the London Book Fair, Dārta Ceriņa, researcher of the LAC Research Centre, as well as Paula Podniece, the MA student of the programme Culture Management and Creative Industries at the Latvian Academy of Culture.
The afternoon session, starting from 12:30 will be opened by Hanna Poldara, lecturer at the Tallinn Business School, who will provide insight into the success and failure in music business. After the presentation visitors will have the opportunity to experience the opening of the first issue of the student magazine “RADOJUMS” dedicated to various aspects of creative industries. Students will also present their research papers on topics such as the culture of self-presentation in the environment of Tinder, the specifics of career development in creative industries, emergency management in culture events (the case study of the Song and Dance Festival), the basic principles of planning the programme of contemporary art festivals (the case study of Survival Kit), leisure time and creative activities of the school children in Latvia, et al.
At 15:00 the session will conclude with the opening event for the collection of research articles of the Latvian Academy of Culture in the field of theatre and audiovisual arts - the yearbook "TE-KI-LA” (Theatre and Cinema Readings). The yearbook is a collection of works from the latest graduates of the LAC programmes “Theory of Audiovisual and Performing Arts” and “Theatre Art (Specialization: Contemporary Dramatic Texts)”.
May 25 also marks the end of the academic year for both students and the teaching staff, therefore, the conference will be concluded by an evening event at the garden of the Latvian Academy of Culture, where the students and professors of the LAC as well as their friends will gather for a grand picnic. Participants will have the opportunity to enjoy musical performances by the band “Vectēva Papirosi”, duet Eliāna Sanda Veinberga and Māra Bula, as well as by the musical union of the first-year students' "ATIKA". The picnic will also feature the concluding event of the art performance "Intelligent Explosion. The Spring”.
The student research conference "The Art-of-Knowing" is open to diversity, controversial, unexpected research results, as well as to all the paradoxical findings that originate from the students’ artistic and research endeavours. The important thing is that they resonate with the audience and makes them think and engage into discussion, whether it is a presentation, a performance or a film. The aim of the conference is to create strong linkage between research and artistic activities in the field of culture and arts as well as to develop students’ ability to approach the issues in these fields creatively, comprehensively and thoroughly.
