Upside Down Kuldīga is a performance commisioned by the members of the International Institute for Community Commissioned Art (iicca.org) – Ieva Štro, Elīna Beitika, Vendija Bakanauskaite – in collaboration with the New Theatre Institute of Latvia. The curators of the project, as well as the director and the author of the idea, Jurģis Spulenieks, are all from Kuldīga. With the theme of joie de vivre as the main criterion, their collaboration has resulted in a walking performance, complete with an animated film created cooperatively by animator Dzintars Krūmiņš and the youth of Kuldīga.

As part of this year’s Homo Novus festival, an audio guide for the walk will be launched on 31 August, which will be available to both locals and visitors to Kuldīga after the festival, and on 3 September those interested will have the opportunity to experience the walk on a curator-led guided tour. Ketija Jurčenko talks to Ieva Štro, community art commisioner who grew up in and currently lives in Kuldīga, and Jurģis Spulenieks, theatre director who spent his childhood and high school years in Kuldīga, about community involvement in the project and the upcoming Festival ‘Homo Novus’.

Ketija: Why this name – “Upside Down Kuldīga”?

Jurģis: Despite the fact that Kuldīga may look like a glossy postcard on the surface, life there sometimes has a completely different zest. In that city, if you look at the old town, there are hardly any right angles to houses. There is a certain wrongness, but it is wrongness in an absolutely positive way. Of course, the oddness also comes from habit – what people call places and things, for example, people of my generation still remember places like “Kosmoss” or “Progress” [ed: the former shops in Kuldīga]. As I think about it more and more, I begin to see these absurdities. For example, I think that Kuldīga is the only place in Latvia where the cultural centre is in a supermarket. In Kuldīga, everyone knows that you have to go to “Talsu Meat Shop” to buy furniture. I came to think that we have a lot of cool and interesting stories that should be collected.

And so one by one we collected about a hundred stories. I am hardly able to share, because in Kuldīga the ice is not easily broken, especially if you have to be persuaded to share. Usually the answer is: “Where are you going to show this? Are you going to show it somewhere else? Yes, then I’ll give the story. Here on the spot? No, no, no, no, no… Then I will not participate”.

Ketija: Ieva, had you noticed any of Kuldīga’s quirks before working on this project?

Ieva: Yes, I think it’s cool that there are such things in life. Everything that is wrong is actually imperfectly perfect. I believe that’s the taste of reality in this collection of stories. As Jurģis said, stepping out of the UNESCO cliché frame and seeing life and authenticity in the city. Maybe I hadn’t noticed such small details, but I accept Kuldīga as a living organism with all its positive quirks.

Jurģis: Even our watchtower is crooked!

Ieva: Yes! And the way people love it – they come and stand in queues! I think everybody is longing for that authenticity.
Ketija: Talking about authenticity, Jurģis, you have already outlined the difficulties that arose during the collection of the stories. Maybe you can share this process?

Jurģis: We had the first announcements, which we sent to different communities in Kuldīga – seniors, teachers, young people. I have to say that in the first calls we collected several stories, but they were small miniatures, so we realised that we had to change the strategy and go to the people themselves. We went to the communities, we talked, we collected stories. After filtering them, we realised that we would go directly to the people and interview them. So I think it’s cool that you’ll be able to hear a lot of different voices in the audioguide. Of course, knowing that not all stories are willing to be shared, we gave people the opportunity to submit them anonymously. The stories are being translated into English, so they will also be available to foreigners. One of the schools borrowed this theme for their school calendar. I think it’s cool because it’s turning into a kind of movement rather than one event. In fact, this community involvement has gone almost international. A former choreographer from Kuldīga, who now lives in California [ed.: Gunta Liepiņa-Miller], also became involved. With her Californian students, she is creating a TikTok dance for us, using music created for the animated film [ed: music created using artificial intelligence]. I am very happy that this work is not out yet, but its gaiety transcends borders and oceans.

Ieva: The topic is so positive and cool that the positivity is spreading. I think that this cheerfulness is missing in everybody nowadays.

Jurģis: Yes, I agree. And the kinds of joy can be very different – that’s why the stories are so different. The main condition was that if they bring joy to the storyteller, then there must be a cool hook or key to it.

Ketija: This joie de vivre seems to be contagious. I cannot stop smiling as I listen to you both. I understand that cheerfulness was one of the curators’ selection criteria. What else was important for you to consider?

Ieva: We had a training in Budapest, where other community art commissioners from Budapest, Poland, America also shared their experiences. We had a wonderful opportunity to choose the criteria for the artist open call. We wanted to give as much joy and cultural dose to people as possible with the funding of this project, so joie de vivre was the main selection criterion. Other points included previous experience in art projects.

Jurģis: To add, in the context of this project’s methodology, I was positively convinced by this summer’s Democracy Festival in Kuldīga, where open call artists repeatedly presented their ideas. My conclusion was that all of them should be executed, because they are like a huge ball of joy. It actually also shows how hard a job the curators had in evaluating all the submissions.

Ieva: There were a lot of applications [ed: almost 30 authors responded]. Each of them had a video, others had presentations, or visuals. We had a lot to choose from. We worked very hard on it for two days, making a table with the criteria.

Ketija: The task sounds very responsible – essentially, three people have to represent the interests of the Kuldīga community. The word “community” has come up quite a lot in our conversation. How did you define it in the context of this project?

Ieva: Communities can be divided in different ways – by age, by location… Our project involved the Children and Youth Centre of Kuldīga Municipality. It was important that the artists themselves can choose the communities they would be working with and could be involved in. We also consulted the cultural centre. The project was all about how people who don’t work in the cultural sphere that much on a daily basis see what is missing from Kuldīga.

Jurģis: I define communities as a part of society with either a common interest or another binding element. This was actually the reason why I applied for the project. The idea of locals themselves being the curators appealed to me. It is the locals themselves who give meaning to the work. It was important for me to involve the community as much as possible.

The first level of community involvement was the collection of stories from seniors, young people, children, people from different professions. The next level of community engagement was an animation workshop for children, giving them a practical framework within which they can further develop and create.The stories sent in by the children were already fantastic. While making the cartoon, we leaned on one story about why there are so many hairdressers in Kuldīga, if the locals aren’t more hairy than other people. Of course, if a child asks such a question, I wonder the same thing. With Dzintars Krūmiņš involvement, they made the characters themselves, thought of the plot. The premiere is still to come, but I can tell you that the film is going to be really, really spectacular! It turned out very cool. The next community involvement happens when other communities get involved that I hadn’t thought of at all, like a school thinking – this is really cool, we can do a calendar around this theme. The American story I mentioned earlier, where the TikTok dance is being made, which will still have a chance to expand. And, of course, the fact that the audio guide with the stories is being handed over to the municipality, and this cartoon, which will be something that any guest will be able to enjoy. These stories will be posted on platforms where they can also be listened to remotely if, for some strange reason, someone can never make it to Kuldīga. The real fun is of course to come to Kuldīga and listen to why exactly such a local story has been created.

Ketija: Can you tell us more about the technical execution? How does this walk with the audio guide and animation work?

Jurģis: The stories are posted on the “izi.TRAVEL” app. You can go point by point and listen to the story at a particular point, which I think is the most interesting way, but you can also find the coolest and most suitable spot or bench in Kuldīga to sit down and listen to the story. Even a grumpy Riga resident who is late for the tram can cheer himself up with an interesting story.

As for the performance on 31 August and 3 September, the walking route is also planned for people with disabilities. We walked the route with an accessibility expert and realised quite quickly that the originally planned route was off. The Old Town of Kuldīga has four types of pavements, which are very beautiful, but not the most well thought out solution in terms of accessibility. The walk will therefore start in the Town Hall Square by the fountain [ed.: Baznīcas iela 5], then we will walk along Liepājas iela, past the town square. The walk will end at the Kuldīga Cultural Centre, which is a super-upside down place because it is located in the aforementioned supermarket. There we will all watch the animated film. It has very catchy music. I will not say more, you will have to see for yourself on the spot.

Ketija: Why is community-commissioned art so important? After all, there are experienced curators, public institutions that do it.

Ieva: The other girls and I had an inner feeling that we, as people from Kuldīga, know what we want to create for our city. We know what is happening here, what is missing, what is needed. The contemporary art movement is so creative and wide-ranging that it was a great platform for us to give people the opportunity to be creative. This process itself is very interesting that the community orders for themselves. It’s amazing! Rather than some outsider thinking they know what’s best for us. That is not always the case. The community project is wonderful because it is co-creation – for ourselves, for our city, with a kind of aftertaste of sustainability.

Jurģis: I consider this to be a very democratic approach. It allows us to get something that we ourselves have initiated. There is great power in that. One is community research, where professionals come, collect local stories and put them into a show. I think a cool example of this in Latvia is Lubāna Applied Theatre, where Jānis Balodis has collected more than 300 stories and put them together in a wonderful composition [ed: Lubāna Applied Theatre Group’s performance “Pieaugšana”]. The other kind of community theatre is where the local community commissions a local theatre, whether amateur or professional. There is a kind of synergy there. Like in this project, where the commissioning is done by curators chosen from the local community. This kind of collaboration is also possible. I am a little bit sorry that in Latvia this is maybe not the case usually. Latvians have a kind of inertness to get involved, but if you get beyond that, the potential that can be achieved is very impressive.

Ketija: Yes, definitely! I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to give locals a place to express themselves and also to see themselves from the outside, while people from other cities can come and see what the people of Kuldīga have to say about themselves. I myself am from Riga. How would you describe the community of Kuldīga, the people of Kuldīga to me?

Ieva: Kuldīga is very colourful, vibrant and proud. These are my first associations. The community of Kuldīga is very creative and strong.

Jurģis: Two words come to mind. Now I’m thinking how to say it in a nicer way, so that everyone in the world doesn’t get offended and kick me out of Kuldīga.

Ieva: I thought of that too! (Laughs) They’re just our personal feelings.

Jurģis: On behalf of myself and my community of friends, I would describe Kuldīga as generous misers. That first impression when you speak to a person from Kuldīga is like a wall. There is an emotional stinginess, a closedness, but when that wall breaks, there is generosity, hugs…

Ieva: Yes! Very typical!

Jurģis: …and kisses. Emotional generosity in joy and everything else.

Ieva: We have this Nordic mentality – if we love, we love for real. That first step is harder, but after that comes true generosity, openness, love. You have to prove a little bit that you are worth it.

Jurģis: Exactly. What fascinates me is that somehow in these stories, things that are specific only for Kuldīga appear very vividly. For example, the fact that Kuldīga might not have poster poles, because the best advertising is gossip. The stories will be vibrant, colourful. There will be a love triangle, a story about ordinary people from Kuldīga, a story about neo-Kantians. There will be plenty of room for expansion! Of course, the legendary Naked Run [ed: the annual Midsummer Naked Run in Kuldīga] will also be mentioned. There will be something to feast your ears and everything else.

Ketija: It really sounds vibrant and colourful. Maybe there is something I haven’t asked yet that you would like to say?

Jurģis: I would like to say a huge thank you to the Latvian New Theatre Institute, the three fantastic curators and everyone involved! I think that if we had to make subtitles for all this, it would be for about two hours. I’m really surprised that such a spider’s web of this one thing, this idea, has gone off in different directions.

Ieva: Not only the end product, but the process was wonderful. International encounters, two travels, the Homo Novus Festival experience. I think it’s like a new path and a wonderful opportunity to bring contemporary art to Kuldīga, because there is relatively little of it here. To be part of this process – my daughter took part in this animation masterclass. Children have the opportunity to watch, to create. The process goes off, as Jurģis said, like a spider’s web. That’s the most beautiful contribution of this whole project – from human to human.

Ketija: I think that the spider web that you mentioned, which is spreading, also reflects the unity and strength of the community itself. It can be so extensive because of the responsiveness and willingness of the local population to participate. It is wonderful that you have succeeded in getting them interested. I think that the same interest will be there for the performance itself.

Ieva: Yes, we had a challenge. I’ve managed different projects, but this is the first time I’ve been involved in this kind of project. I had an internal challenge – I wanted to do an open call so that artists would want to apply, so that there would be that interest. We had a responsibility towards our city and it’s cool that the result has been successful. Everybody is warmly invited to the launch of the audioguide in Kuldīga!

Jurģis: And after the premiere of the cartoon, get ready to do the TikTok dance!