Arthur Berzinsh. A New Day Will Arise For Latvia. Solo exhibition
1.07. 2021.- 31.08. 2021.
Art Gallery MuseumLV and Cultural Center Grata JJ
Andreja Pumpura Street 2, Rīga, LV – 1010
Working hours: Tue. – Fri: 11:00 – 19:00, Sat.: 11:00 – 17:00
Multimedia artist Arthur Berzinsh is pleased to present his solo show A New Day Will Arise For Latvia as the next in a row of Transpositions cycle at MuseumLV art gallery.
The word "transposition" has a lot of meanings and explanations. It is used in biology, music, philosophy, linguistics, law, telecommunications and many other realms of social life. The medical meaning of the term is deeply personally for the author - back in childhood, he underwent a unique heart operation, where the transposition of blood vessels has become one of the central development. In order to further study various aspects of both individual and collective, and especially national identity in the conditions of accelerated transformation of modern reality, the artist uses the term of transposition as the main key for his concept. Therefore, a video game, a set of staged figurative compositions, realised as a large format photography, objects and assemblages has been created by Arthur in his beloved provocative kitsch manner for the show. Thus the capacity of this term allowed him to produce bold moves of well-known and widespread ideas, situations and elements. According to his vision, Arthur has created peculiar visual quirks corresponding to nowadays situation, combining heroes of ancient Greek myths, important Latvian historical personalities, modern Western popular cult figures and even information about the most current achievements in conquering the Universe with Latvian ornaments and self-created computer game elements. The artist believes that the boundaries of our reality are constantly changing with increasing intensity. Isn't it significant that the atypical combination of well-known ideas and concepts created by Arthur Berzinsh no longer seems so strange? Perhaps we can say that such a new semiotic rag of ideas, ornaments and elements, however, aptly captures some significant tendencies as in the words of K. Jung, "in the unconscious of society" and how the formation of the concept of individual and national identity takes place in it? The artist invites the viewer to make his own interpretation or transposition of this term with the assistance of a virtual game created especially for this exhibition,as he is convinced that in many cases game plays a very important role in both life and art.
“According to the epos about Lacplesis, who represents the manifestation of the heroic power of Latvia, the foreign invader takes away the source of strength - the ear. In my interpretation, the severed ear as a lost part of a whole, to some extent symbolizes the insurmountable trauma of the Latvian people. The exhibition was based on the idea to show the problem of the modern Western world, which is trying to turn against the concept of the individual as an indivisible, integral subject, replacing him with a dividual, a subject-constructor who can easily understand its components - or, recalling the events of the poem, this is an extra ear thrown into opening. To create my works, I used the method of transposition. ", - Arthur says.
About the artist. The artist was born on April 20, 1983 in Riga. He earned a MA degree in the Visual Communication at Department of the Latvian Academy of Arts. Artūrs Bērziņš has six solo exhibitions, including the exhibition “Barotava” (2017) at the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Center in his art history. The artist's previous solo exhibition “Great Loneliness” was held at the MuseumLV Art Gallery in 2018. Artist has participated in more than 50 group exhibitions and projects in Latvia and abroad. Simultaneously he carries out activities in a genre of performance. During 2017, 2018 and 2019, three performances of the artist took place at MuseumLV art gallery. In addition, Artūrs Bērziņš has created scenography for several plays directed by Dž.Dž. Džilindžer plays at Great Hall of the Daile Theater (2018-2019), as well as many videos, animations and short films, including videos for world music stars such as "Seven Lions" and "Cradle Of Filth". In 2010, the influential American Internet site Weirdworm.com ranked Artūrs Bērziņš sixth in the Top 10 of the world's most original artists. The artist's works are also used as prints on clothing, attracting the attention of the representatives of world's music and alternative fashion industry. Worth to mention the fact that in 2020, pop music diva Billie Eilish arrived at the London NME Awards ceremony wearing T-Shirt with Artūrs Bērziņš artwork print on it. In 2017, printing house Zvaigzne ABC published the artist's debut novel Twists of the Universe, which is the first example of the weird fiction genre in Latvian contemporary literature.
Solo show A New Day Will Arise For Latvia is curated by Exhibition Curator of Museum of Decorative Arts and Design Irēna Bužinska
