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| Function for whom. Design for whom Elīna Pastare, Student, Art Academy of Latvia FOR WHOM 08.06.–14.06.2013. Art Academy of Latvia | |
| The arrival of the summer season is usually marked by certain activities and events. These invariably include graduation cere- monies at various educational institutions which not only bring a festive conclusion to a certain period in one’s life, but also allow for an impartial summing up of what has been accomplished. One such resume is on offer from graduates of the sub-sections of the Art Academy of Latvia Faculty of Design: the Departments of Functional Design, Environmental Art, Metal Design and Fashion Design. Both bachelor’s and master’s students’ diploma projects could be seen together in an exhibition held on the premises of the Art Academy as part of a design graduates’ project entitled KAM (‘For whom’), which also included a workshop and presentations by the authors of the works. Design is a very broad notion that touches upon almost all areas of life and encompasses a variety of sub-disciplines. However, independently of whether these are a quest for the best functional solution, the creation of new aesthetic quali- ties, or simply a wish to express oneself creatively, it is design that shapes the identity of our environment. Given the nature of this constant presence, it should be admitted that a prerequisite for lasting and successful design is the retention of the link between the different people who conceived the artistic project, those who carried it out technically and those who will use the de- signed object. That is why it is laudable that the ‘For whom’ initiative offers the ideas and projects already implemented by young designers for the appraisal of potential customers and consumers, especially in conditions where high-quality design in Latvia is more often the exception than the norm. Function, even though not a priority every time, is always a constituent part of design and determines its character of be- ing a separate field that embraces visually aesthetic qualities. Even if it ends up at the extremes of decoration for its own sake, an object retains some reference, even if only notional, to it primary function. That is why, when viewing the exhibition held at the Art Academy, a number works did not seem to correspond to the concept of a Design Days project. These are the diploma works by environmental art students Laima Laizāne, Līva Nāckalne and Ēvalds Vanags, which only distantly relate to the basic purpose of design, and, by acquiring a particular emotional space, approach the category of conceptual art.s | |
 Ē̄valds Vanags. Conversation. Video installation. 2013 Publicity photos Courtesy of the artist | |
| Ēvalds Vanags’ bachelor work Saruna (‘Conversation’) has been executed in video format and features the fictional communication between solitary trees growing in a remote part of the countryside. The author has attempted to visualise this communication as colourful smoke rising from the tree crowns, stripped bare by autumn, like a greeting or a cry for help. Most living creatures have a need to communicate with each other, and without this, the further existence of life would not be ensured. Vanags’ concept shows how wrong loneliness looks in the natural environment, and how awkward are those unnatural, extraordinary communication channels – in this case, smoke from solitary trees, but it could equally be electronic correspondence between lonely people on the internet. Līva Nāckalne, too, plays on the theme of conveying information, though not among separate participants, but between an individual and the environment. Her master’s work Esība (‘Existence’) consists of three freestanding installations, each containing a photograph which is partly covered in dust. The photographs portray people in the interiors in which they live. The subjects belong to various age groups and social strata; this means that the environment each of them inhabits is also totally different. Likewise the layer of dust covering each installation differs as well, because the dust has been gathered from the respective interiors. The dust, possessing an individual character like every one of us, leads us to think on how much we influence the environment around us. Dust is different and unique to each of us, its contents depending on the person, the place they live, environment, nature and other factors. Yet one of the main pieces of evidence for our existence is human DNA that dust contains. The influence of Land Art can be discerned in Nāckalne’s work, especially the early period of the movement when representatives such as Robert Smithson, for instance, just like the young au- thor used natural materials, often soil and mud, displaying it in a conceptually minimalistic format. By bringing in the detail of hu- man daily life and environment, however, Nāckalne has succeeded in addressing the viewer much more directly, thus pointing out the fragile but unavoidable connection between ourselves and the environment in which we live. Laima Laizāne’s master’s work Linearitāte (‘Linearity’) continues the exploration of unconventional forms of expression which the artist began in her bachelor’s work: by making use of the physical qualities of objects, she seeks the optimum solution to an aesthetic depiction of specific elements. The artist’s installation consists of a linear pattern of threads stretched over a metal frame that serves as the basic structure for the whole piece. The plastic elements attached to the structure have been covered with fluorescent paint that under ultraviolet light creates motifs and images – a summery meadow with insects flying, and also a horse, the central image of the work. Aptly chosen technical details, for example, the matt glass covering the work’s linear structure, the fluorescent paint contrasting with the darkened room, and the fans hidden from the viewers’ eyes that gently set in motion the whole frame, imbue the work with the required fragile, mysterious, nocturnal atmosphere, some- thing that is so difficult to stage under artificial conditions. This innovative technique which the author herself calls kinetic light painting seems to have blended with the artist’s idea and thus creates a sense of intangible lightness, whilst opening up new horizons in the quest for new means of artistic expression. Each of the works to be seen is totally different in terms of both technical execution and message. But they all reveal a broadness of perception and a disregard for the basic principles underlying the various fields of design, thus approaching the status of conceptual works of art in their own right. Possibly this can be explained by the process of preparation of young profes- sionals in the sub-section of Environmental Art at the Art Academy of Latvia. Students acquire broad theoretical and practical knowledge in environmental and interior design, and deal with the processing of diverse materials on an equally diverse spatial scale, which to a certain extent calls for a grasp of various forms and techniques of art. As the result of a nuanced exploration of the environment through practical experiments, the young artists are able to express themselves more fully, using simple elements, for instance, smoke, dust or stretched out strings in the most optimal manner and thus creating a self-sufficient ar- tistic reality. All that remains is to wish that their technical skills will be able to keep up with boundless creative thought and vice versa, and the experience gained is applied also to the clas- sical disciplines of design, pooling functionality with aesthetic qualities and the unconventional which we lack so much in our everyday lives. Translation into English: Sarmīte Lietuviete | |
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