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| Sarmīte Māliņa, Kristaps Kalns. “Love Never Ends” Stella Pelše, Art Historian | |
| The artist Sarmīte Māliņa and the photographer Kristaps Kalns created the object "Love Never Ends" (more precisely, it is a set of objects which could be regarded as an installation) for the Cēsis 2008 art festival. This installation is a good example of conceptually well thought-out, minimalistic and clear interpretation of the ready-made tradition. The interplay of associatively charged objects has had a central role in Sarmīte Māliņa's creative work since the mid-nineties. Furthermore, this is not her first successful collaboration with Kristaps Kalns (in 2006 the two artists used video-installations to create an altar, which expanded the borders of sacred art and raised universally important questions with their direct interpretation of the Easter message). The theme of the Cēsis exhibition - beauty - is first and foremost embodied in the perfection of an artificially made white cube, which contrasts with the atmosphere of a grubby beer brewery. In this case the industrial textures favoured by contemporary art are deliberately disguised, thus conjuring up a different world which diverges from reality. In this world the main focus is on objects that are associated with the beauty of feelings and memories, as well as all that is transient. This is very clearly illustrated by the showcase holding a flower bouquet - traces of mould, eating away at the bygone charm, but at the same time securely protected from the viewer by the glass barrier. | |
 Sarmīte Māliņa, Kristaps Kalns. Love Never Ends. Installation. 2008 | |
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The smoky glass cube serves as a shelter for feelings that are frozen, preserved and possibly reserved for a much more distant future. The glass cube also frames the central object of the installation - a bed. If we compare this piece to, for example, the popular work by the British artist Tracey Emin "My Bed" (1999), we see another confirmation of the aesthetic vision that is ascribed to Latvian art, which is quite different from exhibiting piles of intimate objects and tokens of depression. However, the aesthetic in this case is neither banal nor commercial. Laconism, geometry and the achromatic color scheme underline the ability to reflect on the past with self-control and distance, not just to simply exhibit the evidence of a crude emotional outburst. The facets of the glass cube also serve as mirrors, reflecting the white park bench (meeting point), and also the viewer, placing them into the context of a potential memory drama. The artists have used a music box for background sound - it is limpidly alluring, yet mechanical and lifeless - suggesting the human desire to "preserve" feelings and the simultaneous impossibility of doing so. The work could be characterized as a modern treatment of the vanitas theme, as it confines and refines the classical symbols of transience of life to one personally important aspect.
/Translator into English: Anita Načisčione/ . | |
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