Other events in Baltic States

On 14 February, Latvian public media, in cooperation with the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund, presented the ‘Kilogram of Culture’ awards from inside the Splendid Palace cinema. At the official ceremony significant events in Latvian culture received awards in nine nominations. The award winners received gilded weights and a bonus from the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund. As the main event for the last year the jury announced the ‘You’ve Got 1243 Unread Messages’ exhibition by the Latvian Contemporary Art Centre. 

The most recognised cultural event of 2017 the ‘You’ve Got 1243 Unread Messages’ exhibition informed its visitors about our recent past – life before the internet, when communications between people took place with the help of written letters and not gif files in Facebook. The award was received by the exhibition trustees Kaspars Vanags (Latvia), Zane Zajančkauska (Latvia) and Diana Franssen (the Netherlands). 

The award in the ‘Surprise of the Year’ nomination was presented by Inga Šīna, chairperson of the Rietumu Bank Charity Fund: ‘I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who helps to add to Latvian culture. They help us, both residents of Latvia and its visitors, to see modern phenomena which we might not even notice in our daily routine – something beautiful and unusual. My wish is that the creative minds of our culture have plenty more ideas in the future as well as the ability and health to implement them! I have the honour to announce that the ‘Surprise of the Year’ award for 2017’s achievements goes to the metal opera ‘Kurbads. Son of Ķēve’ by director Inga Tropa and the Skyforger Group with this production also being the first Latvian metal opera.’ 

In the ‘Theatre’ nomination the award was given to the ‘Marriage’ movement performance by the Liepaja Theatre staged by Russian director Sergey Zemlyansky. In the ‘Music’ nomination the award was granted to the symphonic music concert ‘The Chevalier of Roses’. This was held in the Liepaja concert hall ‘Lielais Dzintars’ with the participation of the Latvian Festival Orchestra, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon. In the ‘Visual Art’ nomination the award went to Vija and Kaspars Zariņšs for their joint personal exhibitions ‘Parallels’ in the ‘Arsenāls’ exhibition hall and in the ‘Literature’ nomination to Inga Ābele for her ‘Dune’ novel from the series of historical novels ‘We. Latvia, the 20th Century’. In the ‘Film’ nomination the award was received for the documentary ‘Lidija’. Its director is Andrejs Verhoustinskis and the script writer is Henrieta Verhoustinska. The winner of the ‘Cultural Heritage’ nomination is acknowledged to be the refurbishment of the VEF Palace of Culture and a special award by the jury was presented to the international contemporary theatre festival ‘Homo Novus’ which was organised by the New Theatre Institute of Latvia. 

The ceremony was conducted by film critic Daira Āboliņa and an actor from the National Theatre Raimonds Celms. Guests enjoyed performances of ‘Instruments’ and ‘Tautumeitas’, the trio ‘Art-i-Shock’, soloists Dināra Rudāne and Aija Vītoliņa, and also maestro Raimonds Pauls. 

The award winners were selected by the jury, which consisted of experts in culture from LTV, Latvijas Radio and ‘lsm.lv’, with account being taken of the opinion of TV viewers and radio listeners.