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Danish Cultural Institute

T: +371 67288221

ig@danishculture.com

Danish Cultural Institute

Mūkusalas ielā 3, room 625

Riga, LV-1048

T +371 67288221

F +371 67289994

ig@danishculture.com

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𝐋𝐄𝐓’𝐒 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟐𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐆𝐔𝐄 𝐘𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐘𝐀!

Lalalalala lalala laaa 🎶
What is Christmas without a good Christmas carol?
This Christmas second recommendation comes from our valuable and lovely colleague Yuliya. Yuliya is originally from Ukraine, so today she is sharing a unique and wonderful Ukrainian Christmas tradition to warm your heart in the snowy weather ❄️

Yuliya says: “One of my favourite Christmas traditions from Ukraine is gathering to sing Christmas carols. During the holiday season, you can spot people start singing them in every possible place like streets, buses, and shopping malls. It is often spontaneous and always very beautiful, joyful, and uniting.”

In the slides above you can see an example for a very famous Ukrainian Christmas carol (that you may know!) here performed by the Aidija Chamber Choir! 🎶

Yuliya continues: “I am not a good singer but can never resist a good Christmas carol. By the way, did you know that one of the most iconic Christmas carols “Carol of the bells” (“Shchedryk” in Ukrainian) comes from Ukraine? The music was written by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych.”

We hope that this recommendation makes your 2nd Sunday of advent a little brighter, and that you go singing into the rest of the holiday season! See you next Sunday!
#Aidijachoir

𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟏𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓!

And we’re so excited to show you our new advent calendar with lots of recommendations for a more cozy, comforting, and last but not least a cultural Christmas!

Every Sunday from now and until Christmas we at the Danish Cultural Institute will do our best to give you some Christmas recommendations from our international team of colleagues to hopefully light up this dark time of the year ☃️

This Christmas’ first recommendations is from our beloved colleague Elina, who gives a heartwarming Latvian tradition that bring joy to not only to you, but also to those in need. Elina’s recommendation is the Latvian radio marathon Dod Piece, which runs for 24hours a day from December 16 and until the 22th.

“An irreplacable tradition that I can’t imagine my Christmas season without, is listening to the Latvian Radio “Dod pieci” (Give five) annual charity marathon - each year focusing on a different social issue. Anyone can donate to get their favorite song played on radio for a good cause”

For 5euros you can choose a song for the radio and this year the program has decided to donate all of the money to the Ukrainian Children who has fled to Latvia.
You can read more about the marathon here:

https://dod.pieci.lv/par-projektu
#dodpieci
#dodpieci2022

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒, 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊?

Then take a look at our most recent study trip to Kaunas!

One of the reasons it’s exciting for us to work with culture is that we get to do it transnationally! Cultural exchange across borders has the capacity both to separate people from each other and to unite them - it is our finest task to make sure only the latter happens!

One of our tools to make people connect through cultural exchange is by arranging study trips to the Baltics. Our study trips are often related to a certain topic and aim to provide inspiration to its participants as well as giving them cultural insights at their chosen location.

Most recently we arranged a trip together with politicians from the Triangle Area in Denmark where we traveled to Kaunas to experience Kaunas 2022 – the Cultural Capital of Europe! During this study trip, we visited several exhibitions, experienced Kaunas 2022 street art, and had an informative and inspiring meeting with the Kaunas municipality and #kaunas2022 team.

One must say that Kaunas really has flourished thanks to its status as the Cultural Capital of Europe and the good news – even though most of the activities will end by the end of 2022, some will stay there for good for a longer period of time.

Trips like these are a golden opportunity to learn about diverse ways to curate art, facilitate urban planning, and last but not least - network 🫱🏽‍🫲🏽So do not hesitate to reach out to us if you are interested in experiencing the Baltics with us!

The program was planned by the Danish Cultural Institute Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and you can read more about our study trips as well as you own opportunities at www.dki.lv/study-tours/

You can still experience Kaunas 2022 until the end of the year: https://kaunas2022.eu/en/

𝐖𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐕𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐇𝐀

𝐖𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐕𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐒, 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐔𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌!

These are the words from our beloved colleague Ilva, when asked to describe what the National Independence Day of Latvia means to her. On this day the 18th of November in 1918, the people’s council proclaimed Latvia's independence from the Russian occupation during World War 1. For many Latvians, this independence is a crucial part of their self-image especially in times when rights of freedom are often threatened.

The Latvian Independence Day is also a day to celebrate the Latvian flag, which has been forbidden for several decades due to occupation from the Soviet Union but can now be seen everywhere in Latvia. 🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻

If you are in Latvia and don’t know how to spend this celebratory day, here is some suggestions from our colleagues:

Džūlija Vītina, Project coordinator

“November always has this special festive atmosphere in Latvia. For me it’s the time when I proudly wear a national flag ribbon on my coat no matter where I am. It’s a small thing, but it’s not just colourful ribbon, it’s a sign of love, respect, and appreciation. It is also very important to rewatch a Latvian movie – like, super classical ones “Blizzard of Souls”, “Guards of Riga” “Melānija”, “The Pagan King” or “Homo Novus””

Sarah Beck Mikkelsen, Intern at DCI

“As an expat I'm looking forward to experiencing and participating in the celebrations here in Riga! Especially to experience the traditional Latvian folk music. I got recommended to see the band @vilkachi , which I think will be super fun!"

Ilva Grasmane, Project administrator

“There are many ways to celebrate November 18, to honour and commemorate people who sacrificed their lives in the fight for our freedom: one may sing patriotic songs or participate in the torch procession, some may lay flowers to the Monument of Freedom or create Latvian ethnographic patterns from red and white candles in their backyard or using Strava app run the outline of Latvia in their neighborhood and post it on social media. Or, perhaps, do it all!”

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐀 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐃
We are proud to announce that our exhibition “Voices of Violence” is now open in Tartu! Voices of Violence is one of our ongoing projects focusing on an ever-important subject – violence against women. In 2022 this is still an extremely important topic in private as well as politically. The Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Belarus face many of the same issues when it comes to gender equality, sexism and gendered violence, and no matter where you live, gendered violence is, undeniably, a common social phenomenon.

Unfortunately, this subject is often seen as tabu due to victim blaming, shaming and so on. The women who speak up are often silenced, making their struggle even more lonely.

With Voices of Violence, we wish to give a voice to those women. We therefore exhibit 35 short videos in which the anonymous stories on gendered violence told by well-known Danish, Icelandic, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Belarusian actresses uncover the marks that these experiences have left on women across borders.

You can listen to these stories until the 6th of December, where Voices of Violence can be experienced in Tartu – first as part of Crazy Tartu Festival at @kogogallery 8.11. – 19.11 and then at University of Tartu College of Foreign Languages and Cultures 22.11 – 6.12.

On the 10.11 the exhibition will be opened with a discussion focusing on gendered violence and the complex interplay between art, female perspectives, and women’s role in society. Danish and Estonian filmmakers, artists, writers, and journalists, including Christina Rosendahl (DK), Inger Christina Løwe (DK), Paola Cieno and others will exchange and reflect upon their perspectives and experiences.

!!Both the discussion and exhibition are free to attend!!

𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐒?

𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐒? 𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐄𝐗𝐇𝐈𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐇𝐑'𝐒 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐇𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐍!

Our two sound art exhibitions in Riga and Copenhagen displaying works from Jakob Kirkegaard (DK), Anne Fisere (LV) and Tie Yann (CH) are entering their last exhibitions phase. The works are incredible examples of how Niels Bohr’s ideas on quantum physics are still influencing our way of thinking creatively and innovative today!

On the 27th of June in 1939 33 prominent Danish citizens met and founded “The Danish Society” (“Det Danske Selsskab”) which in 1989 became Danish Cultural Institute as we know it today. One of these prominent figures were the famous Danish scientist and cultural figure Niels Bohr.

“The Danish Society” main goal was to put emphasis on cultural exchange and dialogue through international cooperation and partnership. “The Danish Society” was thereby created as counterreaction to the waves of nationalism that were dominating European society in the 1930s.

This resulted in the creation of the great and prominent work “Danish Culture in year of 1940” (“Danmarks kultur ved aar 1940”) which were published throughout 1941-1943 in 8 volumes. Niels Bohr was chosen to write the introductory remarks on this great work and his thoughts on Danish culture deeply influenced the later contributions and tone of the work.

Bohr circulated around two dominating terms in his introduction. The terms “Cultural interaction” and “World citizen” which both put emphasis on the importance of open cultural boarders. He aimed at merging the “way of life” of the Danish people with the notion of world citizenship and cosmopolitics.

Our sound art exhibition is then not only inspired by Niels Bohr’s thoughts on quantum physics but also reflects his vision regarding cultural exchange and inspiration – the idea that great art and ideas come to life through cultural interaction. Bohr believed that great scientific discoveries needed a cultural and aesthetic dimension to be communicated to the civil society.

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Visit DKI institutions in the following countries

Armenia

via The New Democracy Fund

Azerbaijan

via The New Democracy Fund

Belarus

via The New Democracy Fund

Brazil

China

Denmark

Estonia

Georgia

via The New Democracy Fund

India

Latvia

Lithuania

Moldova

via The New Democracy Fund

Turkey

Ukraine

via The Ukranian-Danish Youth House and The New Democracy Fund