Scheduling delays, unplanned material costs, typographical errors, opening day stress, and many other factors are familiar companions in the arsenal of exhibition makers' experiences. The exhibition “closed. Concert in Progress” is a collection of “deliberate mistakes” by artist Linda Vilka. Her observations, contained in visual compositions of various sizes, cover a range of blunders experienced in the process of setting up exhibitions. It is an invitation to accept our own imperfections and recognize them as sources of our inner drive.

As the artist herself says: "Usually we artists deal with worldly problems, but this time I wanted to focus on the artists themselves and their process of creation."

Mistakes permeate not only creative work but also the everyday reality of every field: governments are wrong in their decisions, companies fail to deliver on their promises, people experience crises. It is precisely because of these imperfections —mistakes, exceptions, and unfulfilled promises — that enable society’s mechanisms to function, as they compel us to respond, adapt, and solve problems. Which mistakes do we forgive with a light heart, and which do we pay for heavily?

“This is the age-old question of when a job is finished. What is an exhibition? What is not an exhibition? An exhibition is an extremely democratic format for making and showing art," says the exhibition's curator, Tīna Pētersone. "Put some pictures in your kitchen cupboard, invite your three upstairs neighbours over and discuss what you've seen with them."

Linda Vilka (1995) is a multidisciplinary artist, Doctor of Art and guest lecturer at the Department of Environmental Art at the Art Academy of Latvia. She has been an exchange student at ArtEZ University in Enschede and Vilnius Academy of Arts. She often works with emotionally saturated themes and memory fixation, paying special attention to rural areas and the stories found there. Her work has been exhibited in installations, paintings, videos and performative actions in public spaces. Linda often uses the textual form, capturing the impressions of her surroundings in abstract and sometimes absurd statements.

About this exhibition Linda Vilka says: "In my practice I almost always work with some heavy emotion. In this exhibition, I have chosen to place the emotion in the depths of the space and to foreground the reflections on exhibition, display and pretense." 

Artist: Linda Vilka
Curator: Tīna Pētersone

The exhibition is organised by the Riga Contemporary Art Space Exhibition Hall, an association of cultural institutions of the Riga State Municipality, and supported by Riga City Council, Labietis and Malduguns.