The contemporary art festival Survival Kit, comprised of a curated exhibition and an event programme, was initiated in 2009 as a response to the economic crisis affecting Latvia at the time.
Each year, the festival's appointed curator (or curators) carefully selects the themes explored, inviting artists from around the world to offer alternative scenarios of survival. The festival's mission to critically investigate and reflect on the evolution of contemporary society has made it a key platform for the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) to showcase its commitment to research, creation, and development of contemporary art processes in Latvia and internationally since 1993.
This year's contemporary art festival Survival Kit 14 will feature two exhibitions – the festival's central exhibition Long-Distance Friendships, curated by Inga Lāce and Alicia Knock, and the final exhibition of the inspiring project Artist is Present. In close friendship with the 14th Kaunas Biennial, a sister exhibition will be presented in Lithuania under the same title – Long-Distance Friendships. Survival Kit 14 and the 14th Kaunas Biennial are linked by close mutual friendship, exchange of ideas and a common range of issues to be explored.
