An interdisciplinary place of residence for creative people that provides artists-in-residence and other creative professionals with time, space and other resources for research, experimenting and professional development. The Residency is promoting the emergence of various new, world-exploring and reflective art forms, bringing together specialists from various fields for development of intercultural cooperation, interdisciplinary knowledge and promotion of location-related artistic research.
PAiR (Pāvilosta-Artist-in-Residency) is the first independent creative residency in Latvia.
It is a space of inventive encounters, where
humans and nature,
the local and the global,
cutting-edge practices and age-old traditions
form a synergy to give birth to new meanings via creative experiments and transdisciplinary knowledge sharing.
A small port first recorded in the Middle Ages, Pāvilosta acquired its current name and experienced rapid development towards the end of the 19th century, serving as a stone shipping port during the construction of the nearby Karosta naval base.
Having survived world wars and occupations in the 20thcentury, today Pāvilosta is known as a haven of historical wooden architecture on the Kurzeme coast, a sailing and surfing paradise, and, recently, as a remarkable arts destination.
Pleasantly far from significant flows of tourists, Pāvilosta has in recent years become a magnet for cultural and business elites seeking peace and quiet away from the busy capital.
Our newly renovated Artists Residency (PAiR) is a point of intersection between humans and nature, the local and the global, cutting-edge practices and age-old traditions. PAiR is a place where new meanings emerge via creative experiments and interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing.
PAiR is also a cultural destination that provides locals and travellers alike with meaningful artistic content in an unconventional setting. By hosting a rich programme of events and workshops, PAiR seeks to help contemporary art find its way into the hearts of locals.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
Sustainability is a global effort, yet it always starts out small. Each mindful lifestyle choice contributes to maintaining the wellbeing of our planet, so at PAiR, we pursue and encourage sustainable living and ethical consumption.
We seek to give a second life to the things we no longer need by recycling or upcycling them. We sort and compost our waste, minimize the use of paper and keep our energy usage low by employing low energy lighting and appliances.
We encourage our residents to explore the surroundings on foot or by bicycle while staying at PAiR. We also instruct them on sustainable ways to travel to and from Pāvilosta.
Whenever possible, we opt for organic and Fairtrade products. Much of the food on our table comes from local farmers and we promote a self-sustaining lifestyle by running our own garden with a communal greenhouse.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
The residency is situated in a spacious two-storey historical building soaked in the linden trees of Ernests Šneiders square and the greenery of the freshly established PAiR garden.
Ernests Šneiders was a prominent schoolteacher and headmaster of the independent interwar Latvia. He was a man of many talents and an art educator, leading a drama group and a string orchestra at Pāvilosta.
The house is a beautiful example of the vernacular architecture of the Kurzeme coastline. Constructed in 1901, the building had a variety of uses in the course of its history, most notably hosting the Pāvilosta polyclinic.
The year 2021 marked the building’s 120th anniversary and also the completion of its renovation by VV Foundation. In spring, the first residents came to stay at the new premises and PAiR gallery opened for the public.
The upper floor has five rooms for residents, each equipped with a private bathroom. The ground floor hosts a fully furnished kitchen, a dining room, two separate artist studio spaces, the weaving studio, the library/salon, and the gallery. The north façade of the building has an outdoor exhibition surface currently displaying a work by the Estonian artist Katja Novitskova. The PAiR public programme aims to establish a meaningful connection between professionals in arts and culture and locals and visitors to Pāvilosta.
Panel discussions, public lectures, book readings, theatre and music performances seek to prompt the transfer of insights and experiences between members of the art world and the wider public.
At PAiR, members of the Pāvilosta community are invited not only to learn, but also to teach. We appreciate the knowledge and skills that have been nurtured over the ages as part of the local identity, and look at weaving and foraging for healing herbs as sources from which inspiration can be drawn in the 21st century as well.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context
The mingling of long-term and recently arrived residents creates a mutually beneficial atmosphere of cultural exchange, whereby traditional practices that are part of local identity find their way into contemporary lifestyles and vice versa. We have a dedicated space for local weavers at the Residency, where three traditional weaving looms are placed.
PAiR seeks to foster this process by engaging people in a free-spirited give-and-take, in which everyone has something to learn and something to teach.
At PAiR, even the most convinced city-dweller will feel at one with nature in its diverse manifestations. The sublime panorama of the sea, the boundless landscapes of the dunes and the peaceful pine woods create the ideal mood for deep, innovative thinking.
The residents are welcome to use the bicycles provided by PAiR to explore the scenery and historical sights around Pāvilosta – manors, churches, lighthouses, cemeteries, sacrificial stones and more.
The surroundings offer rich opportunities for foraging, especially during summer and autumn, when the woods and dunes outside Pāvilosta are full of wild berries, mushrooms, and healing herbs used by the local community.
Away from the usual distractions which make concentration a challenge, the nature at Pāvilosta enables that significant something – so difficult to grasp in the grind of the daily routine – to be clearly seen and expressed.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
By looking at Black Mountain College as a main example when building our Residency, we believe that the three core values of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion have been pursued and form the core of our project.
Thought-enabling space
At PAiR, even the most convinced city-dweller will feel at one with nature. Impressive seashore bluffs, bracing sea breezes and a tranquil seaside forest are great not just for long walks but also for deep innovative thinking. Away from the usual distractions which make concentration difficult, this place enables that significant something – so difficult to grasp in the grind of the daily routine – to be clearly seen and expressed.
Community of meaning
PAiR is a place of meaningful interaction – one where dialogue and cooperation open new perspectives on each participant’s project and invite them to discover what other artists and researchers are doing across disciplinary borders. PAiR is a place to share both a great idea and a hearty meal. A place where one evening can transform the way you think about your practice.
Enrichment by tradition
We appreciate knowledge and skills that have been nurtured over the ages as art of a local identity. We look at the weaving and foraging of healing herbs long typical of Pāvilosta as sources from which to draw inspiration in the 21st century as well. Time-tested approaches do not necessarily contradict novel ones, on the contrary – the synergy between tradition and innovation can open up new vistas and lead to unexpected solutions.
- Offering artists and locals an array of deep work friendly situations, ranging from a fulfilling quietude to constructive peer interactions.
- Being a cultural destination that provides locals and travellers alike with meaningful content in an unconventional setting.
- Being a place where insights and experiences are transferred to the wider society, whereby contemporary art finds its way into the hearts of many.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.
The Residency was created in close cooperation with local community. By doing a research on skills and traditions that locals feel most connected to, an idea of establishing a weaving studio emerged. The design and necessary equipment for weavers was selected by a community of local artisans.
To expand PAiR’s atmosphere of community and aesthetic values beyond the doors of the residency, we have established a garden where everyone can become part of a collective effort to embody the beauty of nature while respecting local landscaping traditions. There is a communal green house available to locals for planting and sharing knowledge of local flora.
The PAiR garden is more than a lush green spot outside the residency — it is also a space of encounter, co-creation and mutual learning. Here, members of the local community are invited to share and pass on their art of gardening.
This is also a space of discovery — PAiR residents can learn about local gardening and herb foraging traditions, appreciate the biological diversity of the region and nurture a plant of their own in the common greenhouse.
The garden embodies the fluidity of nature and also its endurance, changing with every season yet bringing together the species that Pāvilosta inhabitants have been cultivating for generations.
In collaboration with Pāvilosta municipality, the square facing PAiR will soon be transformed into a sculpture park, hosting pieces created by contemporary artists for the meaningful enjoyment of connoisseurs and the wider public alike.
We believe that Pair Residency is a clear example of how the physical transformation of a place can connect with local historical heritage and traditions, creating new cultural and artistic dynamics. The repurposing of a particular building has helped PĀVILOSTA local community to grow towards positive inter-generational exchanges and community-building.
The first cycle of the residency was dedicated to the nature phenomenon of the surroundings of Pāvilosta and the question – how can art develop from philosophy, and philosophy – from art, while at the same time adhering closely to the processes of plants, territory and life? The separation of human beings from this natural environment has been the beginning of the fulfilment of the metaphysical dream of philosophy, since as far back as Plato’s time. Plants constantly create and reproduce themselves, in spring they grow anew and are thus associated with the performative or artistic function.
Socioeconomic and geopolitical challenges, as well as ecological and humanitarian problems, raise increasingly more questions about the sustainability of humankind. Is science the only tool that helps us understand the existence of the world? Or maybe it is art? It seems that the possible solution can be found in the interaction – when ideas of different fields meet and when new tools for exploring the world are synthesised from them. Besides, not only in the interaction between the representatives of the human species, but by connecting with the rest of living nature – the planet’s biosphere, one of the participants of which are also human beings.
The Residency is willing to promote the emergence of various new, world-exploring and reflective art forms, bringing together specialists from various fields for development of intercultural cooperation, interdisciplinary knowledge and promotion of location-related artistic research.
Along with the call of the first residents we would like to try to find the answer to the question of how it would be possible to bring into art practice and our model of residency, a transition from individualism and the superiority of humans to an inclusive and conscious model, in which human beings are a part of the entire ecosystem. How can we transform from a consuming and cultivating model to caregivers serving the needs of nature? We want to explore the diversity of flora and fauna in this city and region, to identify its community and history, and to think of an end result of artistic research that respects all these values.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.
Representatives of diverse creative industries participated in the residency project – artists, musicians, writers, playwrights, curators and others. During the particular period several different representatives of the creative fields resided in Pāvilosta, providing the opportunity to develop interdisciplinary forms of future cooperation. Several residents or representatives of resident groups have now developed creative collaboration, demonstrating that the introduction of an interdisciplinary residency model can become an important factor in promoting a culture of interdisciplinarity.
Though the Pair Residency has been operating for only one year, there are many evidences of the successful transferring of the projects results to interested parties globally. Here are the examples of three residents from Australia, Canada and Russia who share their experience and learning from the stay at the Residency.
1) An artist from Australia Maike Statz on her research into tapestry and nature:
https://youtu.be/m2dCHXNvMqg
2) An artist from Canada Erik Martinson on his research on ancient stones:
https://youtu.be/88UiTQ5eP1o?list=PLQVBxRWkTagV3cRBmf2xEGtmzE2LA0AXw
3) An artist from Russia Alena Vinokurova on her research on bird migration:
https://youtu.be/88UiTQ5eP1o?list=PLQVBxRWkTagV3cRBmf2xEGtmzE2LA0AXw
The link to a discussion by PAiR artists from Estonia, Denmark and Latvia on how the time spent at the PĀVILOSTA Residency has helped their artistic research:
https://youtu.be/KpFYni9W5Ps
@VV Foundation, 2021
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