From November 5 till December 19, 2010, in Kim? / FK gallery an exhibition „Behind the Curtain. Architect Marta Staņa” was opened for visitors.

The exhibition is a feministic retrospection of architecture and architecture critic in the Soviet Latvia during 1950ties – 1960ties.

The exhibition provides insights into a creative heritage of the Latvian architect Marta Staņa (1913 – 1972), putting a special accent on experimental projects and works from various contests of her time; the presented works belong to the archive of Latvian Museum of Architecture. The building of Daile Theatre (Dailes teātris) is the most important project by Marta Staņa; the architect herself never saw it finished (year of finishing 1976).  Notwithstanding the changes, which appeared in processes of projection and building the theatre, the architect’s main idea has prevailed: including the functionally divided volumes and the broad, transparent glass hall on the first floor of the building. It is an emotionally active building in the very centre of Riga. This year, celebrating 90th anniversary of the Daile Theatre, it will finally turn into what architect had originally planned, when drawing people in their eveningwear spending a time before a spectacle in conversations in the glass hall, itself being a light, shining event in the evening life of the city. The exhibition also concentrates on the feministic discourse and on architecture critic in the Soviet era in Latvia during 1950ties – 1960ies.

The curator of this exhibition is Ieva Zībārte, architect; she has made the exposition together with an architect Mārtiņš Pīlēns and a graphic designer Edgars Zvirgzdiņš. Their cooperation has resulted in a retrospective exhibition, which creates an experience of synergic communication of space, content and visual communication. Several architect offices like “MARK arhitekti”, “MADE arhitekti”, “Jaunromāns un Ābele” and “NRJA” take a significant part in the exhibition – with a visual and verbal critics on significant projects by Marta Staņa.
The context of the exhibition will be visualized by exciting fragments from films and documentaries, and “cinema-journals”, created in the 1960ties, representing the architecture and the design of that time in Latvia.

Opening 4th of November 7pm

Curator Ieva Zībārte, Arhitektūras veicināšanas fonds
Architect of the exposition Mārtiņš Pīlēns, 1PLUS1 study
Graphic designer Edgars Zvirgzdiņš, lab289.com

Organizers: Daile Theatre, Architecture Promotion Foundation
Partners: of Latvian Museum of Architecture, Kim?, National Library of Latvia, Lukabuk, 20th century, Saulkrasti City council, Pupil. Researcher. City dweller.
Financing: Riga City council, VKKF, Daile Theatre, Arhitektūras veicināšanas fonds
Supporters: Dendrolight Latvija, Krāsu serviss, Samsung, British Council, Danish Cultural Institute in Riga, Embassy of Denmark in Latvia, R.D.Šmita architect group, GroGlass, Mēbeļu serviss, Neiburgs