A PERSPECTIVE OF ETERNITY

The Library’s collection is a growing organism that is systematised, described, and carefully stored. Not only does the collection system affect the availability of information at the present time, but it also shapes future readers’ and researchers’ perceptions of our time.

The Orbita alliance utilises, in an inverted manner, factors that endanger the collection – such as moisture, mildew, mechanical wear, light, and processes destroying modern storage media – to experimentally degrade objects from 2020. How will a poet’s manuscript be preserved in the digital age and what do 21st century graphics’ and ephemera collections contain? Which of the objects created today will stand the test of time and remain relevant in the long term, which ones will become obsolete or irrelevant? There are no answers to these questions, but they can be the basis for an engaging dialogue.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film covers a wide range of conjectures about the future, while the exhibition is an unusual interpretation of the preservation of the contemporary cultural space and the Library’s complex task of preserving its collection in perpetuity. The design of the space and artistic solutions – created by Anete Krūmiņa, curator of the NLL Exhibition Centre, designer Una Grants and collection-conservation specialist Sintija Saldābola in cooperation with the Orbita text group – play an important role in the exhibition.

Writers, publishers and artists Artūrs Punte, Sergejs Timofeyevs, Vladimirs Svetlovs and Aleksandrs Zapoļs comprise the Orbitaalliance. Orbita has been nominated for the Purvītis Prize, received the annual Latvian Literature Prize, and participated in the parallel programme of the 56th Venice Art Biennale.

In the week following the opening, the artists will lead tours of the exhibition in Latvian at 16.00 on 19 February and in Russian at 16.00 on 20 February. Sintija Saldābola, NLL collection-conservation specialist, will lead a tour at 16.00 on 26 February, focusing on collection-preservation issues. The exhibition will be supplemented by a museum-educational programme for school-age children.

Supported by: State Culture Capital Foundation, Latvian Academy of Arts and Latvian National Library Foundation

Additional information:
Augusts Zilberts
Public Relations Manager
National Library of Latvia
Phone: +371 26472501
E-mail: augusts.zilberts@lnb.lv