Rīga Central Market, between the Dairy and Delicatessen pavilion
Māras Mielasts (Feast of Mara) is a video/sound installation based on pre-made visualisations combined with sound landscapes produced on site. Māra makes it possible to observe Māras Feast, prepared from Latvian fruit and vegetables available at the market. The fertility of our land, Māra’s eternal repast, is our true survival kit without which life would not be possible. Everyone is invited to Māras Feast. Māra is the pagan goddess, guardian of the fertility of our land, wishes to remind us that fertility is a great gift to our land, as is also the hard work of many ‘invisible’ people; very rarely in the limelight -their involvement in the transformation of the energy of fertility.
The market is a living intersection where Māra lays her tables, a place where city dwellers learn about their land. Trading has not yet been replaced by shopping, communication and long-term relationships between market traders and customers give each of us our own, personal taste of Latvia. Unnoticed in the hubbub of people, both Latvian and more exotic gardens enter the city, they lean over the tables and the repast can begin, this is no place for silence.
Project concept: Gatis Krievāns, Roberts Simsons
Project developers: Gatis Krievāns, Roberts Simsons
Project financed by Riga City Council
Project partners: PB.LV, cultural space/bistro 371, Mārtiņš Enģelis, Matīss Repsis, Rīga Central Market, Atis Ķenģis, Platons Buravickis
