27/05/2015
On 25 May, the Minister for Culture Dace Melbārde met Foundation’s of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMoCA) Council Members Boris Teterev, Ernests Bernis and Oļegs Fiļs to discuss the development of the forthcoming Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMoCA). Appointed just under six months ago, the LMoCA council of experts, which is comprised of representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the LMoCAF founders — the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation and ABLV Charitable Foundation – presented the first results of the development of the concept for the museum.
“I am pleased that the vision of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art is assuming an increasingly clear form. The work done by the experts is to be commended. I am convinced that collaboration between outstanding professionals in their field will facilitate the goal-oriented development of the museum. I hope that in the very near future the general public will have the chance to appraise the concept for the future museum,” commented Minister for Culture Dace Melbārde.
“We will present the concept and vision for the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art to the general public in September 2015, as well as provide the opportunity for all interested parties to make their views known,” said Romans Surnačovs, Foundation’s of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Chairman of the Board. After the approval of the concept by the LMoCAF Council, it is planned that the process of selecting a curator for the architectural design competition and the drafting of the competition regulations will begin, which are due to be completed by the end of 2015. The architectural design competition will take place in two stages and is due to be completed by 1 May 2016. Parallel to the selection of a curator, the members of the LMoCA experts’ commission will continue to draft a detailed concept for the LMoCA.
The Latvian Ministry of Culture will be represented by the architect Jānis Dripe, the Director of the Latvian Museum of Art, Māra Lāce, and the painter and founder of Dd Studio Jānis Mitrēvics. The Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation’s representatives are the art historian and Curator of the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation’s programme Art in the Public Space, Helēna Demakova and the Director of the Tête-à-tête festival Elīna Vikmane. The experts who will work on behalf of the ABLV Charitable Foundation are the Chairman of the Board of the ABLV Charitable Foundation Zanda Zilgalve and the art historian and the Foundation’s of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art consultant, Kaspars Vanags.
On the 30th of October 2014, The Latvian Ministry of Culture and the Foundation of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, founded by the ABLV Charitable Foundation and the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation - signed a memorandum of understanding about the building of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art. The impetus for the signing of the memorandum of understanding comes from the successful and long term collaboration between The Ministry of Culture, the ABLV Charitable Foundation and the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation as prominent patrons in the field of contemporary art in Latvia, and ABLV Bank as the main supporter of the development of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection, based on the co-operation agreement signed on the 23rd of September 2005.
Foundation of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, undertakes to ensure: the construction of the museum, its operation as a museum, its management and development (including the development, maintenance and growth of the collection), by applying their own, as well as other public and private financial resources that they intend to attract, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, by the 18th of November, 2021. The Museum will be open and accessible to the general public. The founders of the Foundation intend to secure the necessary funding of 30 million euros for the project.
The Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art will be located in the territory of the New Hanza City (NHC). NHC is a development of the former Riga Cargo Rail Terminal in the area bordered by Hanza, Pulkveža Brieža, Skanstes and Sporta streets. NHC covers an area of 24.5 hectares that will house a number of office buildings, including the headquarters of the ABLV Bank, a hotel, a conference centre, upmarket housing, a pre-school educational centre, as well as a large green parkland area offering leisure and recreation facilities in the centre of the development.
