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Environment

This summer, an environmental art object “The Large Vase. 1/4” was placed near the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Main Building. The piece was made as part of the Art in Public Spaces programme implemented by The Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation. On Friday, 3 September, artist Ojārs Pētersons, curator Helēna Demakova and Mareks Indriksons, Member of the Board of the Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation, visited the university to commemorate the event.

Artist Ojārs Pētersons is a Professor at the Art Academy of Latvia and he is the author of the large-format piece, which is inspired by Garlieb Merkel’s work Vidzeme’s Ancient Times. The artwork consists of three parts: “The Large Vase. 3/4", “The Large Vase. 1/4” and a special publication containing a fragment of Merkel's text.

The largest part of the vase has been located by the National Library of Latvia since 2014, but now, the final quarter has arrived at its planned location on 16 Dzirciema iela, next to philanthropist, doctor and entrepreneur Boriss Teterevs’ alma mater. Along with the site visit, the third and final part of the work has also come to RSU – a publication with a fragment of Merkel's text in Latvian, English, French, German, Spanish and Russian. It will be available at the RSU Library.

The surface of the art piece is covered with a ceramic mosaic and each of more than 14,000 ceramic tiles is inscribed with a letter that forms Merkel’s text. As curator Helēna Demakova once pointed out, this art object can be interpreted in many ways: ‘The granite interior of the vase refers to our latitude and natural landscape, while the fragment of text on the outside emphasises the formative influence of European culture and the experience of history, which are further accented by the vase’s form.’