On 6th of May, 2026, Prof. Dr. Kevin C. Karnes (Emory University, USA) will be visiting the LAMT to give a public lecture to PhD students in art and art history, students, the LAMT community and alumni. All students interested in current art research are welcome to attend. The lecture will be held in English.
6th of May (Wednesday), 13.00 (LMTA Central Hall, Balcony Theatre)
Lecture‘The Spirit of the Time, the Atmosphere of Place’: Hardijs Lediņš in (West) Berlin, 1988/92
Annotation:
Perestroika and the end of the USSR radically reconfigured the landscape of possibility for artists, including by easing travel and exchange across geopolitical borders. This talk considers unexpected opportunities and insurmountable challenges presented by these transitions, as seen in a pair of Berlin residencies by the Latvian musician Hardijs Lediņš, co-founder of the legendary underground group NSRD.
It examines partnerships formed between West German organizations and the Latvian Artists’ Union and KGB, how opportunities provided by Western partners could re-inscribe the stark social hierarchies of Soviet life, and how efforts to provide Soviet artists with support could not only open previously unimagined possibilities but also bolster what sometimes proved to be impossible expectations.
Kevin C. Karnes is Professor of Music and Divisional Dean of Arts at Emory University (Atlanta, USA), and Visiting Professor of Musicology at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. His most recent book is Arvo Pärt and the 1970s Soviet Underground (2021). His work has been recognized by grants and awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His current research focuses on DIY music cultures of the 1980s and 1990s Europe, including Latvian and German post-punk, new wave, and techno scenes, and the Riga musicians’ collective Tornis, founded in 1991.