Urban Renewal is collaboration project between Latvia and Turkey, consiting of 2 exhibitions.
Urban Renewal (For Those Who Stayed) is a project looking to uncover the connections between changes a city goes through and the influence these changes can have on the habits and everyday movements of a city’s inhabitants.
The city is a convenient playground for anyone who likes experimenting with re-shuffling and arranging. Buildings in a city are built as visions of the future, as a step towards an ideal city. The emergence of new buildings changes a city radically – both visually and socially. Construction often requires demolition, and demolition can effectively halt certain ways of life while at the same time creating others. Already in the moment of creation, however, these new structures convey the possibility of their disappearance – especially considering the waves of economic unrest that we are currently experiencing. The financial situation encourages the consideration of alternative models of living.
Considering that the city, regardless of demographic changes, still retains a magnetic pull over people, the questions concerning the future of cities is multifaceted and ambiguous. How are dreams realized in new buildings? Do they improve the environment and the quality of life? Are they merely unwanted neighbours that one has to put up with?
Contemporary cities hold a lot of contradictions: inadequate architecture, decaying buildings, empty spaces between new structures, dark alleys and a lack of infrastructure. Changes in a city highlight our dangerous flirtation with these contradictions and give rise to questions. What is public space? Who do we share it with?
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