Cultural Festival “Gunars Saliņš and Hell’s Kitchen”
In 2024, we celebrate the centenary of several New York Latvian poets—members of the Hell’s Kitchen group—as well as the 100th anniversary of André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto. These anniversaries inspire a renewed look at the works of the distinguished Hell’s Kitchen poet Gunars Saliņš, as well as the creative output of his friends and contemporaries.
The festival “Gunars Saliņš and Hell’s Kitchen” invites audiences to explore this rich legacy through a series of events in Riga and beyond. Visitors will have the opportunity to attend an opening concert and conference, meet the second generation of the Hell’s Kitchen community, and visit an exhibition of paintings by artist Rolands Kaņeps at the Latvian National Museum of Art. The festival will also extend beyond Riga, with events in Drusti at the Savvaļa open-air art space and in Piebalga, at the museums of Antons Austriņš (“Kaikaši”) and Kārlis Skalbe (“Saulrieti”).
The opening event “Encounter” will take place on May 16 at the “Tintnīca” space of the Museum of Literature and Music, featuring a concert by Gunars Saliņš’s family from both sides of the Atlantic: his daughters Laila Saliņa (mezzo-soprano, director) and Lalita Saliņa (flutist), as well as the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Gunars’s brother Aleksandrs Saliņš – Ieva Šmite (pianist), Gundega Šmite (composer), and Ieva’s daughter Sonja Misiņa (percussionist).
The evening will combine poetry, music, and personal recollections from the Hell’s Kitchen era in New York, offering a heartfelt tribute to the enduring creative spirit of Gunars Saliņš and his circle.
May 17 – Conference “Gunars Saliņš and Hell’s Kitchen”
On May 17, the Latvian National Museum of Art will host the conference “Gunars Saliņš and Hell’s Kitchen”, organized by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (LU LFMI) in cooperation with the museum.
The conference will explore Gunars Saliņš’s poetry from various perspectives, as well as examine the works of other members of the Hell’s Kitchen circle and the legacy of surrealism in Latvian exile literature.
The conference begins at 10:00.
Participants: Anna Auziņa, Indra Avena, Inguna Daukste-Silasproģe, Jānis Krēsliņš Jr., Ieva Melgalve, Artis Ostups, Andra Silapētere, Gundega Šmite, Ivars Šteinbergs, Nora Teikmane, Lauris Veips, Kārlis Vērdiņš, and Kaspars Zellis.
At 18:00, the conference will be followed by a roundtable discussion titled “The Second Generation of Hell’s Kitchen”, held at the New Building of the Art Academy of Latvia (Kalpaka Boulevard 13, courtyard).
Participants include Laris, Laila, and Lalita Saliņš, Nora Teikmane, Indra Avena, Jānis and Zuze Krēsliņš, and Ilze Auzere. The children of Hell’s Kitchen members will share memories of their parents’ literary and artistic activities and personal impressions of growing up within the Hell’s Kitchen circle and the Latvian exile community in the United States.
The evening will conclude with the launch of poet Voldemārs Avena’s (1924–2022) final poetry collection, “Pagaidi” (Wait), published by Aminori in 2024. The collection gathers poems written over a long period, reflecting life in New York, the identity of an exile, and the enduring allure of art and love.
The presentation will feature the author’s daughter Indra Avena and the book’s editor Kārlis Vērdiņš.
May 18 – Hell’s Kitchen Opens Savvaļa
On May 18, the festival “Gunars Saliņš and Hell’s Kitchen” will travel to Drusti, joining the opening of the 2024 season of the Savvaļa open-air art space with a special program featuring contemporary Latvian poets and young artists.
Poet Semjons Haņins will lead the participatory event “A Walk in New York”, introducing stories about Hell’s Kitchen, accompanied by readings of texts by the group performed by contemporary Latvian poets along Savvaļa’s nature trails. Along the route, visitors will encounter art objects and installations created by students of the “POST” master’s program at the Art Academy of Latvia, as well as other artworks.
Kārlis Vērdiņš will present the new collection of Gunars Saliņš’s poetry, “Let’s Reforest New York” (Apmežosim Ņujorku, Neputns, 2024), which brings together 101 of his most brilliant lyrical and narrative poems, written between 1945 and 2003.
In Savvaļa’s mud concert hall, festival guests will enjoy poetry readings by Marija Luīze Meļķe, Kārlis Vērdiņš, Semjons Haņins, Arvis Viguls, and Aivars Madris. The event at Savvaļa’s base site will conclude with a concert featuring the Saliņš family and guitarist Edgars Rubenis.
May 19 – Games of the Sun in Vecpiebalga
On May 19, a special program will take place in Vecpiebalga to celebrate the launch of Mudīte Austriņa’s collected works Saules spēles (Games of the Sun), published by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (LU LFMI) in 2024.
The event will begin at the Antons Austriņš Memorial Museum “Kaikaši” with a Pentecost service led by Laris Saliņš, pastor of the Latvian community in New York. The program will continue with a guided tour of the museum and a viewing of Mudīte Austriņa’s “collection of suns.”
The second part of the event will take place at the Kārlis Skalbe Memorial Museum “Saulrieti”, where actress Guna Zariņa of the New Riga Theatre will read selections from Mudīte Austriņa’s surreal “little ballets,” published together for the first time in the new book Saules spēles. The book’s compiler, Kārlis Vērdiņš, will speak about Austriņa’s literary legacy, while her goddaughter and preface author Ilze Auzere will share personal memories of her “sunny godmother.”
Festival visitors on May 18 and 19 are invited to join an organized bus trip from Riga to the events in Drusti and Vecpiebalga. Departure on both days is at 10:00 from the Latvian National Library (Valguma Street side).
As places are limited, early registration is encouraged:
The festival is organized by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, in cooperation with the Savvaļa open-air art space, the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Piebalga Memorial Museums Association “Oresāre”, the Art Academy of Latvia, and the Museum of Literature and Music.
The event is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the State Culture Capital Foundation, and the project “Narrative, Form, and Voice: The Rootedness of Literature in Culture and Society” (No. VPP-LETONIKA-2022/3-0003).