New Theatre Institute of Latvia
Magic Carpets, 2024
Emerging Curator: Linda Krūmiņa
Artists in Residency: Reinis Boters / Ķengarags
Parade in Ķengarags
This summer, the New Theatre Institute of Latvia (NTIL) concluded its multi-year residency programme in Riga’s Ķengarags neighbourhood with the vibrant and collaborative Ķengarags Parade. Created by theatre director Reinis Boters from the theatre company KVADRIFRONS, in collaboration with dramaturg Austra Litauniece and visual artist Marta Folkmane, the parade brought the community together in a performative celebration of their shared space, creativity, and connections. Hosted as part of the International Contemporary Theatre Festival Homo Novus, the event highlighted the transformative power of community-driven art.
For three years, NTIL and the Magic Carpets programme have engaged with Ķengarags through artist residencies, offering resources for creative exploration while fostering deep collaboration with local residents, organisations, and interest groups. From choreographer Līga Ūbele’s 2022 collaboration with the senior women of the Ķengarags Day Centre to filmmaker Elīna Matvejeva and theatre artist Modesta Jakeliūnaite’s 2023 Ķengarags Meeting Map picnic, each residency has woven new layers of connection and creativity into the fabric of the neighbourhood.
In 2024, the NTIL team aimed to conclude this initiative with an event that celebrated the community’s creativity and involvement in a meaningful way. Reinis Boters was invited to lead the residency, spending two months immersing himself in Ķengarags and collaborating with a wide range of local residents and groups. Participants included students and teachers from the Ķengarags Music and Art School, members of the “Young Folks” youth organisation, as well as line dancing, gymnastics, and creative craft groups from the Ķengarags Day Centre and Kastanis. Frisbee enthusiasts and other neighbourhood activists joined in, creating a truly multi-generational and multidisciplinary collective effort.
The culminating event, held on 1 September, transformed Ķengarags into both a stage and a celebration. With the city neighbourhood as its scenography, the parade became a living performance, inviting residents and festival visitors alike to rediscover their neighbourhood through the lens of creativity, connection, and joy.
This residency cycle has been an opportunity to see Ķengarags not just as a neighbourhood, but as a vibrant community shaped by its people – a place where shared stories, practices, and creativity come to life. Ķengarags Parade stands as a powerful testament to the transformative potential of art, celebrating both individual contributions and collective strength, while closing this chapter of NTIL’s work in Ķengarags with a spirited and heartfelt tribute to the community.
Curatorial text by Linda Krūmiņa