A unique exhibit – a large moving 3D folk costume skirt to be put on display in Esplanade Park

During the week of the Song and Dance Festival, an exhibition of portraits of honorary leaders and chief conductors as well as leaders and chief conductors of Latvia’s XXVII Nationwide Song and XVII Dance Festival will be on public display in Esplanade Park from July 3 to 9. The exhibition will include a unique and spectacular object titled “Don’t Stop Spinning” – a large 3D folk costume skirt which will come to life and spin in response to visitors' movements.

“The folk costume is one of the most colorful gems of our cultural heritage. Each costume carries the story, pride and values of its region, reflected in vibrant colors and patterns. The Spice shopping center is committed to preserving and celebrating national values, so with this installation we want to bring everyone who comes to the Festival week closer to the whirlwind of energy generated by the folk costume skirt,” says Iveta Priedīte, head of the Spice and Spice Home shopping centers.

The impressive gigantic skirt is made up of fragments of folk costumes from Latvia’s four cultural and historical regions. Kurzeme is represented by the skirt of the Barta folk costume, Zemgale by the Platone folk costume, Vidzeme by the Kusa folk costume and Latgale by the skirt patterns of the Kārsava folk costume. The folk costumes were selected in cooperation with the Latvian National Centre for Culture (LNCC), which also helped with the 3D scanning of the original costumes. This was done in order to replicate the colors and patterns of the costumes as closely as possible when printing the textiles.

This exhibit will be not only visually appealing, but also exciting for any passerby, as the spin of the skirt will be activated by a motion sensor. As somebody approaches the object, the sensor will detect the movement and the impressive structure will start spinning, just as dancers set a folk costume in motion with their dance steps on the dance floor. It was the swirling uplift of the skirt that inspired the artist Dace Izabella Grundšteina, the author of this object.

“When I think of the Song and Dance Festival, one of the most vivid associations is the spinning skirt of the national costume. It is a magical movement that you want to feel. Usually, the experience of the swirl is very brief, so the idea of the object is to make this moment longer and bigger, to intensify it and draw it closer. Normally, one is either a spinner or a watcher of the skirt, but now the spectator is two in one - able to both spin and watch the skirt,” says Dace Izabella Grundšteina, Magic B40 artist.

From July 3 to 9, all visitors and residents of Riga are invited to visit Esplanade Park, where they will have the opportunity to see the exhibition of portraits of the honorary leaders and chief conductors as well as the leaders and chief conductors and the 3D moving skirt installation. After the Festival week, the exhibition will travel to the Promenade of the Spice shopping center, where it will be on display throughout the summer, while the spectacular skirt installation will be touring Latvia and be exhibited in cities and towns such as Cēsis, Sigulda and Mārupe.