Invitation to the discussion "Liepāja: a city of resort or a city of culture?"

From 22 to 25 August, Liepāja will host the summer school "Resort Townscapes: History, Culture and Environment". Over three days, students from different Latvian universities will explore the historical and modern resort townscape of Liepāja and its urban ecosystem, community, and culture.

On Friday, 25 August, at 10.00 the summer school participants will present the results of their creative and research work, and at 11.30 the inhabitants and guests of the city are welcome to join the discussion "Liepāja: a city of resort or a city of culture?".

During the summer school, the participants will take an extended approach to exploring Liepāja's urban environment and identity with experienced researchers and expert. Under the guidance of architect and researcher Dina Suhanova and artist Madara Kvēpa, participants will analyse the resort's artefacts and apply urban interventions using creative research methods in an experimental urban laboratory. Assisted by oral history researcher Ieva Garda-Rozenberga, anthropogeographer Kristīne Āboliņa and sociologist Jānis Daugavietis, students will learn oral history and biographical approaches to identity town- and landscapes; explore the concept of community and how to study place-based research and collectively create a sensory map of Liepāja's urban environment.

In addition, under the guidance of literary researcher Zanda Gūtmane and anthropologist Liene Millere, they will study the role of a story in shaping the resort city's spatial sense and identity, culminating in the creation of a local story rooted in Liepāja's urban environment. Architect Gunta Šnipke, historian Gunārs Silakaktiņš and urban researcher Mārtiņš Eņģelis will contribute to exploring the historical and contemporary architectural panorama of the resort town, while traditional culture researcher Ieva Vītola and archaeologist Juris Urtāns will introduce the traditions, myths, and folklore of the resort town.

On August 25, at 10.00, at Kūrmājas prospekts 13, in Liepāja, the participants will make a public presentation of the results of their research and creative works, while at 11.30 we are inviting you to participate in the discussion "Liepāja: a city of resort or a city of culture?".

Among the panellists will be the Board Chairperson of the Liepāja 2027 Foundation Inta Šoriņa and Public Relations and Marketing Manager Zita Lazdāne, Liepāja City Chief Architect Uģis Kaugurs, Liepāja University Professor Zanda Gūtmane and project manager of SIA "UPTK", entrepreneur and renovator of the restaurant "Parka paviljons" Sandis Kirhners, and the discussion will be moderated by Dzintars Hmieļevskis. The summer school is organised with the support of the National Research Programme project "IDEUM: Landscapes of Identities: History, Culture and Environment" (NRP-LETONIKA-2021/2-0008).

The summer school is organised, and its programme is developed by IDEUM researchers from the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture of the Art Academy of Latvia, the University of Liepāja, the Latvian Academy of Culture and the Rēzekne Academy of Technologies.

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