The 19th edition of the “White Night” contemporary culture forum will take place on 7 September in the centre of Riga and its neighbourhoods with almost 30 art events of different genres. During the event, Riga residents and visitors will be able to enjoy various concerts, performances, installations, plays, art projects, poetry, dance, music and many other events free of charge.
This year, “White Night” event invites you not to sleep on the night of 7-8 September, but to join cultural and artistic experiments and adventures in the centre of Riga, Old Riga, Jugla, Teika, Imanta and elsewhere.
This year's “White Night” events will take place in traditional and new cultural venues in Riga such as Vidzeme Market, 1st tram, Puppet Theatre, Riga Circus, Berga Bazaar, Doma Square and Rātslaukums, RTU Ķīpsala swimming pool, Tallinas Street Quarter, VEF Culture Palace and VEF Summer House, Juglas “Manufaktūra” and Juglas Lake shore, AB Dam, Riga Cross Church, Riga Martin's Church and Anglican Church, exhibition and cultural venues in Old Riga, Āgenskalns, Imanta and Riga Centre, the Botanical Garden of University of Latvia, the Splendid Palace cinema, the Latvian Railway Museum and several educational institutions.
The “White Night” of 2024 invites us to “open the unknown, to look behind the doors that are often closed in everyday life and to listen to those who are rarely or never heard. We experience the city in a very functional way in our daily lives, “White Night” invites us to turn away from our daily routine, to talk in the language of art about the unknown, the discoverable, the fascinating, the inspiring... On this night, we all together try to create a space for conversation.”
The conceptual framework of this year's “White Night” programme was developed by director Reinis Suhanovs, while the visual image of the event was created by painter Zane Veldre in collaboration with graphic designer Karola Rubene.
The event will symbolically and practically connect Riga from Imanta to Jugla, including the city centre and the neighbourhoods along the 1st tram route. The tram itself will be transformed into a rave place and a travelling performance during the “White Night”.
The 19th edition of the “White Night” event will include popular and highly anticipated events, such as the untamed music festival “Sound Forest”, the Poetry Disco, the contemporary art festival “Survival Kit” and “Videography: Space Textures”, an exhibition at the Riga Contemporary Art Space and experiments in contemporary art and music. A range of new events will join the popular projects.
The full event programme will be published in the beginning of September, but you are already welcome to follow the “White Night” events on social media.
The idea underlying the contemporary culture forum “White Night” is the desire to open the city to contemporary art activities for a whole night, offering a broad and diverse selection of cultural events. The tradition of “White Night” (in French Nuit Blanche) started in Paris in 2002. In Riga, the project called contemporary culture forum “White Night” has been taking place since 2006.
Information was prepared by: Aira Ancāne, project coordinator of the Department of External Communications of Riga City Council Communication Department, email: aira.ancane@riga.lv