UNWRITTEN

19 IS THERE MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE IN LATVIA? ‘’There is (no) modernist architecture in Latvia”, declared the architectural firm NRJA and, holding the neon glowing words “NO” in front of the jury, won the national selection contest for the Latvian exhibition in the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Although we assumed that the word “NO” that was blinking on and off demonstrating the ambiguous nature of the claim, already during the presentation there were exclamations, sighs and unanswerable questions voiced from the jury. For example, Andrejs Ģelzis1: “So what?” Victors Valgums2 sighed, and quietly said that modernism has been loved by no one. Ausma Skujiņa3 defended the proposal of her exposition, while leaving our presentation and said: “It is a stage that had already passed ...” “How is it that there is no modernist architecture? There is though...”- voiced an unknown voice. The aim was achieved - the audience reacted to the theme of the Biennale – “Absorbing Modernity: 1914-2014”.