Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) announces Slavs and Tatars and Michał Grzegorzek as the curators of Survival Kit 16: House of See-More. Taking Simurgh–the mythical bird found across Eurasia–as a departure point, the annual international contemporary art festival in Riga will address the critical state of transnationalism and liberation in a world where identity is often seen as singular and reductive. Survival Kit 16 will take place from 30 August to 28 September 2025.
The internationally renowned artist collective Slavs and Tatars focuses its creative practice on territories historically marginalised and oppressed by Russian and Soviet imperialism. Since its inception in 2006, the collective has shown a keen grasp of polemical issues in society, clearing new paths for contemporary discourse via a wholly idiosyncratic form of knowledge production including: popular culture, spiritual and esoteric traditions, oral histories, modern myths, as well as scholarly research. On the occasion of Survival Kit 16, Slavs and Tatars has invited long-time collaborator, and curator Michał Grzegorzek, whose experience in performativity, queer culture and feminism speak to Simurgh’s flamboyance and fluidity.
“It is crucial to continue deconstructing the ghosts of post-Sovietism and expose their impact, especially at this moment when structures of value built over decades are being demolished around the world. The guerrilla approach and elements of camouflage used by the Survival Kit 16 curators are particularly useful in navigating through the minefields of lies, fake news and distorted historical narratives that dominate the Russian-controlled information space, threatening to take over the world,” emphasises Solvita Krese, Director of the LCCA.
Slavs and Tatars and Michał Grzegorzek have chosen the mystical Sufi symbol Simurgh as a narrative device for Survival Kit 16. From Aristophanes’ The Birds and Faruddin Attar’s The Conference of the Birds to the Latvian cycle of songs “The Birds Wedding,” winged creatures come together, overcome their respective limits as individuals, to achieve something larger than themselves: be it a form of self-governance or transcendental epiphany. Versions of Simurgh can be found across Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Europe, where it is often depicted as a majestic, winged creature of uncertain gender, sometimes with a dog’s head and often with a flaming tail, so old that it has purportedly witnessed the end of the world three times already. Where the eagle projects empire nationalism–a lazy form of toxic masculinity–the Simurgh promises collective being, the multiple in the one, a distinctly metaphysical enlightenment. Epiphany and ecstasy often require one to die before one dies: Simurgh delivers this to an age of ecological disasters and disinformation, blurred boundaries between the generative and the extractive, the analytical and the affective, the singular and the multiple.
Press release from Survival Kit 16
Image: Slavs and Tatars. Astaneh (Latin). 2025. Steel and glass. 105 × 75 × 18 cm. Image courtesy of the artists
