VV Foundation is pleased to support the Latvian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. This year, Latvia presents Untamed Assembly: Backstage of Utopia, a new work by MAREUNROL’S and Bruno Birmanis, curated by Adomas Narkevičius and Inga Lāce.

VV Foundation is committed to supporting Latvian contemporary art and strengthening its visibility on the international stage. For several years, the foundation has supported the Latvian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, not only in Venice itself, but also by bringing works by the participating artists to Latvia and presenting them at the gallery of the VV Foundation’s PAiR Residency in Pāvilosta.

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Untamed Assembly: Backstage of Utopia presents newly commissioned work by the interdisciplinary artist duo MAREUNROL’S that has emerged in dialogue with the archives of Untamed Fashion Assemblies (UFA) – a series of experimental fashion, art, and performance events held in Riga between 1990 and 1999 that were initiated by alternative fashion designer Bruno Birmanis.

The pavilion approaches Untamed Fashion Assemblies as lived spaces – sites where freedom was tested through dress, bodies, collaboration and daring. Linking past and present, the exhibition highlights the role played by utopian thinking in moments of transition. It asks how collective imagination, desire, and visibility are produced when political and economic systems are in flux, and how futures can be imagined and new forms of togetherness rehearsed behind the scenes rather than on centre stage.

MAREUNROL’S installation rethinks the legacy of UFA from the perspective of the present and is itself conceived of as a backstage – an in-between space of preparation, invisible labour, joy, improvisation and human connection. Drawing on histories of the Assemblies and the visual elements of a fashion show, the clothing rack – one of the most ubiquitous elements of any backstage – becomes a holding device within the installation and the architecture for its stories. Other motifs that run through MAREUNROL’S practice, such as birds and textile sculptures, also appear in the installation, carrying with them memories of flight, risk and fragility.

The Latvian Pavilion returns to UFA to ask how we might imagine freedom, risk and possible futures today, and what can be gathered now from the utopian visions of these festivals.

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Untamed Assembly: Backstage of Utopia is on view from May 9 to November 22, 2026 at Latvian Pavilion, Arsenale di Venezia, Venice.