Cornucopia, an exhibition from the museum’s collection, is on view at the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE in Riga (Doma laukums 6) from 26 September 2026 to 3 January 2027.
26 September 2026 – 3 January 2027
Art Museum RIGA BOURSE /
Great Exhibition Hall
Doma laukums 6, Riga
Exhibition presentation for the media on 25 September at 11.00
Registration of participants: 10.30–11.00
The cornucopia, usually depicted in a positive and affirmative form, symbolises unlimited material and spiritual abundance. In a sense, a museum with its collection is also like a cornucopia: only a small part of its riches is visible, while the rest waits in storage for researchers and exhibition curators. And yet… What is a museum today? What kinds of exhibitions are created, and for whom? Can anything become an exhibit, and does the “cornucopia” also have limits to its capacity?
The exhibition explores the concept of the cornucopia through the diversity, research and interpretation of the collections of the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE, highlighting its openness to change and responses to the socio-political situation. The display is mostly based on works of art that have either been inaccessible to visitors for decades or have never been exhibited before.
The theme of the exhibition was inspired by the Riga bourse building itself, constructed in the mid-19th century and bearing witness to the beginning of the industrialisation era, the business transactions of Riga’s merchants and the growth of prosperity. Direct representations of the cornucopia can be seen both on the building’s façade and in its interiors. During the 20th and 21st centuries, the function of the building has transformed – from events representing political powers and various exhibitions to the opening of the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE in 2011.
The exhibition is structured along two parallel lines: the symbolism of the cornucopia in different cultures and religions (the ancient Greek and Roman world, Christianity in Europe, Asian art) and an inquiry into the museum as an institution. Painting, graphic art, sculpture, decorative and applied arts, numismatics are the media through which the narrative of the exposition is developed and questions are raised – questions for which there may not yet be clear answers in our rapidly changing world.
The exhibition is interdisciplinary: alongside objects from the museum’s collection, texts and a diverse public programme play an important role.
The exhibition is being developed by museum specialists in collaboration with the team of the philosophy journal Tvērums, Dr. theol. Modris Lācis, Dr. hist. Eleni Manakidou (Greece), composer and musician Shino Yamasaki (Japan–Latvia), and Dr. hist. Mārtiņš Mintaurs.
Project managers:
Vita Birzaka
Deputy Director of Collections and Research /
Latvian National Museum of Art
Ph: (+371) 67 325 021
E:
Kristīne Milere
Deputy Head of the Foreign Art Department /
Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
LNMA
Ph: (+371) 60 001 344
E:
Exhibition curators:
Kristīne Milere
Daiga Upeniece
Vita Birzaka
Mare Heimrāte-Patačīni /
Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
Latvian National Museum of Art
Exhibition design and graphic identity:
Līva Kreislere
Graphic design:
Kristīne Jansone /
Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
LNMA
Exhibition newspaper texts:
Dr. hist. Mārtiņš Mintaurs
Dr. hist. Eleni Manakidou
Dr. theol. Modris Lācis, Shino Yamasaki
Kristīne Milere
Rūdis Bebrišs
Aurēlija Džordana Auzere
Jānis Gaņģis
Toms Babincevs
Daiga Upeniece
Mare Heimrāte-Patačīni
Vita Birzaka
Exhibition newspaper design:
Hanele Zane Putniņa
Educational programme
Anna Roze
Kristīne Graudiņa
Vita Ozoliņa
Aleksandra Beiere /
Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
LNMA
Exhibition communication:
Katrīna Ģelze /
Communication Specialist /
Art Museum RIGA BOURSE
LNMA
Ph: (+371) 67 357 534
GSM: (+371) 26 306 007
E:
