Exhibition “Etā mīnā zīben zāben!”

Exhibition about language and displacement caused by World War II. Its main protagonist – the collection of counting-out rhymes, collected by bibliophile Otto Bongs.
The language is like plasticine – warmed-up in one’s hands, it becomes more and more moldable; one kneads and twirls it, creating characters and figures that are being transformed again by accidental and purposeful touches. It is revealing to experience someone else nearby learning a language that is so familiar that has become invisible to those who master it. When one learns, she creates and renders, then adjusts to herself, testing the boundaries, shedding light on forgotten or unnoticed turns and sidewalks. At what point does the clarity of expression become more important than the joy of play? One, two, three, vieniņ, uotiņ, tejiņ, meijiņ.
Fleeing the war and the impending Soviet occupation, about 171 000 Latvian citizens arrived at displaced persons camps in the divided Germany. Otto Bongs, who had left Latvia in 1939 with the wave of Baltic German repatriation, continued to collect historical materials related to the Baltic past. Visiting more than 60 refugee camps, he collected an unusual compendium of Latvian folklore – counting-out rhymes – remembered by children, adults and seniors, noting down each narrators’ childhood places where the counting took place. Later the collector donated his rhyme notebooks together with the rest of his collection to the National Library of Latvia.
Bong’s collection shows the overlapping of languages spoken in Latvia’s yards and streets – German, Lithuanian, Russian, Estonian, Livonian, Yiddish, as well as various Latvian dialects. Rhymes are learned and passed on as a spoken word, thus changing over time and from yard to yard.
Etā minā zīben zāben
Morjen zāben mīre
Etā minā sīguldanc
Kričei bāb pīrēgū
Nā skrū rikmar tauriņ
Paklūp mellīt riķī rakī
Ī štrā štra!
(Narrator Marija Lūsis, born in 1881, recited at age 8-9 at Vecātes Kārkli (3 km from Vecātes manor), noted in a DP camp in Itzehoe, Germany)
The mystery and the playfulness that are characteristic of rhymes, are also preserved in this exhibition. It can be listened to, touched, explored, and be set in motion by its visitors.

Teamkuratore: Zane Zajančkauska, dizainere: Ilze Kalnbērziņa-Prā, skaņa un video: Pauls Kvālis, tekstils: Justīne Jakuševa, zīns un ne tikai: Sabīne Moore, vārdi plastilīnā: Ieva Saulīte, Anda Lāce, Kaspars Groševs, darbi kokā: Rūdolfs Janovs, Dzintars Volmanis, grāmatsiešana: Līga LaurenovičaSupported byValsts Kultūrkapitāla fonds, Rīgas Dome, Kultūras pils “Ziemeļblāzma”, “Latvijas skolas soma”Gratitude toAlise Bērziņa, Baņuta Ancāne, DDS print and Kristaps Zvirgzds, Eižens Freimanis, Gunde Lapiņa, Ieva Lejasmeijere, Iļa Lenskis, Iluta Upelniece, Ilze Jansone, Indra Brūvere, Jevgenijs un Anastasija Sisojevi, Jolanta Pētersone, Justīne Jakuševa, Kārlis Vērpe, Klāvs Kalniņš, Laura Višķere, Marta Marnauza, Kornēlija Mosāne, Marta Reiziņa, Mārtiņš Krontāls, Matīss Pētersons, Paula Pavlovska, Reinis Pētersons, Santa Remere, Silvija Pētersone, Una Smilgaine, Valts Ernštreits, Vita Kalnbērziņa.FotoDidzis Grozds, Kaspars GroševsGads2020