Notes on the Margins is an international artist residency organized in collaboration with Liepāja 2027 – European Capital of Culture. The residency aims to foster dialogue between contemporary artistic practice and the local cultural and historical heritage by inviting creative practitioners to engage with the communities of Kuldīga Municipality and create new works inspired by local stories, people, and places.
JUBILEJAS IELA 3, APARTMENT. Rudbārži, LATVIA. AUGUST, 2026.
From 1st August until 1st September 2026, we work out of Rudbārži, creating from our experience of this place. Building a necklace of 17 charms — each one a story, a person, a place found here. Digging into local legends, ghosts, nature, symbols, the old folk calendar. Meeting locals. Listening. Walking the land. Letting the work be shaped by what’s actually here, not what we brought with us.
SOUVENIR PROJECT, AUGUST 2026
Souvenir project is both a necklace and a series of individual charms representing people and places in Rudbārži. It works as a map and a guide to experiencing the place for real — full of nature and life. A copy of each charm will be given to the people who welcomed and helped us during our stay and work here. We would like to give special thanks to Dagnija Grundberga, Austra Osvalde, Loreta Robežniece, Zenta Dene, Gundars Sīsenis, Kaspars, the sports party DJ, and Gina Rubeža for sharing their time and stories with us.
GUNARS MURNIEKS, DJ - SPORTS PARTY, 08 AUGUST, 2026 AT RUDBARZU PAGASTA SPORTA JVETKI.
SOUVENIR 1: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A SILVER PINKIE SIGNET RING WITH A "DJ" ENGRAVING. A 1.8 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN ON THE PINKIE, OR AS A PENDANT WHILE DJING. 15mm. interior diameter x 10mm. bezel diameter x 5mm. thickness x 5mm. ring arm
THE STORY INSPIRING THIS CHARM GOES AROUND MUSIC, AND SCHOOLS. HE HAS BEEN DJING IN ALL PARTIES AROUND SINCE HE WAS A YOUNG MUSICIAN PLAYING IN A LOCAL BAND. WE MET COMPLETELY BY CHANCE AT THE SPORTS PARTY. NOTICED HIM AT THE MIXING TABLE. HE’S RETIRED NOW, BUT SPENT HIS LIFE AS BOTH TEACHER AND MUSICIAN. HE WORKED AT TWO SCHOOLS RUDBĀRŽI — ONE AT THE INTERNĀTSKOLA, AND ONE BASED IN THE MANOR BUILDING. THE INTERNĀTSKOLA WAS FOR KIDS FROM DIFFICULT FAMILY SITUATIONS, SOME WITH BRUSHES WITH THE LAW. HE SAID IT WAS HARD WORK, BUT INTERESTING, TRYING TO HELP THEM. SCHOOLS OF THAT KIND DON'T EXIST IN THAT FORM ANYMORE. THAT NIGHT, HIS SET MOVED FROM 80S POP THROUGH ROCK TO MORE RECENT SONGS, AND BETWEEN TRACKS HE WAS RUNNING TOURNAMENT GAMES WITH THE CROWD — CALM, HAPPY, COMPLETELY AT EASE. THE SETUP ITSELF WAS RAW, UNPOLISHED, AND BEAUTIFUL.
GUNARS MURNIEKS. DJ. SPORTS PARTY, Rudbārži 2026
Rudbāržu ūdens dzirnavas, August 2026
Charm 001. Souvenir
ROAD TO LUDIKU CEMETERY, 04 AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 2 & 3: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A PAIR OF TOMBSTONES. A 4.21 GR and 2.24 gr. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS EARRINGS OR PENDANT. 15mm. x 23mm. x 2.5mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around the ritual to celebrate the past. Rudbārži pagasts has five cemeteries, and Lūdīku is one of them. Once a year, Latvians hold a ritual visit to each cemetery — a priest and the community gather to pray and sing, and everything is cleaned and prepared beforehand, graves tended, the whole ground made ready to receive people again. This pair of charms — one in silver, one in gold — comes from photographs taken walking through Lūdīku that day, the tombstones themselves becoming the image carried forward.
LUDIKU CEMETERY
LUDIKU CEMETERY
Charm 002. Souvenir
Charm 003. Souvenir
Rudbārži Forest Park, 03rd AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 4: IT TAKES THE FORM OF RUDBARZI COAT OF ARMS, A CROSS OF FOUR OAK LEAVES. A 3.28 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A FIBULA. 15mm. x 23mm. x 2.5mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around natural treasure and beauty. The forest is where everyone in Rudbārži goes — untouched, full of nature, home to countless species. It's the closest thing the village has to a shared, sacred ground. The charm takes the form of Rudbārži's own coat of arms: a cross made of four oak leaves.
Rudbārži forest park
Charm 004. Souvenir
Road to Ludiku cemetery, 04rth AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 5: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A BEE. A 0.89 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A PENDANT. 18mm. x 15mm. x 3.5mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around sweetness. On the way to Lūdīku, the road passes a cluster of farms, and in the forest along that stretch, a row of wooden boxes appeared out of nowhere — full of bees, working. Honey (medus) holds real weight in Latvia; it's on every market table, made by local farmers, never far from view. The charm takes the shape of a bee itself, found by accident on a walk toward somewhere else entirely.
Road to Ludiku cemetery
Charm 005. Souvenir
ZENTA DENE, 11TH AUGUST, 2026 AT RUDBARZU PAGASTA HOUSE.
SOUVENIR 6: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A SUN FIBULA. A 3.74 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN ON THE TOP OF A LINEN SHIRT WHILE AT FOLK CELEBRATIONS. 25mm. x 25mm. x 2mm.
SOUVENIR 7: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A KOKLE SOUNDBOX HOLE PIN. A 1.04 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN WHILE PLAYING THE INSTRUMENT. 16mm. diameter x 0.7mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around Latvian folk celebrations, calendar, and music. Zenta is the leader of Rudbārži folklore group. The group meets weekly, around ten people, rehearsing dress and dance for their performances. Their traditional dress is bright red, visible from a distance — striped skirts, linen shirts, a headscarf, and a small shoulder wrap (mantele) also patterned in stripes or checks, mostly red tones. The jewelry is simple compared to other regions: a small pin or button closes the linen shirt at the top, nothing like the large, heavily ornamented brooches (sakta) worn elsewhere in Latvia — Rudbārži's version stays understated, small in detail. She plays the kokle — a small wooden stringed instrument with a sound-hole carved as a symbol in its body. She'd wanted one since childhood but could only afford it in her fifties; she learned to play alongside her daughter, who taught alongside her. Now she brings it everywhere. On the gadskārtas, she was clear that no single festival outranks another — each season holds its own secret, its own work. But if one thread runs through all of them, it's the sun: always being looked for, always awaited, especially through winter. At the start of winter, Rudbārži's masking tradition (ķekatas) is specifically about animal masks — not to frighten evil away, but to borrow that animal's good energy for the year ahead. Winter, in her telling, is a season of reflection. On the gadskārtas, she was clear that no single festival outranks another — each season holds its own secret, its own work. But if one thread runs through all of them, it's the sun: always being looked for, always awaited, especially through winter. At the start of winter, Rudbārži's masking tradition (ķekatas) is specifically about animal masks — not to frighten evil away, but to borrow that animal's good energy for the year ahead. Winter, in her telling, is a season of reflection.
Zenta Dene, Rudbārži folk group leader playing KOKLE
Charm 006. Souvenir
Charm 007. Souvenir
AUSTRA OSVALDE, 14TH AUGUST, 2026 AT RUDBARZI LUTHERAN CHURCH.
SOUVENIR 8: IT TAKES THE FORM OF CHURCH WINDOW. A 5.38 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A PIN OR PENDANT WHILE PRAYING. 25mm. x 24mm. x 2mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around spirituality and community. Austra holds the keys to the church and looks after it, and beyond that role, she's the leader of the Rudbārži community. There is a legend around the church. Baron Frīdrihs von Firks' grandfather promised him the family fortune on condition he build a church. It is not known if he finally received that money, since Rudbarzi's church is one of the tinniests in Latvia. She told she couldn't go to church during the Soviet period — not officially forbidden, but not well seen. When everything collapsed, she came back, and now always sits in the same bench. The one showing in her portrait. Today, a small community of around ten to twelve people still gathers once a month for mass.
AUSTRA OSVALDE SITTING IN HER BENCH AT Rudbārži LUTHERAN CHURCH
Rudbārži LUTHERAN CHURCH INTERIOR
Charm 008. Souvenir
SISTER ILZE, 16TH AUGUST, 2026 AT Sieksātes Svētās Trīsvienības sieviešu klosteris — the Sieksāte Holy Trinity Convent (women's convent).
SOUVENIR 9: IT TAKES THE FORM OF THE CONVENT ARCHITECTURE. A 1.87 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS PENDANT. 25mm. x 15mm. x 0.5mm.
SOUVENIR 10: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A FIRE CROSS. A 1.13 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS PIN. 20mm. x 20mm. x 1mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around rituals and rareness. Sieksātes Svētās Trīsvienības sieviešu klosteris, is the first and only Lutheran women's convent in Latvia. Knew about it from the librarian. No one they knew had ever been inside — the sisters live privately, mostly unseen. Curious just to see the place and take some photos, biked there for two hours. While photographing the grounds a nun approached — she'd been out working the garden with her motorcycle and trailer. She was in her thirties and spoke English: Ilze, who has been with the convent since it started. Inside, the convent was white and gold, with blue tones through it that week as they prepared for the coming Sunday's celebration of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary. Which Ilze happily offered to attend, and dress me in a skirt and veil from the church. Twelve to fourteen people were there Sunday, along with the three sisters and three priests — men seated to the right, women to the left. The service lasted two hours, sung entirely in Latvian — intimate, full of chanting and repeated reverences from both priests and congregation. Through all of it, kept returning to an ugunskrusts (fire cross) at the altar, among other worked-metal objects: candlesticks, frames, and more.
Sieksātes Svētās Trīsvienības sieviešu klosteris — the Sieksāte Holy Trinity Convent (women's convent).
Sister ilze working the fields
Charm 009. Souvenir
Charm 010. Souvenir
KASPARS UPENIEKS, 14TH AUGUST, 2026, KASPAR'S sea buckthorn FARM NEXT TO LUDIKU CEMETERY.
SOUVENIR 11: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A BRANCH OF sea buckthorn MEDAL. A 1.27 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS PENDANT. 16mm. diameter x 2mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around living the dream. Kaspars is from Rudbārži. He lives on land that belonged to his family, cleared himself from what was originally forest — building his house, a traditional Latvian sauna, and a small lake with canoes for his two kids. He grows strawberries, blueberries, and sea buckthorn, and is now constructing his own space to produce alcohol from the berries — a self-built fridge already stands as part of the operation. This is his self-built dream of a countryside life. Harvest happens once a year, in August, and it's demanding — sea buckthorn branches are thorny, so picking is slow going. Rather than fight the spikes fresh, they freeze the berries first — frozen, they come away from the branch far more easily, one by one, and go straight into storage in the fridge. Right now he makes juice and jam from the berries. He usually takes part in Kuldīga's regional berry festival, where local farms open up for visitors to taste pancakes and see what's growing. He's aiming to have his first batch of Moonshine alcohol ready by December 2026.
KASPARS UPENIEKS at his sea buckthorn FARM
sea buckthorn branch
Charm 011. Souvenir
Martin's ROAD TO NEWSPAPERS DELIVERY, 17TH AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 12: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A snake medal. A 0.75 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS ring. 25mm. x 25mm. x 1mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around mythology and creatures. Mārtiņš takes care of Rudbārži's terrain — repairs, parks, cemeteries, and common areas. We spent a full Monday delivering the local newspaper across Rudbārži's farms, forest houses, and country roads. While checking that everything was in order at Bākuzu Cemetery, he told about a snake living there — very long, black, and thick, unusually large for a Latvian snake, and venomous. He'd seen it himself once, but it moved too fast for him to get a look at its head. Others in the village have seen it too. The Snake of Bākuzu Cemetery
Bākuzu Cemetery, August 2026
Charm 012. Souvenir
GUNA RUBEZA, VILKI SIEKSATE, 17TH AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 13: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A GOLDEN VASE. A 1.69 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A PIN. 24mm. x 14mm. x 0.8mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around the land of Rudbarzi. Mārtiņš introduced us to her during the newspaper route — she was his art teacher at the manor school when he was a child. Already noticed her poster along the road coming back from Skrunda, without knowing the connection yet. She lives with her husband on their own land — a beautiful house, a garden, a little dog, and her workshop. They're originally from near Rudbārži, and moved here for work; the first time she saw this land, she simply knew it was where she wanted to build her life and her studio. They did. Her studio was calm and clean, done in pastel, almost nude tones — vāzes standing finished around the room, her kiln where pieces are fired, shelves of glazing colors, and the molds she uses for some of her final pieces. Ceramics ran in her husband's family — his father worked in it too — but it skipped him; she's the one who carried it forward, and lives from it fully now. The deepest part of what she told us: she takes her clay from Rudbārži's own ground. She knows where to find it, and prepares it herself before it's ready to work. Her pieces are, literally, Rudbārži's land, shaped into form.
“Vilki” workshop, Sieksāte, Rudbāržu pagasts
Charm 013. Souvenir
GUNDARS SISENIS, PIENA MUIZA SIEKSATE, 21ST AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 14: IT TAKES THE FORM OF A A small metal milk box. A 1.55 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A TIE PIN OR PENDANT. 17.5 mm. x 13mm. x 0.8mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around milk and the land richness. Gundars is a retired teacher and former dairy farm worker. He is now in charge of the visits to the milk museum in Sieksāte. An older man, distinctive in his logo cap and cow-print tie, guided us through for an hour and twenty minutes. He used to teach, and also worked for years at the dairy farm itself before retiring into this role, showing visitors through the museum on excursions from all over. He started with the museum's wooden talking cows — Venta and Druvis — as the natural introduction to the visit, then walked us through the full collection of dairy-making instruments and tools, oldest to most modern. He was one of the people who built the collection itself — traveling around asking locals for old dairy instruments no longer in use, gathering them together with the owner into what's now the only museum of its kind in Latvia, and a well-known one. He was visibly proud showing us the British Queen's award for best export butter, given to the previous owner's family in the 1930s. He shared two separate deportation stories from the Soviet era, both rooted in the same period of Siberian exile. His own family was deported to Siberia, where he was born. Separately, he told the story of the dairy owner's father: during Soviet rule, he used a device to calibrate the fat content of milk. Soviet authorities claimed it was a dangerous weapon and deported him to Siberia for eight years.
Piena muiža / Kalna muiža, Sieksāte
Charm 014. Souvenir
LORETA ROBEZNIECE, RUDBARZI MANOR, 11TH AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 15: IT TAKES THE FORM OF ONE MANOR WINDOW. A 6.23 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A PENDANT. 35 mm. x 21 mm. x 2 mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around ghosts and palaces. Loreta walked us through the whole building. Photography isn't allowed inside anymore. We passed through what used to be classrooms, and before that, spaces tied to military strategy — this was where Oskars Kalpaks planned during the fight for Latvian independence. Every March 3rd, there's still a parade from the manor to the battlefield, with people doing military exercises along the way in his honor, retracing the steps. We also saw the Room of Heroes — named after the military forces, once the central space for parties and receptions in the baron's time, now renovated. On the second floor, her voice dropped as she told about the Green Lady — the ghost of the baron's wife. The cleaning lady and others have reported hearing footsteps and voices when alone in the manor. She told about a second legend: a secret path said to connect the manor to the cemetery where the baron is buried, in the Baron's forest. It's never been found, but everyone in Rudbārži talks about it. There was one more story from the tour: in an old classroom, something was carved into the wooden window frame — the names of students who once sat there. She knew the story because two women once came back to visit, found their own names still marked in the wood, and laughed, remembering.
RUDBARZI MANOR, 11TH AUGUST, 2026.
Charm 015. Souvenir
Gustavs Riekstiņš, Garīkas — Shiitake Farm, Sieksāte, 28TH AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 16: A signet ring engraved with a small mushroom, wearable as a pinky ring or on a necklace — echoing a similar piece Gustavs already wears. A 1.84 GR. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A PINKY RING OR PENDANT. 15mm. interior diameter x 10mm. bezel diameter x 5mm. thickness x 5mm. ring arm
The story inspiring this charm goes around transoceanic connexions and innovation. Gustavs Riekstiņš is the young new owner, grandson of Garīkas -a shiitake mushroom farm- farm's founder. The farm has been running for 35 years. His grandfather was born in that very house, later left to work elsewhere, and — after Soviet-era occupation had filled it with other residents — earned enough over the years to buy it back in the early 1990s. Needing renovation, he brought in an architect, who happened to know a Latvian-Canadian grower already running a shiitake operation in Canada. The grandfather traveled there for a month to learn the process firsthand, then came home and started growing shiitake at Garīkas — the first farm in Latvia to do so. Gustavs took over a year ago, after finishing his studies, and has spent the two years since bringing the farm into the present: running its social media, setting up market and city distribution deals across Latvia.
He walked me through the whole process. Alder logs come from their own forest, drilled and filled with mycelium, then sealed with paraffin — a two-year wait follows before the logs are ready. Come June or July, harvest time, the logs are submerged in a pond for 24 hours, then set to fruit before the mushrooms are picked. Each log can be harvested two to three times before it's spent. Everything is done by hand — one hired worker, and the rest is family. They sell fresh mushrooms (good for only five days), dried, and powdered. Gustavs mentioned shiitake's medicinal reputation too — good for blood pressure, and often recommended for people undergoing cancer treatment.
Near the end of the visit, as WE sat down to taste a fresh mushroom salad — incredible, vivid, clearly nourishing — his grandfather appeared. We didn't speak directly. But it felt fitting that he arrived just as the story closed the loop, generation to generation, in the same house he'd once had to leave and later bought back.
Gustavs Riekstiņš, Garīkas
Garīkas guest house interior
Charm 016. Souvenir
DAGNIJA GRUNDBERGA, RUDBARZI LIBRARY, 21ST AUGUST, 2026.
SOUVENIR 17: The necklace's central piece — a small box representing the forest, which opens to reveal an oak leaf inside. A 10.90 GR. and 0.65gr. CHARM. TO BE WORN AS A PENDANT. 31 mm. diameter x 3 mm. and 18 mm. x 11 mm. x 0.8 mm.
The story inspiring this charm goes around memory keeping. Dagnija Grundberga studied agriculture before coming to Rudbarzi looking for work. She started as a first-grade teacher at the manor school, doubling as the school's librarian. When the school closed, she was offered the village librarian role just as the previous librarian was retiring, and has held it ever since. She calls herself, without quite saying so directly, the memory keeper of Rudbārži. Beyond the daily work of lending books, she runs a major digitization and archiving project — gathering photographs, documents, and oral history into presentations on the cemetery, the church, and life in Rudbārži going back to the 18th century. The project connects to Latvia's national library network, run in coordination across all libraries. She's also turned the library into a genuine cultural center: monthly rotating exhibitions, visiting writers, artists hosted for events, and monthly kokle lessons for anyone who wants to learn. It's not just a service she provides — it's something she's built. Her favorite place in Rudbārži is the forest — rooted in her love of nature from her agriculture studies, a place that stays untouched.
DAGNIJA GRUNDBERGA, RUDBARZI LIBRARY
Charm 017. Souvenir
This is the first time we've worked from a whole community rather than from one person — and that shift changed everything about how the work took shape. Seventeen charms became possible only because seventeen different people opened a door, a story, a bench, a workshop, a forest — Dagnija, Austra, Zenta, Loreta, Kaspars, Ilze, Gundars, Guna, the two Gustavs, Mārtiņš, and everyone along the roads and routes between them.
What started as a necklace became something else too: a method. Not research done about a place, but research done from inside it — walking it, being fed by it, being corrected and redirected by the people who actually live there. Souvenir, in the end, is not only an object. It's a way of working we hope to carry forward: situated, slow, built on listening before making.
To Rudbārži — thank you for letting a stranger in, again and again, for a month. This piece belongs as much to you as it does to us.