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Paper short abstract:

The paper seeks to analyse how the public realm of Riga has changed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The visual support and protest signs along with elimination to the controversial cultural heritage from the Soviet past have quite significantly altered the cityscape of Latvia’s capital.

Paper long abstract:

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 drew immediate condemnation from the world’s democracies urging action both at official level and in society at large. From the very first days of the war, Riga’s public urban environment, especially the historic city centre, changed, becoming increasingly coloured in the blue-yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag. Symbolic support for Ukraine in the public realm has gone hand in hand with protests against Russia manifested in art and performative acts. Soon the visual changes were complemented by other sensory experiences in the city: slogans, songs and literature readings in Ukrainian (sound), borscht and other Ukrainian food (smell, taste) brought to Riga by war refugees.

The recent events in Ukraine have led the people of Riga to reconsider their hitherto customary relationship with their city, both intellectually and emotionally. Latvia’s geopolitical position in the neighbourhood of Russia, as well as the collective memory of the traumatic historical events of the 20th century, is associated with more or less emotional discomfort. This war has contributed to the next phase of desovietization in Latvia, urging to get rid of the Soviet colonial legacy that has been left over and spared until now. Several streets of Riga have been officially renamed and the controversial monumental heritage dismantled, raising discussions not only about public attitudes towards cultural heritage and the heritage management, but also about integration policy issues.

The paper proposes to analyse the materials documented in the on-going author’s fieldworks, mainly from a visual communication perspective.