Liepāja Spruces Up for 401st Birthday: City Figures Out How to Turn Wind into an Artist

Liepāja is celebrating its 401st birthday this year with a revolutionary discovery — turns out our city's constant winds aren't a curse, but rather a free art worker. A new installation with moving strips has been set up in Rose Square, which essentially lets the wind be the main artist. While Riga pays thousands for art objects, we simply install something that moves in the wind and call it modern art.

As explained by Liepāja Building Authority's chief artist Agita Ansule, the new object is "laconic, contemporary and modular," organically interacting with the wind. In other words — we installed a structure that flutters in the wind, but call it conceptual art. Local pensioner Valdis Kalniņš comments: "Well, I've been saying for a long time that our winds are artists. Every day they transform my hairstyle into new works of art."

Particularly noteworthy is the installation's sustainable solution — the construction elements are universal and adaptable for future use. This means that after the festivities, this same structure can be moved and used for other events. Such an approach would have been useful in Karosta too — the former Tsar's naval base with its mythical basements could use all the old structures as modular installations, but no, everything there remains unchanged since Tsarist times.

In addition to the new wind art installation, the city is decorated with red-green flags on the main streets. This creates a festive mood and reminds everyone that Liepāja is not only a city of wind, but also of colors. While Riga is thinking about how to celebrate their holidays, we've already proven that the 401st year is just the beginning — with our winds and creativity, we can celebrate for at least another 401 years.