From July 27 to August 8, 2026, the 22nd International Cast Iron Art Symposium will take place in Aizpute, as part of the “Liepāja – European Capital of Culture 2027” programme. For more than two decades, this event has brought together Latvian and international sculptors, art students, and metal art professionals for a shared creative experience.
The symposium will culminate on August 7 of this year, when the traditional cast iron casting show and an experimental music performance will take place on the banks of the Tebra River (at the end of Krasta Street). From 18.00 to 23.00, visitors are invited to watch the process of casting cast iron sculptures outdoors. At 21.00, the event will be complemented by the experimental music project “Vaaks Vakuums”.
More than fifty artists from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Canada, and Hong Kong will participate in the event.
In 2009, following a proposal by artist Kārlis Alainis, the 6th International Cast Iron Art Symposium took place at the SERDE Workshop and Residency Center. Prior to that, previous cast iron art symposia had been held in Valka, Riga, and Liepāja – at the K@2 Culture and Information Center in Karosta.
In 2008, Kārlis Alainis approached the SERDES collective to discuss future collaboration. The cast iron art symposium in SERDE was a new addition that established an annual and long-standing tradition – to hold the symposium each year around the time of the Aizpute City Festival and to stage the symposium’s closing show during the festival itself.
The advantages of cast iron are its good technological properties, which make it suitable for casting, and its relatively low price, which allows it to be used in various creative experiments. At the cast iron art symposium, old, worn-out radiators are used as raw material. Based on the artists’ experience and observations, Soviet-era cast iron radiators, in particular, break into pieces of a suitable size to be mixed with coke, melted down, and cast into sculptures. The technological process is quite complex, but fully adapted for implementation in outdoor conditions.
Kārlis Alainis studied sculpture at the Latvian Academy of Art and spent a year (1992 – 1993) in the sculpture department at Humboldt State University in California (U.S.). Each year, the event invites sculpture professionals, students, and foreign artists – particularly specialists in the field of sculpture who also organize similar events in their home countries. The international composition of the participants fosters the exchange of experiences and the formation of new connections.
The Cast Iron Art Symposium is a visually stunning and artistically significant event for both the participants and the guests, so we invite everyone to visit the banks of the Tebra River in Aizpute on August 7 and experience first-hand one of the most unusual summer cultural events in Latvia.
The event is organized by Kārlis Alainis, SIA “Aveido,” and SERDE. Supported by the Art Academy of Latvia and Erasmus+.
The event is organized by the interdisciplinary art group “Serde” with financial support from the foundation “Nodibinājums Liepāja 2027.” The programme of “Liepāja – European Capital of Culture 2027” is implemented by the Liepāja 2027 Foundation, with funding allocated by the City of Liepāja, the South Kurzeme and Kuldīga municipalities, the Ministry of Culture, and the State Culture Capital Foundation. The “Liepāja 2027” programme is supported by its main partner in environmental education and sustainability, AS “CleanR Grupa”, Jsc; its main partner in air mobility and international communications, AS “airBaltic Corporation”, legal partner: Sorainen Law Office, Ltd., Jsc; and its land mobility partner, SIA “Lux Express Latvia”, Ltd. Media partners: VSIA “Latvijas Sabiedriskais medijs”, Ltd. and AS “Kurzemes Radio”, Jsc.
Signe Pucena
The interdisciplinary art group “Serde”
The contemporary art exhibition “At Ease!” organised by the Liepāja 2027 Foundation, has been extended and will now remain on view in the display windows at 36/38 Graudu Street until 28 August 2026.
On October 2, 2026, from 10:00 to 17:30 the Kuldīga Art House will host the International Forum “Historic Gardens and Gardens in Historic Areas,” featuring experienced specialists from Latvia and abroad who will share their expertise on the maintenance and restoration of historic gardens, as well as the creation of new gardens in historic settings.
One of the most celebrated works in contemporary European performance is coming to Latvia for the first time. The internationally acclaimed Lithuanian opera-performance Sun & Sea (“Saulė ir jūra”) – winner of the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2019 Venice Biennale – will be staged at Liepāja Great Amber Concert Hall from 8 to 11 April 2027, as part of the “Liepāja – European Capital of Culture 2027” programme.