Survival Kit installation in Neiburg's apartment No. 207

Estate developer Ludvigs Neiburgs built a rental house in Jauniela in 1903. On the ground floor there were small shops, on the upper floors – rental apartments. During the Soviet era, ‘’a business hotel” for Soviet functionaries was established alongside with 13 communal apartments. On the ground floor, a beer restaurant Pie Kristapa opened, which became a typical ex-ample of socialist restaurant culture. At the turn of the millennium, Solvita Krese, the founder of the Survival Kit, also rented an apartment there, and the apartment became a place for spontaneous happenings.

Humans, alongside four toothed whales – the orca, beluga, narwhal and short-finned pilot whale – are known to be the only species from 8.7 million species to have the menopausal phenotype, the long, average, 20-year period between female reproductive life and the end of life. Menopause is thought to be a cultural rather than a bio-logical phenomenon. Patriarchal society’s attitudes towards menopause and older women are well summed up by the Bank of England Vice President’s 2018 commentary on the economy at the time, describing it as menopausal, meaning “outdated and without potential “. Both natural and medical menopause (after the surgical removal of reproductive organs) can also be seen as a rebellion against the rules of evolution. According to the theory of evolution, the purpose of the existence of an individual is to reproduce the species.

The site-specific installation Menopause Club NB! Exclusive is inspired by the few species which experience this biological phenomenon and can be visited at the apartment No 207 till October 31.

31. oktobrim.