Ptarmigan operated in Tallinn from 2011-2014. We no longer maintain any presence in Tallinn, but this website will continue to serve as an archive of the activities produced at Ptarmigan during these years.
Kaspars Lielgalvis is an artist who works throughout the culture field, with interests including urban development, interdisciplinarity in contemporary art and the creation of self-organized structures. He is based in Riga, Latvia.
Having studied as a textile artist, Kaspars started his professional carrier as a graphic designer. Parallel to his job in advertising agencies, he was a member of the performance art group “Totaldobže” from 2001-2004. In 2005 he started a new business – decorations for different kind of commercial and non-commercial events. Very soon, together with scenographer Davis Licitis, they became one of the most wanted decorator firms in Latvia, having clients starting from the theater festival Homo Novus and ending with larger business enterprises. After 2008, due to the economic crisis, the decoration business collapsed and Kaspars founded an artist-run initiative where artists studios, exhibition space and residencies were located next to each other, in Riga's former factory VEF. Since then, he has been busy with the development of the Totaldobze Art Centre, which became an important platform for cross-over creation and meetings between artists, poets, musicians, dancers and representatives from other culture disciplines in Riga.
During his Ptarmigan residency, Kaspars will work on the Black Holes project. Black Holes has been developing since 2011 and has become the foundation and primary activity of Art Centre Totaldože. The aim of the Project is to develop cooperation with foreign art institutions in order to dissolve borders of local art environments and create works that would become part of an international movement.
