Gleizds, Paper, Scissors
Exhibition
22.11.2024. - 30.03.2025.
From 22 November 2024, an exhibition entitled Gleizds, Paper, Scissors is on view at Pauls Stradiņš Medicine History Museum. Dedicated to the link between the creative experiments of the photographer Jānis Gleizds (1924–2010) and the scientific surgical research of the time, the show intertwines subjects like impotence and Soviet erotica, the aesthetics of a medically transformed body and the first steps toward social acceptance of the divergent into a single cohesive story.
The exhibition focuses on the photographer Jānis Gleizds’ work in the 1970s and 1980s with particular emphasis on the lengthy collaboration between the artist and surgeons at the Traumatology and Orthopaedics Research Institute. In a time when the official art scene had to conform with the Soviet regime, Gleizds, the Institute’s photo lab assistant, untrained in arts, and the surgeons, whose experimental practice was artlike in its creativity, developed the aesthetic principles behind cutting-edge technological solutions that would allow erotic imagination endow the ideologized body of the Soviet citizen with sexual characteristics enveloped in an aura of light.
For the Soviet society that habitually excluded people with disabilities, forcing them out of the visibility zone, the case of a young Latgalian man who came to Riga to get fitted for prosthetics and went on to became famous was an exception. After losing both hands at the age of 24, Jānis Gleizds ended up at the Traumatology and Orthopaedics research Institute as a patient; following a surgical operation that made it possible for him to train as a photographer, he was offered the post of a photo lab assistant and stayed on at the Institute for 40 years. Alongside his job he was also a keen member of the Riga amateur photography club; his fine-art photography brought him numerous awards at international competitions. Key to success was Gleizds’ distinctive method of photo editing, born under the impact of the experiments he had observed in the operating theatre of the Traumatology and Orthopaedics Institute.
The Institute enjoyed certain word-of-mouth popularity at the time, although only a few handfuls of people knew of many of the surgical procedures that were performed there: the first sex reassignment surgeries in the Soviet Union, prosthetic treatment of men suffering from impotence, plastic breast surgery for women. Legends were told about the women who had managed to have their breasts or other body parts ‘done’ thanks to their connections, fostering faith in the infinite power of medicine, while the masterful photo collages by Gleizds kindled imagination that transferred the newly acquired body from the down-to-earth Soviet reality to sensual Gardens of Paradise.
A retrospect on Gleizds’ oeuvre reveals the transformation undergone by the Latvian society in its views on the human body and sexuality, paying increasing attention to the relationship between the natural and the artificial.
The exhibition curated by Anna Volkova and Vladimirs Svetlovs will be on view at the Medicine History Museum at 1 Ukrainas Neatkarības Street through 30 March 2025.
Accessibility at the exhibition
The exhibition is located on the 3rd floor of the building, which unfortunately is currently not accessible by elevator for visitors with mobility impairments. The exhibition includes photographs, manuscripts, and printed works, as well as video materials in Latvian with subtitles in both Latvian and English. Please note that the materials featured in the exhibition depict nudity and surgical procedures. It is recommended to allocate approximately one hour for the visit.
The Team
Curators - Anna Volkova, Vladimirs Svetlovs
Exhibition Design and Architecture - Līva Kreislere
Graphic Design - Līva Rutmane
Project Management - Gerda Čevere
Head of Public Communications - Ilze Sirmā
Curator of Accompanying Programs - Dace Čaure
Head of Collection Public Accessibility Programs - Antra Skrispte
Latvian Text Editor - Vents Zvaigzne, Kaspars Vanags
Latvian Text Proofreader - Ilze Jansone
English Text Translator - Sabīne Ozola
Image Digitization - Igors Pličs, Vladimirs Svetlovs
Image Editing - Jeļena Kononova
Image Color Correction - Anna Volkova
Image Preparation for Print - Vladimirs Svetlovs
Exhibition Technical Implementation - Ansis Bergmanis, Evija Berga, Aldis Bušs (BMD Design), Romāns Medvedevs (Gaismu cehs), FinePrint, VPT Group, Advertising Workshop PLUS, SIA Vasaris, Magnum NT, Posmaster, Master Glass, Skaistāk Print House. Technology partner - Samsung.
Loans
Igors Pilčs (Latgale Photographers' Association), Nautrēni Cultural History Center
Collaborative Partners
Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents, ARS Medical Society, Radiology Institute of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, "Orbita" Association, VSIA Traumatology and Orthopedics Hospital, Jēpis, Didzis Veinbergs
Supported by
State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, Samsung, Medical Museum Support Association, Antalis
