Textile exhibition "Patvērums vienradzim" (Refuge for the Lonely), dedicated to the centenary of Latvian textile artist Georgs Barkāns. Georgs Barkāns (1925–2010) was one of the most influential figures in the heyday of Latvian textile art, which began in the late 1960s and continued until the restoration of the country's independence.
Georgs Barkāns, alongside Imants Žūriņš and Marta Staņa, laid the foundations for modern design teaching methods in Latvia, teaching composition for many years at the Applied Arts Secondary School (now the Riga Design and Art Secondary School). Many Latvian artists working today have been influenced by his brilliant personality, which combined impeccable taste with informal communication.
The exhibition "Patvērums vienradzim" (Refuge for the Lonely) includes only a part of Georgs Barkāns' enormous creative legacy, as the artist's productivity, together with his life partner Dzidra Ozoliņa (1922–2014), seemed inexhaustible. After the Soviet period, they continued to work actively, facing the challenges of a new era. Visitors will see large-format tapestries from the collection of the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design (DMDM) and the Latvian Artists' Union, as well as batik works from the master's youth and abstract works from the end of his life. The exhibition curator Vilnis Vējš and the author of the visual dramaturgy, award-winning scenographer Reinis Dzudzilo, have created the exhibition with respect for Georgs Barkāns' cultivated principle of symmetry and the unique character of the DMDM building, Riga's oldest sacred building.