Marettas Staprānes–Bārlovas izstāde “Laima. Raimonds: Ģimenes laimes portreti”

An exhibition titled “LAIMA. RAIMONDS: Ģimenes laimes portreti”, authored by Maretta Staprāne Bārlova, has opened at the Rainis and Aspazija Summer House in Jūrmala.

The starting point of the exhibition is the question: what does happiness look like? A human portrait in it is formed not only from external appearance, but also from what usually remains invisible: memories, personally significant music, favorite colors and places, a smile, and brain activity. LAIMA connects the artistic heritage of Raimonds Staprāns with the perspective of the next generation, engaging the principles of color, light, space, and composition characteristic of his painting in a new artistic process.

At the center of the exhibition are 27 members of the Staprāns family from four generations. Each has their own life experience, idea of happiness, and way of experiencing it. During the creation of the works, participants answered questions about happiness, listened to music significant to them, and focused on memories of moments of joy, peace, and closeness. Simultaneously, their brain's electrical activity was recorded using electroencephalography or EEG.

EEG data is not used for diagnosing emotions or scientifically measuring happiness. Indicators of alpha, beta, theta, and gamma activity are converted into parameters that affect the model's intensity, visual structure, degree of detail, and sharpness. This is part of the artistic method developed by the author, not a clinical interpretation of EEG data. The result is not a psychological profile or a scientific illustration, but a work of art in which personal experience acquires a visual form. The exhibition also features visualizations of the brain activity data of the participants, including Raimonds Staprāns.