Riga’s experimental music festival Skaņu Mežs 2026 took place at Hanzas Perons (16A Hanzas Street). Its first central concert evening happened on October 9, and the program consisted of the following acts: Augustė Vickunaitė, KMRU, Michael Foster, Leila Bordreuil & Chris Corsano, Sophia Djebel Rose, aya, Krallice, Sofi, Ship Sket. 

During the two days of the festival, sound art installations by Erik Alalooga and Augustė Vickunaitė were exhibited at “Hanzas Perons”. In between concerts, ModularTribe.riga gave soundwork performances in the foyer by the wardrobe.  

The festival is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga City Council, Goethe-Institut Riga, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, BALTA and Valmiermuižas Alus.

Skaņu Mežs is part of the sound art project tekhnē, supported by the European Union and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. The festival is also part of the NERDS network, co-funded by the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture.

Media partners include The Quietus, TVNET, Satori.lv, Radio NABA, Arterritory, magazine “Mūzikas Saule”, and la.lv.

All photos by Artūrs Pavlovs.