As part of the Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT 2023 program, starting from April 29, LOOK gallery in Riga will present On Transition: Impressions of Abu Dhabi, a solo exhibition by Latvian artist Adele Bea Cipste, currently residing in the United Arab Emirates. The exhibition is artist’s reflection on what shapes a sense of place and how an individual’s attachment to a place changes in time and as new layers of memory and experience are formed. The show will be opened on April 28 at 17:00 in presence of the artist and will be available to visitors until May 20. Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT 2023 program events will start on April 27 and will span various exhibition halls, galleries and cityscape in Riga until July 23.
The exhibition seeks to highlight the experience of a place, the visual connection between a place and its observer as well as questions on topics related to intercultural understanding, identity, and belonging posed in the exhibited works. At the same time, the exhibition examines how voluntary emigration shapes the way one sees a place, home, as well as their understanding of cultural identity. Is home the place we feel most connected to, is it the place where one’s passport was issued, or the place we fit in most fluently, because we know it the most and understand its culture the best?
Drawing on her lived experience of gradually forging an ever-closer connection with and an understanding of the environment in the United Arab Emirates, Cipste captures visual elements characteristic of Abu Dhabi’s urban environment. In her works, the artist captures comments and questions which she has encountered about the so-called Arab world when periodically returning to Latvia, along with observations about her shifting sense of belonging to the UAE, as well as her own and others’ prejudices against both these locations.
The curator of the exhibition is one of the co-founders of LOOK gallery Raivis Alksnis who is also in charge of the gallery’s exhibition program.
Adele Bea Cipste (1998) is an UAE-based Latvian visual artist working primarily in drawing and photography. Since 2022, she holds a BA in Art Practice and Film Practice from NYU Abu Dhabi. Her place-focused artworks explore intersections between the natural and the constructed, highlight the affective power of physical environments, and reflect on how spaces act as agents of memory. Currently, her core focus is on producing new works that would evolve from specific sites within the UAE and from the idiosyncrasies of the UAE’s physical environments, as well as works which reflect on her changing relationship to Latvia in the context of emigration. In 2023, she has participated in a series of workshops at Jameel Arts Centre with the Palestinian artist Jumana Emil Abboud, in the “Spectrum” photography residency at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and the exhibition “Getting Over the Color Green” with the art platform Engage101. She is currently working at Gulf Photo Plus, one of the leading photography centres in the Gulf region.
The NEXT program of the Riga Photography Biennial takes place every second year. It spotlights the young artists from the Baltic, Nordic and other European countries who are still at the beginning of their creative careers. In 2023, the focus of the program is on “awkward” topics. In a total of eight exhibitions and the educational program, young artists will seek answers to questions about the formation of identity. The festival will be opened on April 27 with a solo exhibition of Polish artist Michalina Kacperak Soft Spot at the exhibition hall Riga Art Space Intro Hall.
On May 3, the program will continue at the Experimental Art Space Pilot of the Art Academy of Latvia (AAL) where the of the RPB – NEXT 2023 and the specialization program for curators at the AAL Award Emerging Curator! laureate’s Laima Daberte’s exhibition will be hosted. Along Daberte’s won works, Time Found will feature the works of Kristaps Freimanis, Armands Andže (LV) and the Portuguese artist Teresa Faleiro.
This will be followed by exhibitions at the ISSP Gallery, the Latvian Museum of Photography and the Gallery of Latvian Artist’s Union. From May 29 to June 11, ten Riga public transport stops will host the personal exhibition of Ukrainian artist Elena Subach Grandmothers on the Edge of Heaven. Also, the annual edition of RPB, which will be available at the festival venues during RPB – NEXT 2023, will feature a special “pocket” format exhibition of nine Ukrainian artists called Safe Light.
In parallel with the exhibitions, on June 3, those interested are invited to participate in the international conference Awkward topics: Troubleshooting.
For more information please visit: www.rpbiennial.com; www.look.gallery
Supporters and partners: State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, LOOK gallery, Hibnerstudio, Printing house Adverts, Arterritory.com, Echo Gone Wrong, Noba.ac
