Riga Photography Biennial program NEXT 2023 (RPB – NEXT 2023) is to take part from April 27 to July 23. The contemporary art event invites visitors to view eight exhibitions and participate in several educational events. The RPB – NEXT program takes place every other year and is dedicated to young and promising artists from Baltics, Nordic countries and other European countries who are still in the early stages of their creative careers. The focus of the 2023 program is the “awkward” topics – topics that are often avoided or silenced because they can provoke strong emotions and disagreements. This year, the festival will collaborate with the Ukrainian festival Odesa Photo Days, and Ukrainian artist Elena Subach has created the annual art project in Riga’s public transportation stops.
“The past two years have been spent in isolation. It has sparked many discussions about the impact such a phenomenon will have on society, including our mental health. Just as we thought we could start returning to our usual way of life, a new challenge shook the world – a war that requires us to rethink our values and clearly express our positions,” reads the RPB – NEXT 2023 statement. “We consider it essential to support Ukrainian artists by giving them the opportunity to continue their creative practices and secure earnings, as well as by popularizing Ukrainian culture. In this year’s program, Ukrainian photo art professionals have been given a special share,” adds the director of the Riga Photography Biennial Inga Brūvere.
The first RPB – NEXT 2023 exhibition will be featured in the annual publication dedicated to the event. Alongside the program, the exhibition “Safe Light” features nine young Ukrainian artists, acknowledging photography as a tool which constructs and shapes national identities and nurtures resistance. The exhibition, curated by Evita Goze (LV) and Yulia Krivich (UA / PL), will showcase the works of Ukrainian artists Vic Bakin, Nazar Furyk, Mykhaylo Palinchak, Viacheslav Poliakov, Polina Polikarpova, Julie Poly, Anton Shebetko, Daria Svertilova, and Zhenya Trifonova. The publication also includes an essay by Ukrainian visual culture researcher, writer, and curator Kateryna Iakovlenko, titled “Exactly That Body: Images Against Oppression”. It focuses on the dissemination and publication of cruel (and therefore uncomfortable images) as a form of speech and protest for victims of violence. The publication is edited by curator, artist, and journalist Evita Goze, and the artist is Līga Spunde (LV). The RPB – NEXT 2023 publication will be available at the event locations.
RPB – NEXT 2023 will open with an exhibition “Safe Spot” by Polish artist Michalina Kacperak at the exhibition hall Riga Art Space Intro hall. The exhibition tells a personal story of artist’s family life in dysfunctional circumstances, living with an alcoholic father. The inspiration for the exhibition came from her now 13-year-old sister’s ability to cope with the difficult situation. In an attempt to overcome the trauma of her past, the artist created photographs, installations, and a series of portraits of her father together with her sister. The exhibition, curated by Inga Brūvere, will be on view from April 28 to June 18 and was created in collaboration with the “Jednostka” gallery.
A day later, on April 29, viewers will be able to visit the LOOK gallery to see Latvian artist’s Adele Bea Cipste solo exhibition “On Transitions: Impressions of Abu Dhabi”. The exhibition will be available for three weeks until May 20. The show is a 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 in the context of continuously living “inbetween” Riga and Abu Dhabi. The exhibition is curated by Raivis Alksnis, head of the LOOK gallery.
On May 8, as part of RPB – NEXT 2023, the Experimental Art Space “Pilot” of the Art Academy of Latvia (AAL) will open its doors. Until July 15, an exhibition created by the winner of the competition “Emerging Curator!” will be on view. The competition by the specialization program for curators at the AAL and RPB – NEXT 2023 took place in October 2022. The best idea for an exhibition was admitted one by Latvian artist and curator Laima Daberte, titled “Time Found”. Alongside Daberte’s own works, the exhibition will also feature works by Kristaps Freimanis, Armands Andže (LV), and Portuguese artist Teresa Faleiro. The artists will examine a tendency inherent in human memory, i.e., the way in which the perception of place and space is interpreted in different ways, depending on the individual’s previous experience, feelings, thoughts or the lack of them at a given time.
As part of the festival, the best new artist will also be awarded: in a Baltic-wide competition RPB – NEXT 2023 competition “Seeking the Latest in Photography!” the jury recognized Lithuanian artist Ieva Baltaduonyte with her photo series “Uprooted”. The exhibition will be on display at the ISSP Gallery from May 12 to June 29. In her work, the artist brings to light the unphotographable trauma of forced displacement and war-related Post-traumatic stress disorder, thoughtfully engaging with the complex ripple-effects of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. At the opening of the exhibition on May 11, the four highest-rated contestants in the competition – Ieva Maslinskaite (LT), Kristīne Krauze-Slucka (LV), Līga Stibe (LV), and Hedi Jaansoo (EE) – will present their works as well. Meanwhile, artist Anna Dzērve (LV) will be greeted with the foundation’s “VV Foundation” award – an opportunity to participate in the “PaiR” residency in Pāvilosta – for her work “I’m glad he died” (2021). The artist will have the opportunity from May 23 to July 23. Armands Andže was awared the special prize from the Lithuanian independent publishing initiative NoRoutine Books. On May 12 at the ISSP Gallery, a presentation of his photobook “29 Landscapes” will take place.
On May 19 Diana Tamane’s (LV) exhibition “Half-love” will be opened. The work follows artist’s half-sister, her father’s daughter from his second marriage, growing up. The pictures were taken while spending summers together at their family home. The process of taking photos is an opportunity for Tamane to spend time with her half-sister, as well as a chance to re-enact her own childhood experiences against the background of a seemingly idyllic seaside village. The exhibition is curated by Evita Goze and will be available to viewers until the end of the RPB – NEXT 2023 program up until July 23.
Starting from May 26, a group exhibition “Language of Flowers” will be on view at the Gallery of Latvian Artist’s Union, running until July 2. The works of Hedi Jaansoo, Ieva Maslinskaite, Agate Tūna (LV), and Daniel Vincent Hansen (NO) will be on display. The exhibition features reflections by four young artists, or four different quests after the true essence of things, with the artists withdrawing into themselves and carefully questioning the language of their creative medium of choice, i.e., photography. The exhibition curators are the head of the Riga Photography Biennial Inga Brūvere and Norwegian artist and curator Marie Sjøvold.
For two weeks from May 29, photography will be on display in the urban environment of the Riga city. The series of works “Grandmothers on the Edge of Heaven” by Ukrainian artist Elena Subach will be available at 10 public transport stops. The series is dedicated to an ever-topical theme that takes on a special resonance in this time and situation. Originally conceived as a lyrical tribute to the older generation and a call to support loved ones, the project has taken on an even sadder aspect during the war. The beauty, fragility and vulnerability of the people make one even more acutely aware of the inestimable importance of mutual support. The project was created in collaboration with the Odesa Photo Days festival.
In June, the second part of the RPB – NEXT 2023 program will feature two significant events dedicated to the development of the photography industry. On June 3, an international open-to-all conference titled “Awkward Topics: Troubleshooting” will be held at the ISSP Gallery throughout the day. This year, art theorists, critics, and artists Sergey Melnitchenko (UA), Sasha Kurmaz (UA), Visvaldas Morkevicius (LT), Zuzana Pustaiova (SK), Agnieszka Sejud (PL), Inuuteq Storch (DK), Karolina Wojtas (PL), and Diāna Tamane (LV) together with conference curator Adam Mazur (PL) will explore how unpleasant phenomena such as burnout, depression, addiction, anxiety, guilt, toxic relationships, and all kinds of emotional breakdowns manifest themselves in photography.
On June 8, as part of the exhibition “Emerging Curator!” at the AAL Experimental Art Space “Pilot”, a public discussion will take place. Curator and director of the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Solvita Krese, curator, researcher and art critic Maija Rudovska, and artist and curator Kaspars Groševs will participate to discuss the challenges faced by freelance curators and representatives of non-governmental organizations in Latvia’s visual arts space and cultural policy context, as well as their previous international experience. The curator of the discussion and moderator is art historian and curator Antra Priede.
On June 10, RPB – NEXT 2023 invites the youngest generation – children aged 5-12 – to the exhibition hall Riga Art Space to participate in workshops led by the Latvian artist Līga Spunde.
Additionally, as part of the RPB – NEXT 2023 exhibitions, regular meetings, discussions, and walks with artists and curators will be held throughout the festival dates.
For more information about the Riga Photography Biennial and the NEXT 2023 program, please visit the event’s website at www.rpbiennial.com
Supporters and partners: State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council, Exhibition hall “Riga Art Space”, Art Academy of Latvia, Experimental Art Space of the Art Academy of Latvia “Pilot”, Artists’ Union of Latvia, ISSP Gallery, LOOK gallery, Latvian Museum of Photography, NoRoutine Books (LT), gallery “Jednostka” (PL), Odesa Photo Days (UA), Cultural Endowment of Estonia, VV Foundation, National Film School in Łódź, Nordic Council of Minister’s Office in Latvia, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Riga, Danish Cultural Institute in Latvia, Estonian Embassy in Riga, Embassy of Finland in Riga, Nordic Culture Point Mobility funding, Hibnerstudio, Rixwell Hotels, Valmiermuiža Brewery, Printing house “Adverts”, Arterritory.com, Echo Gone Wrong, Noba.ac
