For their first winter program, one of Riga’s youngest contemporary art spaces TUR_telpa organized three exhibitions under the umbrella theme “From the Cold into the Light.” In reflection of the mood of the times, as 2023 opened a year of uncertainty – a malicious war close to home; rising inflation driving up prices for gas, electricity, food and drink; and, uncertainty around a lingering COVID pandemic – TUR_telpa looked to keep the light turned on by offering a diverse, compelling art program that guided through the cold, toward warmer, lighter days. Artists Inga Erdmane, Andris Kaļiņins and Maija Kurševa were invited to create new work specifically for the space of TUR_telpa and considering “From the Cold into the Light.” The series was curated by Dutch artist Edd Schouten.
In the center of the space a large 5 x 5 x 5 meter box, designed by Japanese architect Reiji Kobayashi, was constructed that would function as a meeting space for visitors and a place where special events could be organized. Artists Estere Betija Grāvere, Maksimiliāns Kotovičs, Reinis Lodziņš and Kristina Rezvõhh formed a collaborative team that considered the interior and exterior of the Cube and its relation to the space. As an alternative to the artist talk and to encourage interdisciplinary exchange, American pianist and sound artist, Robert Fleitz, was invited to perform and respond to each exhibition resulting in three concerts within the box.
Photo: TUR_telpa
Inga Erdmane 19.01 – 18.02.2023
“Neredzamās pilsētas” (Invisible Cities)
For “Invisible Cities” Inga Erdmane created new work focussed on Tallinas Ielas Kvartāls – the quarter on which TUR_telpa is located – its history and how the memories from what was before has faded with time. In her work, Erdmane’s interest in systems and structures is often focussed on boundaries, where individuals enter spaces that are obscured or recollection is forgotten. For “Invisible Cities” she explored archives; interviewed witnesses from the time when Tallinas kvartāls was an emergency vehicle depot and garage; and collected photographs from private and public collections. The further back she went, the harder it was to get a clear picture of what was before.
In her practice, Erdmane’s interest in the materiality of photography often compels her to use different techniques to create distortion and deformation of the material she works with. In this case she obscured collected photographs taken around Tallinas ielas kvartāls in the past adding another veil to reiterate the fading of memory by time and its elements. Along with large format photographs she attempts to tell a hidden story which can never be completely uncovered. It remains buried by time and the viewer is invited to theorize about how it could have been before it became part of an invisible city shrouded by the past.
Photography: Inga Erdmane
Andris Kaļiņins 23.02 – 25.03.2023
“Baltā zāle” (Weißer Saal)
Andris Kaļiņins’ exhibition “Weißer Saal” was the second in TUR_telpa’s winter series of exhibitions “From the Cold into the Light” and presented new paintings inspired by his interest in museality and the materiality of painting in its different facets.
Using the entirety of TUR_telpa, Kaļiņins placed his paintings within the context of an abstracted art history museum where he playfully refered to how European museums, and the artistic movements they display, are organized. During visits to prominent European museums dedicated to art, Kaļiņins was particularly intrigued by the impressive spaces dedicated to paintings. These spaces, like sanctuaries to the paint and the act of painting, left a permanent impression on Kaļiņins. Here he creates an installation of paintings that refer as much to museological topics as it does to art historical movements.
Kaļiņins draws a line between the period before and after the Enlightenment. On one side he refers to the time when the divine was considered the single source of light. On the opposite side, to the period after the Enlightenment when light became a multi faceted reality described technologically and scientifically by, amongst others, Goethe and Newton. In “Weißer Saal” Kaļiņins presents paintings but also takes the opportunity to consider the effect of light, color, reflection and absorption in a context that is simultaneously hyper real and abstract.
Photography: Didzis Grodzs
Maija Kurševa 30.03 – 29.04.2023
“Lapa uz lapas” (Sheet on Sheet)
For the final exhibition in the series “From the Cold into the Light” Maija Kurševa invited the viewer into an installation dedicated to a single sheet of paper swinging in the wind.
Nearly 300 drawings made with varnish on semi transparent paper gently sway from an intricate wooden structure. Each drawing is a moment of movement of a solitary sheet of paper as it swings from beginning to end to beginning again. A frame by frame animation made up of the drawings form a loop projected on the wall. Together, these frames of animation presented as drawings in space and as a projected loop create a sense of dynamization of space and spatialization of time.
A movement explored and then captured in a loop. The seeming simplicity of the installation hides a conscientious process of finding a satisfying movement; filming and then animating each moment; transcribing each individual frame on a sheet of paper cut out by hand; and finally photographing each drawing on a lightbox and animating the result. Like an ant, Kurševa executed each step of the process painstakingly, repeating the gesture of cutting paper by hand, drawing the lines of each individual movement, photographing each individual sheet. In that sense there is a playful contradiction in the work of Maija Kurševa. The seeming ease and lightness with which she invites the viewer to experience the work conceal the care she takes with each and every step of her process.
With the final step in the process, placing the work in the unique space of TUR_telpa, Kurševa remains meticulous and attentive to conceptual and aesthetic details. The delicate wooden structure holding the drawings, seemingly as light as the drawings themselves, is somehow kindred to the massive 5 by 5 by 5 box that has been central to TUR_telpa during the cold winter months. The foggy materiality of the images – creating a sense of lightness and adding to the overall sensory experience – are also reflected in the opaqueness of the semi transparent surfaces that filter light into the exhibition space. Even the projected loop and the white wall that receives it seem to share an erratic quality that make it almost one.
“Sheet on Sheet” is an installation where the beginning and end can be the same place and the space in between as endless as a loop. It is an invitation to lightness, a contemplation of time, space and movement. It has been nominated for the 2025 Purvitis Prize.
Photography: Didzis Grodzs