Exhibition curators – Rasa Šmite and Raitis Šmits.

Santa France (Sunta Frunce) is ... Read More »]]> Le Solitaire (French for patience, loner) is a single player card game, played by arranging cards in a particular order. Digital illustrations, animations, and net artworks displayed in the solo show by Santa France, titled after the card game, have been produced in communication with a computer, creating and arranging 3D objects in compositions by principles known only to the author herself. Through designing glossy interiors and creating still life compositions, answers are sought to the question “how to be alone?” – to work in solitude, to be self-sufficient, how to compensate the lack of human contact by browsing the internet and using one’s inner resources. The works displayed in the “Le Solitaire” exhibition are created by the artist after graduating New Media Art program in Liepaja University (2017).

Exhibition curators – Rasa Šmite and Raitis Šmits.

Santa France (Sunta Frunce) is a multimedia artist born in 1993, in her artistic practice she explores the potential of 3D software and uses it to create web collages, video, animated gif images and digital illustrations. 3D environments made by the artist have been recently published on the cover of the German design journal “Form”.

http://suntafrunce.tumblr.com/

Curated by Alnis Stakle and Arnis Balčus.

• Archival prints on matte paper

“Sword Lilies” is a series of photographs that visually explores cultural heritage of Latgale (a region located in the Eastern part of Latvia). The project includes photos, which were taken during three years by one well known Latvian photographer – Iveta Vaivode.

Since Latgale’s separation from Vitebsk province in 1917 and its inclusion in Latvia as a part of a united country, this region has had a special place in the formation of Latvian national identity. Although Latgale is a part of Latvia, in some sense it represents a standalone land, in which high religiousness is interspersed with rich folk traditions. Latgalian language, Catholicism and unique, even wild countryside allows stranger to experience magical moments ... Read More »]]>

“Sword Lilies” is a series of photographs that visually explores cultural heritage of Latgale (a region located in the Eastern part of Latvia). The project includes photos, which were taken during three years by one well known Latvian photographer – Iveta Vaivode.

Since Latgale’s separation from Vitebsk province in 1917 and its inclusion in Latvia as a part of a united country, this region has had a special place in the formation of Latvian national identity. Although Latgale is a part of Latvia, in some sense it represents a standalone land, in which high religiousness is interspersed with rich folk traditions. Latgalian language, Catholicism and unique, even wild countryside allows stranger to experience magical moments and harsh reality. Author’s experience within the project has been transformed into a visual narrative, which shows people in Latgale, their values and gradually fading memories.

The author notes: “While being in Latgale, I’m taken by the feeling of loss, but at the same time – a wild sense of joy. Latgale has become the metaphor for the loss of childhood.

When I see emptiness here and the putrescence of heritage of elapsed time, I become a witness of disappearance of Latgale that I know. However, it is not only the loss of the past, this is my attempt to capture even the last reflections of our well-known landscape.”

Iveta Vaivode (1979) is one of the most well-known photographers in Latvia. She holds Master’s Degree in Photography, University of Art & Design, Helsinki, Finland. Her photo series “Klēpis/ Somewhere On A Disappearing Path” has received a number of international awards, amongst which – CO Berlin Talents 2013, The Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Grant, CDS Documentary Essay Prize for Photography, as well as nominations in major world photo contests “Sony World Photography Awards” and “Leica Oscar Barnack Award”.

Since 2008, Iveta Vaivode is a member of the board of a nonprofit organization ISSP (International Summer School of Photography) and is responsible for the ISSP School the training program and individual courses.

“Arsenal” has become the main keyword for the event, both through an attempt to build a link with the function of the building of the ARSENĀLS Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) over the centuries, and pointing towards the history of armament and its relevance today. Kristians Brekte’s most ambitious personal exhibition to date consists of new works – large-format paintings, ready-made objects and multimedia installations – all on the military subject.

Brekte’s visual language, which has been developed in a creative career spanning more than ten years, includes links to goth and black metal subculture, street art, religion, art history and pop culture. The artist is fascinated with the ... Read More »]]>

“Arsenal” has become the main keyword for the event, both through an attempt to build a link with the function of the building of the ARSENĀLS Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art (LNMA) over the centuries, and pointing towards the history of armament and its relevance today. Kristians Brekte’s most ambitious personal exhibition to date consists of new works – large-format paintings, ready-made objects and multimedia installations – all on the military subject.

Brekte’s visual language, which has been developed in a creative career spanning more than ten years, includes links to goth and black metal subculture, street art, religion, art history and pop culture. The artist is fascinated with the dark side of our society, dealing in his works with the notions of death, suffering, sexuality, faith and amorality. The vandalism of the subject matter in the artist’s sculptural installations mixes with formal perfection and technical mastery, uniting sharply critical or revealing references and quotes in the already familiar aesthetics. It is also marked by the use of colour, material, light and sound, always anew pointing to Brekte’s interest in deconstructing such traditional forms of art as painting, sculpture and printmaking and creating a distance from the way they are generally perceived.

For this exhibition, the space that once served as a military warehouse, will be used both associatively and literally as a framework for the exhibits, which were made by studying episodes of cultural history. Kristians Brekte’s works turn the ARSENĀLS Exhibition Hall into a contemporary narrative on human nature under the circumstances of real or imagined threat. Found photographs, vernacular objects, screenprints, sculptural objects, oil paintings, noise music embody the artist’s understanding of the essence of an arsenal and its significance today.

Artists Kristians Brekte and Modris Svilāns present Solaris, an exhibition devoted to analogue photography. Both authors argue that as a result of technological development digital photography has become more accessible and increasingly popular, which has led to the demise of analogue photography – this historically significant way of documenting the world. The use of camera obscura enables photographers to preserve a close contact with the photographed environment, while remaining open to experiment and chance. Both artists have spent more than a year working with a self-assembled pinhole camera creating photographs known as solargraphs. Using long exposures, these images record landscapes created by the paths of the sun.

Kristians Brekte (1981) studied scenography at the Art Academy of Latvia. Currently he ... Read More »]]>

Artists Kristians Brekte and Modris Svilāns present Solaris, an exhibition devoted to analogue photography. Both authors argue that as a result of technological development digital photography has become more accessible and increasingly popular, which has led to the demise of analogue photography – this historically significant way of documenting the world. The use of camera obscura enables photographers to preserve a close contact with the photographed environment, while remaining open to experiment and chance. Both artists have spent more than a year working with a self-assembled pinhole camera creating photographs known as solargraphs. Using long exposures, these images record landscapes created by the paths of the sun.

Kristians Brekte (1981) studied scenography at the Art Academy of Latvia. Currently he is Associate Professor and Head of the Environmental Art subdivision in the Department of Design. Since 2003 he has participated in group exhibitions in Latvia, as well as Europe, Russia and the USA. He was nominated for the Purvītis Prize for his exhibition The Madonnas of Riga (2010) and was awarded the Best Foreign Artist (under 35) award at the international contemporary art fair Art Vilnius’12.

Modris Svilāns (1979) studied metal design at the Art Academy of Latvia. He is an enthusiast of analogue photography and has participated in group exhibitions since 2003. His solo exhibition Inertia in 2012 at the Latvian Association of Architects was devoted to kinetic art objects and black and white photography. In 2014 he exhibited together with Kristians Brekte in Negative at Cesis Castle.

The main idea behind the exhibition RESTART is a pronounced necessity to deepen the understanding of our world, by highlighting its dialectical connection with the past and the future. We can all but fantasize whether the future influences today, whilst attempting to guess what will be the shape of our future memories?

The exhibition also explores the current trends in photography as an artistic practice, since, as a result of a rapid development of modern technologies, we are forced to re-evaluate the significance of images and their conveyed meaning. Today photography is everywhere. Traditional photography as an aesthetic and documentary medium has been supplemented with numerous other notions, requiring us to survey this new content.

In reference to the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the exhibition Olympic Body problematises the traditions of sport and physical culture and their relationship to specific visual and narrative canons.

The development of the body’s physical abilities and specific systems of exercises were originally related to the army. Only during the second half of the 19th century gymnastics was added to school programmes and became particularly popular in the authoritarian atmosphere of the 1920s and 30s. The 100-year history of the Olympic Games with their reference to Ancient Greece shows that they have not merely been a competition of top athletes. ... Read More »]]>

In reference to the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the exhibition Olympic Body problematises the traditions of sport and physical culture and their relationship to specific visual and narrative canons.

The development of the body’s physical abilities and specific systems of exercises were originally related to the army. Only during the second half of the 19th century gymnastics was added to school programmes and became particularly popular in the authoritarian atmosphere of the 1920s and 30s. The 100-year history of the Olympic Games with their reference to Ancient Greece shows that they have not merely been a competition of top athletes. Several Olympiads have taken place as political gestures, while the triumphs of participants – as demonstrations of national superiority. The visual representation and symbols of the games, for example, Leni Riefenstahl’s film Olympia (1936) or the mascot of the Moscow Games – the bear Misha (1980), are reflections of the political, economic and ideological situation of their time having strong influence on the sphere of culture. The epic opening events of the games have become a tradition, recalling multimedia shows with the participation of singers, musicians, artists and the demonstration of the latest technological achievements. At the same time, the participants of the games, even medallists, often disappear from the public sphere at the end of their fame and careers.

The exhibition consists of several sections. In the Salon’s Main Gallery, curator Līga Lindenbauma traces the canonical representation of the Olympic Games and the sports represented with the help of paintings, posters, photographs by Latvian artists as well as fragments from newsreels. In the Balcony, playing on the aesthetics of curiosity cabinets that were popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, various mementos of the victories of Latvian sportsmen, trophies and other objects related to Olympic and other games. In the Salon’s Upper Gallery, artist Andrejs Strokins has created an exposition from found objects, including souvenirs and photographs, pointing to the multivalence of sport and the human body engaged in it.

“Faster! Higher! Stronger!” announces the Olympic motto. As a comment on the cult of consumption and the ever increasing tempo of living, it has become a part of virtually every Westerner’s life in the 21st century. The environment must be supplemented with the latest technologies, new horizons and challenges have to be mastered at work, while leisure and private life must be conscious and fulfilled. Every day of a contemporary human’s life is an Olympiad of living standards.

The Danish photographer Jacob Aue Sobol (1976) uses camera as a tool in order to create contact, closeness and intimacy with people and random places, even if only for a short period of time. Sobol compares taking pictures with hunting: “Relationship that hunters establish with the surrounding nature is very important. This feeling has left a great impact on my life and work”.

• 122 prints 67x100cm for Petersen• 40 prints 100x150cm and 5 prints 150x225cm for Sobol• Petersen pictures on Hahnemuehle ... Read More »]]> The Swedish photographer and a living legend Anders Petersen (1944) is known for his ability to find a common language with complete strangers, thus creating intimate, distinct human portraits. About his creative work Petersen says: “The stuff I do is a kind of private documentary photography. It is a real challenge – to be present, but maintain the distance.”

The Danish photographer Jacob Aue Sobol (1976) uses camera as a tool in order to create contact, closeness and intimacy with people and random places, even if only for a short period of time. Sobol compares taking pictures with hunting: “Relationship that hunters establish with the surrounding nature is very important. This feeling has left a great impact on my life and work”.

In conversation with Ojārs, I attempted to touch upon his vision for this exhibition. Upon perusing the sheet of paper he gave me bearing the names of the works, it seemed that I was almost bound to decode the intentions concealed behind the mysterious phrases. It seems that each ... Read More »]]> Although Ojārs Pētersons describes his works as the exercises of a playing trainer and only succumbs to their interpretation with the greatest reluctance, in essence they are attempts at abstraction from generally accepted assertions. His works are rich in the irony, which he often uses to resolve questions that matter to him, thus depicting his attitude towards the information overload so characteristic of this age. However, their conceptual stratum is not confined to an anecdote that can be told in a few words – his works are perplexingly complex and carefully calculated.

In conversation with Ojārs, I attempted to touch upon his vision for this exhibition. Upon perusing the sheet of paper he gave me bearing the names of the works, it seemed that I was almost bound to decode the intentions concealed behind the mysterious phrases. It seems that each work is transformed into a complex riddle, which must be solved by all means possible, in order to unravel the insight cloaked therein.

Not yet having seen the exhibition, strangely enough, my ignorance about that which we will ultimately get to see, chimes with the questions that will be resolved in this exhibition. In other words, while everyone has theoretical knowledge of the various phenomena one encounters in the world, one’s actual experience and interaction with such are often lacking. Our impressions are based on previously conceived assumptions, which ultimately restrict us.

Ojārs prefers to contemplate questions that comprise a kind of inner world order. Each work is akin to an attempt to find an answer to the particular problem, which engages him at that moment in time.

Tomass Pārups