Launching Riga Photomonth 2016: exhibitions Territories and Self Publish Riga

May 10

Festival Riga Photomonth 2016 will be officially launched with 2 exhibitions – Territories and Self Publish Riga at the Latvian Railway History Museum on 12 May at 6.30pm. On the following days, the programme of artist talks and discussions with internationally recognized artists, curators and photobook experts will be offered to visitors.

The exhibition Territories focuses on mutual interaction between a place, an individual and the respective period of time, at the same time posing questions on common and different features in North and East European photography. The exhibited works represent both socio-political and personal traits – the USA-born photographer Andrew Miksys who is based in Lithuania will be represented by a series of works Tulips created throughout several years when he took photos at the Victory Day in Belorussia. The holidays, though, were a mere backdrop for the photographs while looking for peripheral evidences of the world that should be part of the past but is stubbornly resilient in the present. Norwegian photographer Sara Skorgan Teigen in her series of works Fractal State of Being is focusing on her own emotions connecting them to shapes and structures common in their nature. The territory in works of the Russian photographer Igor Samolet is his hometown in the north of Russia where he has followed a group of young people for 2 years including their rave-ups in abandoned buildings, reckless use of alcohol and drugs, senseless experiments with sex and violence while discovering emptiness and loneliness they are facing when returning to their ordinary life.

In the series of Latvian photographer Katrīna Ķepule Sit Silent she is spotlighting the border where the “modern Europe” meets the Soviet times overlapping or conflicting each other. The exhibition will also feature the works of Latvian photographer Daniels Mekšs, Finnish photographer Heikki Kaski and Belarusian photographer Igor Savchenko.

On 13 and 15 May the exhibition will be feature artist talks and discussions. Both the exhibition and the lecture programme have been elaborated with support of the ABLV Charitable Foundation.

Together with the exhibition Territories, the exhibition Self Publish Riga organized by the ISSP will also be opened at the Latvian Railway History Museum. The exhibition is dedicated to photobooks and opportunities provided by independent publishing houses and self-publishing.  The exhibition will feature 9 collections with more than 200 books from all over the world, including one of the most prestige photobook competitions in the world Paris Photo - Aperture PhotoBook Award last year’s finalists; Asia –Pacific Photobook Archive collection with the latest self-published books and books published by independent publishing houses in the Asia-Pacific region; the collection of Latvian artist Andrejs Strokins Private Albums; witty publications of the Dutch publishing house KesselsKramer collecting found pictures such as unsuccessful attempts to take photographs of a dog or the most common failure of amateur photographers – a finger put in front of the lens; the exhibition will also feature the latest Collection of Photobooks of the Baltic states cured by curator and journalist Evita Goze; the selection of the best books submitted to the Self Publish Riga photobook layout competition, as well as other collections. More information about the self-publishing culture will be provided at the artist talks and discussions of international photobook experts on 14 May.

At the weekend of the opening week on 13 May at 8pm, the exhibition MIXTAPE also will be opened at K.K. fon Strick Villa where works of 5 young authors – the graduates from the ISSP International Master Class Ieva Raudsepa (Latvia), Salvatore Vitale (Italy/Switzerland), Emanuele Camerini (Italy), Ulrike Schmidt (Germany) and Merlin Nadj-Torma (Germany) will be displayed.

The entrance will be free at exhibitions Territories and Self Publish Riga at the Latvian Railway History Museum in the opening week of the Festival 12 –15 May. Entrance fee from 16 may – 16 June: adults 3.50 EUR; students, pensioners 2.50 EUR, for children and disabled persons the entrance is free of charge.

Museum’s opening hours: Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat from10am-5pm, Thu10am-8pm. The museum will be closed on June10. One of the photography series displayed at the exhibition Territories is not recommended for children under the age of 18.

Exhibitions, artist talks, discussions, Master Classes and film shows will take place in the framework of the festival Riga Photomonth 2016 in the Railway History Museum, Latvian Museum of Photography, LNL Exhibition Hall, LMC Office Gallery, Riga Film Museum, Kaņepe Culture Centre and other places all throughout till June 16. The festival Riga Photomonth 2016 will take place on 2l May –16 June, offering 10 exhibitions and more than 20 events with a common theme Borders and Check-Points. The Riga Photomonth is hosted by the Riga Photomonth Society, ISSP Society, and FK magazine in cooperation with the Latvian Museum of Photography, LKA Riga Film Museum, National Library of Latvia, Centre of Contemporary Art, and JCDecaux. The festival is supported by ABLV Charitable Foundation, Riga City Council, State Culture Capital Foundation, Nordic Club House, Sony, French Institute, USA Embassy, Antalis, NicePlace Mansards, The Mill, Jelgava Printing-House, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Mercure Hotel Riga, Piens.

 

Picture by Sara Skorgena Teigen. From series Fractal State of Being

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