Riga Photomonth 2016 programme
EXHIBITIONS
13 May – 16 June, Latvian Railway History Museum
Territories
The exhibition Territories raise awareness of the mutual interaction between an individual and the respective period of time in auteur photography. Seven photographers from Northern- and Eastern Europe - Heikki Kaski (FI), Katrīna Ķepule (LV), Daniels Mekšs (LV), Andrew Miksys (US/LT), Igor Samolet (RU), Igor Savchenko (BY) and Sara Skorgen Teigen (NO) - reveal territories and borders that turn out to be not only geographic but also socio-political and personal. The artists focus on the social landscape of Belarus, Californian town Tranquillity, stories on youth subcultures, as well as the relationship of photography as a medium with reality and memory. At the same time, the exhibition questions the common and different features in the photography of Northern and Eastern Europe.
SELF PUBLISH RIGA
SELF PUBLISH RIGA is a bi-annual series of events dedicated to photobooks and self-publishing culture. The exhibition includes: Paris Photo - Aperture PhotoBook Awards 2015, a selection of photobooks published by KesselsKramer, The Sochi Project publications, curated collections by The Library Project and Asia-Pacific Photobook Archive, Private Albums curated by Andrejs Strokins, The Photobook as a Platform for Critical Thoughts curated by Nico Baumgarten, a collection with books from the Baltics curated by Evita Goze and as well the best entries from the SELF PUBLISH RIGA photobook dummy contest.
2 May – 15 May; urban environment
Territories, Borders and Check-Points
The exhibition Territories, Borders and Check-Points will be displayed in the urban environment. JCDecaux advertising stands throughout the city of Riga will feature works by Aija Bley (LV) , Albert Elm (DK), Albin Millot (FR), Alexander Vasukovich (BY), Alicja Dobrucka (UK), Andrea Buzzichelli (IT), Daesung Lee (FR), Etienne Malapert (CH), Matteo Pasin (IT), Mariya Kozhanova (RU), Philotheus Nisch (DE), Siarhiej Leskiec (BY), Farshid Tighehsaz (IR), Ursula Sprecher and Andi Cortellini (CH) and Urszula Kluz-Knopek (PL). The works have been selected and shortlisted from more than 800 applications by an international jury.
2 May – 15 May; bus stop on 13 January street
Reinis Lismanis. commission01
Behind-the-scenes of image making are in the centre of the London-based Latvian artist Reinis Lismanis (1992). Echoing the global outreach of JCDecaux, the universal language of advertising is not denied but rather emphasized – various superficial props create glossy, sharp, eye-catching, manipulated images that refer to the architecture of the commercial stands and adverts themselves. Digital and analogue tools have been merged creating a flattened, confusing space that engages with the chaos of digital photography (from slick advertising to your lunch on Instagram) and aims to undermine the illusions successfully created in images.
19 May – 26 June; Latvian Museum of Photography
JHE
Solo show of the internationally acclaimed photographer JH Engström. The book Trying to Dance was released in 2004 and became one of the most sought after photobooks during the last 15 years and also marked JH Engström’s international breakthrough in the contemporary art scene. Trying to Dance consisted of nudes of young men and women, urban and rural landscapes, empty rooms and self-portraits. Twelve years later at the exhibition JHE in Riga Engström focuses on some of the self-portraits in the series exhibiting previously unpublished and non-displayed self-portraits.
7 May – 30 May; National Library Exhibition Hall
Paintings and Sculptures
The exhibition features works from artists of three different generations - Eduards Gaiķis, Jānis Valters Ezeriņš and Līga Spunde. Their experiments with photography reveal the quest for the boundaries of the medium. Each of them challenges the physicality of photography in their own way, equating its qualities to painting and sculpture. Eduards Gaiķis (1881-1961) will be represented with autochrome photographs made in the beginning of the 20th century – examples of early colour photography. From the works of Jānis Valters Ezeriņš (1938) the crystallography series will be exhibited, whereas the youngest generation is represented by Līga Spunde’s (1990) installation made as a graduation work at the Art Academy of Latvia.
27 May – 22 June; LLMC Office Gallery
Vanishing Point
The first joint exhibition by the emerging photographers Laura Igoveņa (1991) and Ģirts Reiniks (1987). Their photographs manifest the attempts to redefine the perception of landscape. Laura Igoveņa is graduating from the Art Academy of Latvia this year, whereas Ģirts Reiniks has graduated from the University of Latvia and is a graphic designer, as well as the event organizer of music platform RIOT.
14 May – 3 June; K.K. fon Stricka Villa
ISSP International Masterclass exhibition MIXTAPE
Curated by photographer, curator, editor-in-chief of SeeSaw Aaron Schuman, the exhibition will feature works by the first graduates of this new year-long programme for emerging photographers. Featured artists: Emanuele Camerini (IT), Merlin Nadj-Torma (DE), Ieva Raudsepa (LV), Ulrike Schmitz (DE), Salvatore Vitale (IT/CH)
30 May - 31 August; Vīna Studija
Aside
Latvian photographer Reinis Hofmanis captures life in migrant areas in Mussafah, an industrial town next to Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates. The photographs reveal the hidden part of the city - entirely industrial area with labor camps and street grids where the houses fall in an almost exact, mathematical structure.
3 June – 23 June; Kanepes Culture Centre
The ISSP student exhibition
Group exhibition, where the authors experiment in the field of photography by testing its boundaries and expanding their own and viewer’s perceptions of the medium. Nora Vrubļevska views photography as communication and sets pictures to movement. Laima Vainiņa is using photography as a therapeutic medium. Linda Ansone looks into the notion of public vs. private and human behaviour in provocation. Līga Goldberga works with found photographs and appropriates them in new meanings. Ieva Vīksne uses modern formal methods to look into the relationship between culture and identity. Krista Valaine’s project is about human relationship with the material world. Liene Biezā investigates individual quests and generalizes them in a broader context by using archives and analogue photography. Liene Leonoviča looks at the natural vs. unnatural and challenges the methods of commercial photography.
EVENTS
5 May
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
18:00
Artist talk by Arnold van Bruggen and Anoek Steketee (NL)
The authors of The Sochi Project- a Dutch author and an artist - will present a lecture on slow journalism & modern documentary.
6 May
National Library Exhibition Hall
18:00
Opening of the exhibition Paintings and Sculptures
The exhibition features works from artists of three different generations - Eduards Gaiķis, Jānis Valters Ezeriņš and Līga Spunde. Their experiments with photography reveal the quest for the boundaries of the medium.
9 May
Orbita Space
18:00
Launch of the photobook SCHEMA by Alexander Gronsky and Ksenia Babushkina
10 May
NicePlace Mansards
18:00
Opening of the publication Latvian Photography 2016
The opening event of the FK Magazine’s annual publication. This year it features the oeuvre of five female photographers from Latvia: Katrīna Ķepule, Rūta Kalmuka, Margrieta Dreiblate, Ieva Balode and Viktorija Eksta, as well as interviews with the authors and an essay by the art historian Jana Kukaine.
11 May
The ISSP
18:30
Flâneur artist talks
Artist talks by the Flâneur residency artists Alex F. Webb (UK) and Diana Artus (DE). They have spent a month in Riga creating auteur projects on the theme of urban wanderer (flâneur).
12 May
Latvian Railway History Museum
18:30
Opening of exhibitions Territories and SELF PUBLISH RIGA
Not only geographical, but also socio-political and personal territories and boundaries are discovered by seven photographers in their exhibition Territories. The exhibition SELF PUBLISH RIGA is dedicated to photobooks, self-publishing culture in photography and visual art.
13 May
Latvian Railway History Museum
16:00
Artist talk by Sara Skorgen Teigen
Sara Skorgen Teigen (1984) is a Norwegian photographer focusing on the depths of human soul in her highly acclaimed projectFractal State of Being. She re-definesthe meaning of sketchbooks by combining photographs, notes and drawings.
17:00
Discussion Challenges of Photo Magazines in the Digital Age
The participants include Tim Clark (1000 Words, UK), Salvatore Vitale (Yet magazine, CH), Anastasia Fedorova (Carvert Journal, UK), Vincent Marcilhacy (The Eyes, FR), the talk will be moderated by Arnis Balčus (FK Magazine, LV)
18:15
Discussion featuring artists of the exhibition Territories
Talk with the artists featured in the exhibition – Andrew Miksys (LT), Heikki Kaski (FI), Igor Samolet (RU), Daniels Mekšs (LV), Katrīna Ķeipule (LV) and Sara Skjorgen Teigen (NO), moderated by JH Engström (SE).
K.K. fon Strick villa
20:00
Opening of the ISSP International Masterclass Exhibition
The ISSP International Masterclass Exhibition is curated by the photographer, publicist, founder and editor of the SeeSaw magazine Aaron Schuman.
14 May
Latvian Railway History Museum
12:00 – 19:30
SELF PUBLISH RIGA Artist talks
Talks on photobooks, book publishing and design by acknowledged industry experts and bookmakers: Erik Kessels (KesselsKramer), Gordon MacDonald (GOST Books), Hester Keijser (The Independent Photo Book), Tom Mrazauskas (Brave Books), Angel Luis Gonzalez (The Library Project). The talks will be followed by a discussion moderated by Nico Baumgarten.
15 May
Latvian Railway History Museum
12:00
Discussion Image Interpretation Processes in the Post-Soviet Countries
The discussion will focus on the problematic issues in organising photo festivals in the Post-Soviet countries. Participants – Nestan Nijaradze (Tbilisi Photo festival), Mindaugas Kavaliauskas (Kaunas Photo festival), Laura Toots (Tallinn Photomonth), Andrei Liankevich (Minsk Month of Photography), moderator - Kateryna Radchenko (Odessa/Batumi Photo Days).
14:00
Heikki Kaski Artist’s talk
Heikki Kaski (1987) is a Finnish photographer whose book Tranquillity has been prized as one of the best photobooks in 2014. The series has been created in a provincial town in California and reveals a mystical world without a certainbeginning and end.
15:00
Igor Samolet Artist talk
In his series be happy! Igor Samolet (1984) is documenting the sub-culture of young people in a Russian provincial town. Alcohol, drugs, sex, violence and pornography are the key elements to reveal various conditions in human relationship.
18 May
Riga Film Museum
18:00
Documentary Somewhere to Disappear
The documentary follows one of the leading contemporary photographers Alec Soth in the process of shooting his project Broken Manual. Director Laure Flammarion, Arnaud Uytttenhove, France, 2010, 57‘ (in English).
19 May
Latvian Museum of Photography
18:00
Opening of the exhibition JHE
Exhibition of the self-portraits by internationally acclaimed Swedish photographer JH Engström; the self-portraits have been created as a part of his legendary photo series Trying to Dance (2004).
20 May
The Mill
18:00
FK Prize 2016
Portfolio review for emerging Latvian photographers to determine the FK Prize winner.
21 May
Latvian Railway History Museum
19:00-01:00
Museum Night
Exhibitions Territories and SELF PUBLISH RIGA are also accessible during the night within the framework of the Museum Night.
25 May
K.K. fon Strick villa
18:30
Flâneur closing presentation-exhibition
The presentation event for works created in Riga by Flâneur photography residence artists Alex F. Webb (UK) and Diana Artus (DE), in collaboration with the collective Orbīta.
26 May
Latvian Railway History Museum
18:00
SELF PUBLISH RIGA lectures
27 May
LLMC Office Gallery
18:00
Opening of the exhibition Vanishing Point
The first joint exhibition of young artists Laura Igovena (1991) and Ģirts Reiniks (1987). Their photographs manifest an interest in the surrounding environment and attempts to redefine the traditional landscape perception.
1 June
Riga Film Museum
18:00
Documentary On the Edge of the World
Personal and honest stories told by homeless people in Paris. Authors of the documentary including photographer Sylvain Leser have been able to earn their trust in a long period of observation. Director Claus Drexel, France, 2013, 98‘ (in French, with English subtitles)
2 June
Kaņepes Culture Centre
18:00
Gala Exhibition of the ISSP graduates
Gala exhibition of the ISSP graduatesis presented as an installation of light, audio and video. Participants: Linda Ansone, Liene Biezā, Līga Goldberga, Liene Leonoviča, Laima Vainiņa, Krista Valaine, Ieva Vīksne, Nora Vrubļevska.
WORKSHOPS
6 – 8 May, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
Workshop with Arnold van Bruggen, AnoekSteketee & Rob Hornsta (NL)
Long-term documentary projects: how to make an impact, find an audience and achieve the best results. The number of participants is limited; book a place at: selfpublishriga.com
8 – 11 May; Nordic Club House
Workshop Words and Pictures – Pictures and Words by Gordon MacDonald
The workshop Words and Pictures – Pictures and Words with Gordon MacDonald (GOST Books) offers photographers, visual artists and photobook editors to learn more about the relationship of the text and image. The number of participants is limited; book a place at: selfpublishriga.com
PORTFOLIO REVIEW
13 May; Nordic Club House
9:30-15:00
Portfolio Review is an opportunity for emerging and mid-career photographers to showcase their work to an exclusive group of professionals in the field of photography including curators, photo festival directors, magazine editors and photographers. The reviewers include Kim Knoppers, Salvatore Vitale, Nestan Nijaradze, Tim Clark, Andrei Liankevich, Zane Onckule, Mindaugas Kavaliauskas, Vincent Marcilhacy, Laura Toots, Anastasia Fedorova, Krzysztof Candrowicz and Alnis Stakle. The number of participants is limited; book a place at: rigaphotomonth.com