The Latvian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale
North by North-East
1 June–24 November 2013
Artists: Kaspars Podnieks, Krišs Salmanis
Commissioners: Zane Čulkstēna and Zane Onckule
Curators: Anne Barlow, Courtenay Finn, Alise Tīfentāle
Organized by: kim? Contemporary Art Centre and Art in General
The Biennale exhibition, titled North by North-East, presents a new site-specific work that explores the artists’ relationship to the natural and ever-shifting man-made world—including perceived borders and centers in Europe—and that investigate the concepts and conditions of identity, uncertainty, and the ‘in-between.’
Kaspars Podnieks (b. 1980) has been participating in exhibitions since 1998. His work encompasses photography, video, installations, and environmental objects. His most recent group exhibitions include Generation of the Place: Image, Memory and Fictions in Baltics (2012) in Kaunas, Lithuania; Preview Berlin (2011) in Berlin; Life in the Forest (2011) in Bialystok, Poland, and solo exhibitions Unusual Place (2010) and Communicating Vessels (2011) at kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga, Latvia. Since 2005 Kaspars Podnieks has taken part in social and political activities in his home village Drusti—being a deputy of Drusti Council (since 2005), a Drusti Council chairman’s legal representative (since 2007) and a deputy of Rauna’s region (since 2010).
Krišs Salmanis (b. 1977) works with photography, video, installations, animation and graphics and has participated in exhibitions internationally since 1996. His latest solo exhibitions include Light (2012) in CAC Vilnius, Lithuania; The Fragility of Trust (2012) at gallery Alma in Riga, Latvia; The Earth may be spinning around the Sun, but the World is turning around me (2011) Raum linksrechts in Hamburg, Germany; and Moving Landscape (2011) at Galerie fűr Gegenwartskunst in Bremen, Germany. Since 2008 Krišs Salmanis has contributed articles on contemporary art processes for the visual arts magazine Studija and contributes to other daily press on a regular basis.
The Biennale collaboration heralds one of several new partnerships between Art in General and organizations in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Egypt, among others, that will support the commissioning of new work and international exchange throughout 2013.