© Synnøve Sizou G. Wetten | “Is this now? XXYX”, excerpt from the video, 2019
This year the Riga Photography Biennial (RFB) is taking place for the fifth time. Continuing to follow the development of image culture, the RFB invites to think about identity with a wide-ranging program of exhibitions and education in Riga and Sigulda from 18 April to 14 July.
Asusual, the Biennial's themes range from cultural theory to currentsocio-political processes, focusing on the Baltic, Nordic and European regions.Riga Photography Biennial 2024's international program addresses a range ofexistential questions, including the impact of technology on human nature, therelationship between man and nature, as well as the informative code of thecontemporary image in nine exhibitions, an extensive educational program, aswell as the annual RFB catalogue. “Using the format of an art festival, RigaPhotography Biennial attempts to record changes taking place all over the worldand invites us to collectively interpret them – something we not only needto see but also imagine whilst translating the complicated and oversaturatedcontemporary visual language into meaningful relationships between our dailyreality, the camera lens, historic material, contemporary art, technologies andthe future. How has our understanding of photography and image changed becauseof digital technologies, and how does it manifest itself in the work of art?For the organisers of the biennial, these are important questions to presentand analyse, whilst at the same time introducing Latvian audiences to leadingworks of international art as well as the ideas of prominent art theoreticianspresented in the form of symposiums, discussions and publications in parallelwith exhibitions and performances,” tells Inga Bruvere, the director and one ofthe curators of the Riga Photography Biennial 2024.
The central event ofthe Biennial – the exhibition “Human Computer” at the Riga ArtSpace – seeks the essence of contemporary human, which has changed underthe influence of the fast pace of life and the constant development oftechnology. The international group exhibition from 19 April to16 June will feature works by eight artists. Inthe meantime, the Intro Hall of Riga Art Space will host the exhibition“Vamp(yre) Reality” by British artists Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent. Artists’concerns are the nature of consciousness and how it shapes human life. Butthe relationship between artificial intelligence and photography will be thefocus of the exhibition “A Breaking Point, A Delicate Balancing Act”, whichwill be on view from 20 April to 15 June at the RIXC Gallery.
On 27 April, theCultural Centre “Siguldas Devons” will also open the exhibition “To Be We Needto Know the River”, where three Baltic artists share their thoughts andemotions about nature – the living, unified system, one of whose elementsis human. In May and June, the National Library of Latvia, the ISSP Gallery andthe “Smilga” Culture space will open their doors to the Biennial's visitors,while Riga's public transport stops will host the project “The Apparent –Un/believable” in collaboration with the Latvian Museum of Photographyfrom 13 to 26 May, offering an insight into the experiments ofphotographers from the first half of the 20th century.
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