Riga Photography Biennale 2024 focuses on identity issues / Article

As usual, the theme of the biennale covers issues from cultural theory to current socio-political processes, focusing on the Baltic, Nordic and European regions.

The international program of the Riga Photography Biennale 2024 in nine exhibitions, a wide educational program, as well as in the annual edition of the RFB, addresses such existential questions as the impact of technology on human nature, the relationship between man and nature, the informative code of the modern image.

“The Riga Photography Biennale aims to record and, in the format of an art festival, offer a common understanding of the changes taking place in the world, which we need not only to see, but also to imagine, translating today’s so complex and saturated visual language into meaningful relationships – between everyday life, camera lens, historical material, contemporary art , technologies and the future. How has the understanding of photography and image changed under the influence of digital technology, and how does it manifest itself within the framework of the artwork? For the creators of the Biennale, these are important questions to analyze and represent, offering Latvian viewers the most current examples of international art in exhibition expositions, as well as introducing the ideas of important art theorists in the form of symposia, discussions and publications in the formats of exhibitions and performances,” says Inga Brūvere, its leader and one of the exhibition curators, about the Riga Photography Biennale 2024.

The central event of the biennale – the exhibition “Human-Computer” in the exhibition hall “Riga Art Space” – searches for the essence of modern man, which has changed under the influence of the fast pace of life and the constant development of technology. The works of eight artists will be on display at the international group exhibition from April 19 to June 16. At the same time, the exhibition “Vamp(ire) Reality” by British artists Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent will take place in the Intro hall of the exhibition hall “Riga Art Space”, which focuses on the nature of consciousness and its impact on human life. On the other hand, the exhibition “Breaking point, fine balancing” will focus on the relationship between artificial intelligence and photography, which will be on display from April 20 to June 15 at the “RIXC” gallery.

On April 27, the “Siguldas Devons” cultural center will also open the exhibition “In order to exist, we must understand the river”, with artists from three Baltic countries sharing their thoughts on nature as a living, unified system of which man is also an element. On the other hand, in May and June, the National Library of Latvia, gallery “ISSP” and cultural space “Smilga” will also open their doors to the visitors of the biennale, while in the city center, at public transport stops in Riga, from May 13 to 26, the project “Visible to the eye – not/believable” will be on display. which was made in cooperation with the Latvian Museum of Photography, offering a glimpse into the 20th century. in the experiments of first-party photographers.

The program will be complemented by an educational program, continuing to analyze the topics touched on in the exhibitions in lectures and discussions and seeking to learn the role of photography in the modern world, while children and young people are invited to participate in creative workshops with the artist Līga Spundi. At the exhibition and event venues of the Riga Photography Biennale 2024, you will also be able to purchase a special edition of the program – a collection of articles by international authors, which will focus even more extensively on the issues discussed in the biennial events.

The Riga Photography Biennale (RFB) is an international contemporary art event that focuses on the analysis and artistic representation of visual culture. Photography in the title of the biennale is used as a unifying concept for very different artistic practices of image creation, which in the 21st century. continues to transform the language of contemporary art.