Sense Of Place
Contemporary Latvian Photography
Contemporary Culture Centre KultKom
English, German and Latvian
Text by Alise Tīfentāl.
Hardcover
96 pages
260 × 200 mm
2013
ISBN 9789934825538
In conjunction with Gallery of Photography “Prospektas” an exhibition of three contemporary Latvian photographers Arnis Balcus, Reinis Hofmanis and Alnis Stakle who are looking for the signs in Latvian landscape characterizing their home. The landscape consists of natural and cultural elements and their mutual interaction. Interaction with these elements can evoke a special sense of place, which the photographers have tried to reveal in their works.
A catalogue of 69 colour photographs by Arnis Balčus, Reinis Hofmanis and Alnis Stakle.
About the Artists
Arnis Balcus (1978) is a photographer and editor-in-chief of FK Magazine. Most of his recent photographic work examines Latvian identity, social histories and political taboos. He holds a BA degree in Communication studies from the University of Latvia and an MA degree in photographic studies from the University of Westminster. His work has been exhibited internationally and published in magazines, such as Achtung Mode, Dazed & Confused, The New Yorker, Foto & Video. Recent shows include Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow (UK), MAMAC in Liege (BE), Matthew Bown Gallery in London (UK) and Riga Art Space (LV).
balcus.lv
(source: https://echogonewrong.com/sense-of-place-contemporary-latvian-photography/)
The works of Alnis Stakle (1975) have been exhibited in a number of solo shows and group exhibitions, including such venues as the Latvian National Museum of Art, Modern Art Oxford (UK), Niggendijker (NL), gallery Photographer.ru (RU). Self-portraits, still lives and close-ups of the private milieu and detached views of deserted landscapes are some of the characteristic motives of Stakles photography. In 2011 with series Lost: Paris Stakle got the 1st place in the category of architectural photography in the Sony World Photography Awards; he was also one of the finalists in Leica Oscar Barnack Preis competition. His works have been published in several photography and art publications in Latvia and abroad: Shots, Eyemazing, Photography Now.
alnisstakle.com
(source: https://echogonewrong.com/sense-of-place-contemporary-latvian-photography/)
Reinis Hofmanis (1985) in his works is interested in landscape as culture; geographical phenomena and a sign as a symbol of consumerism. In 2012 he graduated with a Masters degree in Visual Communications from the Art Academy of Latvia. In 2012 Hofmanis was awarded the Archifoto Award, but in 2013 with series Territory Hofmanis got the 2nd place in the category of architectural photography in the Sony World Photography Awards. He has had exhibitions at the contemporary art centre CEAAC in Strasbourg (FR), kim? in Riga (LV), Tukums Museum of Art (LV), and elsewhere. His works have been published in The Financial Times, Spiegel, The New York Times and other media.
reinishofmanis.lv
(source: https://echogonewrong.com/sense-of-place-contemporary-latvian-photography/)
About the Publisher
Kim? is an art centre devoted to ideas, gestures, textures and interventions that shifts from “a well trained chameleon face” (Zane Onckule) to a cadavre exquis, from “a polygon, a laboratory, a lighthouse” (Jānis Borgs) to a hybrid organism. Founded in 2009, Kim? has actively contributed to the art discourse both in Latvia and on a global scale with extensive exhibition programming, as well as international collaborations, discussions, publications, talks and performances. Over the years Kim? has worked with both emerging and renowned artists, theoreticians, curators, philosophers, translators and thinkers of other spheres aiming to provide a responsive context to their work and to make critical practices accessible to a wider audience.Kim? with its name being a question itself (“kas ir māksla?” – what is art?) inhabits an ongoing series of questions – what it means to be a cultural agent today and to contribute to the vast landscape of contemporary art, how to show and talk about art, thinking about how art functions in differing contexts of local and global economies, traditions, cultures and subcultures, between the disappearance and reappearance of identities.
