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Maija Kurševa “Investigation”

27.7.2018 - 2.9.2018

“I trapped myself in the line segment behind the table. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize. There is nothing there. An empty space. An unclear desire, an unrestrained direction. A bated breath, a firm hand, a black line denoting time. The point at which it appears is in an endless state of presence. The drawing in front of me is the beginning of what is to come. Page after page becomes the past. The only thing that the drawing depicts is that time has passed in creating the drawing. The drawing depicts only the time which has passed during its creation. The line on the page is flat, the strip of paper is a line in space. Page on page creates volume; line by line creates depth. Movement creates time. The heap of papers slowly diminishes. Pages densely cover the walls. The eye wanders, the mind tries to create coherence. I find myself in the dark, arms outstretched, trying to find a wall or beam. My thoughts light up the space where I am. I carefully watch the line’s movement, trying to find an idea which would give all these things meaning. I am a detective trailing myself.”

—Maija Kurševa

It is with the help of these written thoughts that Kim? Contemporary Art Centre announces the solo exhibition Investigation. The exhibition is made up of multiple pieces which cover the walls of the space: gouache drawings, an animation, sculptural objects and a comicstrip. How space is experienced is essential to the exhibition of Maija Kurševa’s newest work – the viewer is drawn in and guided forward through an associative story at the root of which lie observations and notions that the body of work conceals an idea. Writing real and imagined thoughts illustrates a connection between what seems to be lack of action and the creative process – between a narrative of the absurd and cause and effect, neatly tying together the investigation.

Maija Kurševa studied Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia and the Berlin University of the Arts. She currently teaches illustration and screen printing at the Art Academy of Latvia. From 2004 the artist has participated in exhibitions in Latvia and abroad. In 2012 Kurševa established “Popper Publishing” together with her peers. This is a publishing collective for contemporary drawing, art and illustration. Since  2016 she organizes Riga Zine Fest. In 2017 she founded the non-commercial gallery LOW in Riga, which she still runs today. Kurševa was nominated for the Purvītis Prize in 2017 for her work “Dzīvesprieks”. Among Kurševa’s latest projects are the solo show “Rūtainā kārtība” at the gallery Māksla XO (2016), the group show “NNN” at the Latvian National Museum of Art (2017), “Gaisma kabeļa galā. Latvijas laikmetīgā māksla digitālajā laikmetā” (2016) and “Lielāks miers, mazāks miers” (2015) at the Latvian Railway History Museum.

Curator of the exhibition: Zane Onckule