BLACK MARKET 2025
3.12.2025
We're closed at the moment
On 3 December, the charity auction Black Market will take place for the sixth consecutive year. Its aim is to support the renovation of the future building of Kim? Contemporary Art Centre at 22 Hanzas Street, Riga. All funds raised through the auction will be directed toward the renovation of the new premises, envisioned as a spacious and contemporary exhibition and residency centre.
This year, the dinner programme of Black Market is curated by restaurant KEST under the direction of head chef Māris Janson. The artistic design of the evening will be created by artist Darja Meļņikova, who will shape a surreal spatial atmosphere for the auction visitors. Her artistic practice is based on the formation of spatial memory, combining fragility with conceptual precision to create emotionally rich yet visually restrained installations.
The auction features works by the following artists: Ēriks Apaļais, Katrīna Biksone, Andris Eglītis, Krišjānis Elviks, Ieva Epnere, Alise Gaile, Margrieta Griestiņa, Kaspars Groševs, Indriķis Ģelzis, Rasa Jansone, Andris Kaļiņins, Maija Kurševa, Ieva Kraule Kūna, Leonards Laganovskis, Anna Malicka, Karlīna Mežecka, Darja Meļņikova, Dzelde Mierkalne, Miķelis Mūrnieks, Paula Punkstiņa, Luīze Rukšāne, Krišs Salmanis, Elza Sīle, Sabīne Skarule, Līga Spunde, Rūdolfs Štamers, Agate Tūna, Sabīne Vernere, Krista Vindberga, Amanda Ziemele, and Konstantīns Žukovs.
The annual Kim? Black Market event was initiated in 2019 by artist and then Programme Director of Kim?, Kaspars Groševs, with the aim of supporting the institution’s sustainability and local artists. The name is borrowed from the post-Soviet reality of the 1990s, marked by clandestine “black markets” across the Baltic states. For the fifth year in a row, Kim?’s improvised art fair / art market booth continues to activate Riga’s contemporary art market scene, attempting to overcome the long-standing condition in which the market has never been fully legitimate or financially viable.
Kim? continues this tradition by seeking to democratise art sales practices and to encourage diverse forms of support for artists and art institutions. Thanks to previous fundraising campaigns, resources have been secured for the development of the architectural vision, the preparation and submission of the minimum construction project to the building authority, as well as for the maintenance of the building, site clean-up, and initial renovation works. This remains only the beginning of the process toward the full restoration of 22 Hanzas Street; the next step is the development of the full construction project and the commencement of more extensive renovation works.
Supporters: Sorainen, River Propertie