Curated by Simone Menegoi and Zane Onckule<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Venue: Careof, Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini 4, Milan<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Participants: \u0112riks Apa\u013cais, J\u0101nis Avoti\u0146\u0161, Ieva Epnere, Kaspars Gro\u0161evs, Ieva Kraule, Inga Meldere, Daria Melnikova, Ieva Rubeze, Kri\u0161s Salmanis, Ola Vasiljeva<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Organized by Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga in collaboration with Careof, Milan<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Le fragole del Baltico<\/i> (\u201cBaltic strawberries\u201d) provides an insight into Latvian contemporary art. Initially intended to complement the Latvian pavilion at EXPO 2015, it has fortunately survived the sad cancellation of the pavilion.<\/p>\n<\/span>Le fragole del Baltico<\/i> presents a selection of ten artists, for the most part born around 1980, and mostly exhibited in Italy for the first time: \u0112riks Apa\u013cais, J\u0101nis Avoti\u0146\u0161, Ieva Epnere, Kaspars Gro\u0161evs, Ieva Kraule, Inga Meldere, Daria Melnikova, Ieva Rubeze, Kri\u0161s Salmanis and Ola Vasiljeva. The exhibition doesn\u2019t seek its unity in a medium or in a concept; instead it largely forms itself in the practice of its selected artists. Its overall framework is a display of Latvian artists\u2019 works, both existing and new commissions especially created for the exhibition, that in its curation uninterruptedly embraces distinct artistic personalities and individual works in a wide range of media, encompassing: painting and sculpture, applied art and video, and photography and sound.<\/p>\n<\/span>The title, whose ambition is to be poetic and simultaneously ironic, was inspired by the soft-focused, vaguely exotic perception in Southern Europe of the Baltic countries as cold lands, under whose grey skies a fruit such as a strawberry could never grow. In fact, strawberries and other berries regularly buck up the tables of Latvians, starting from the first months of summer right through to the rich autumn season; and contemporary art, which, aside from one or two names that are often not even linked to their country of origin, is little known in Italy, yet is no less vital and present.<\/p>\n<\/span>While the exhibition has no overarching concept or medium, it is somewhat compact, and not just in terms of age. It mirrors a taste: the taste of the curators, but also a taste much more elusive and difficult to pinpoint, shared by this particular generation of artists. Here, some elements tend to reappear, although in very different shapes: a slant to revisit the past, be it personal and familiar or historical, as in Inga Meldere’s paintings and plaster miniatures evoking expressive short stories, or in Ieva Epnere’s series of photographs of Latvian students bringing flowers to their teachers on 1st<\/sup> September, a ceremony originated in Soviet times; a sense for the landscape, the weather, the change of the seasons, that can be found in some of the witty, ingenuous, poetic videos of Kri\u0161s Salmanis; a diffuse melancholy, haunting \u0112riks Apa\u013cais\u2019 sparse, meditative paintings, as well as J\u0101nis Avoti\u0146\u0161\u2019 series of drawings – anonymous postcards of mysterious locations – paired with a painting of a ghostly couple; a quite peculiar brand of humor, deadpan and slightly nonsensical, an example of which is Ieva Rubeze’s video compilation of Latvian \u201cTV healers\u201d from the 90s \u00a0set to a white noise soundtrack, which is supposed to manipulate and improve one’s spiritual energetics; a taste for decoration, applied arts and all kinds of hand-made objects, typified by Kaspars Gro\u0161evs’ knitted tracksuit, an outfit for an opening event, or by Ieva Kraule’s setting for a fairy tale feast – ceramic plates bearing cartoonish eaters\u2019 faces, and fabric painted with pastry motifs -, or by Daria Melnikova’s literal take on measurements and (de)composition through burned images, a smashed bowl or hand-drawn graph paper; and last but not least, a certain, elusive idea of domesticity, as framed in Ola Vasiljeva\u2019s pun-filled constellation of objects – a woolen rug, a door turned into a blackboard on one side and a bulletin board on the other, and two dada-<\/i>esque assemblages including glass shoes.<\/p>\n<\/span>Aiming at amplifying the aspect of domesticity and to develop the show as an interior of sorts, the curators have gone for a display whose taste is closer to the 19th century Salon or to the artists\u2019 studio \/ houses-turned-museums, like that of Riga’s modernist couple Romans Suta and Alexandra Be\u013ccova, than to the Anglo-Saxon 20th century white cube. A display that includes colored walls and curtains, a sofa and armchair, potted plants – a regular feature of homes, artists\u2019 studios or even exhibition spaces; – helps to record the relation between the various artistic elements \u2013 the berries in this basket \u2013 linked by a peculiar setting where artworks recall and replace and exchange a wide range of physical ephemera – furniture and other items of our daily life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u0112riks Apa\u013cais<\/span> (1981) lives and works in Riga. Hemainly works in painting, depicting objects, symbols and cultural signs that anchor both in his private as well as collective memory. Recent solo shows include Twigs<\/em> (2014), The Arsen\u0101ls Exhibition Hall, LNMM, Riga; Inscribed Silhouettes <\/em>(2014), Galerie Vera Munro, Hamburg; Words <\/em>(2013), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Art Cologne, New Positions <\/em>(2012), Cologne, Germany; Confessions<\/em> (2011), Galerie Vera Munro, Hamburg, Germany; group exhibitions: The Forgotten Pioneer Movement <\/em>(2013), District Berlin, Berlin, Contexts of Painting<\/em>, CAC, Vilnius. The artist has been awarded the Karl H. Ditze-Preis<\/em> for best diploma, the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Germany (2011) and DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) award for excellence. In 2011 he was nominated for Ars Viva 11\/12<\/em> prize. The artist is represented by Galerie Vera Munro.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n J\u0101nis Avoti\u0146\u0161<\/span> (1981) lives and works in Riga. His practice encompasses monochrome paintings, drawings and occasional objects. They deal withthemes like loneliness and alienation, with ghostly faces and figures reminiscent of Soviet-era photography. Recent solo shows include J<\/em>\u0101<\/em>nis Avoti<\/em>\u0146\u0161 <\/em>Johnen Galerie, Berlin, (2013), Galerie R\u00fcdiger Sch\u00f6ttle, Munich, (2013), Ibid., London (2013), Galerie Vera Munro, Hamburg (2013), Ludwig Forum, Aachen (2008). Recent group shows include: Fobofilia<\/em> (2015), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Ostw<\/em>\u00e4<\/em>rts<\/em>, Ludwig Forum, Aachen (2014\/2015), Only here <\/em>(2013), The Federal Republic of Germany’s Contemporary Art Collection, Bonn, Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union (2012)<\/em>, Saatchi Gallery, London, Is It That He Does Not Seek The Truth, But Does Want To Influence? (2011)<\/em>, Riga Art Space, Riga, Latvia\u00a0 and 14th Vilnius Painting Triennial: False Recognition <\/em>(2010), CAC, Vilnius. The artist is represented by Galerie R\u00fcdiger Sch\u00f6ttle and Galerie Vera Munro.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ieva Epnere<\/span> (1977) lives and works in Riga. Her body of work includesphotography, video and film, where personal and private stories are the starting point for artistic reflections on identity, tradition and ritual.Recent solo shows include: Waiting Room <\/em>(2015), Contretype, Brussels; Solo Show<\/em> (2014), Galerie des Hospices, Canet-en-Roussillon, France; Mindscapes <\/em>(2013),<\/em> Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia; The Green Land <\/em>(2010), Kim?, Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia; Darbi <\/em>(2009),Kulturforum Alte Post in Neuss, Germany; Mikrorajons <\/em>(2007), The exhibition hall Arsenals in Riga, Latvia; Encounters <\/em>(2006), Atelier Hoeherweg in Dusseldorf, Germany; Group exhibitions: Ornamentalism<\/em>. The Purv<\/em>\u012b<\/em>tis Prize <\/em>(2015), Arsenale, Venice, 61. International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, International competition, Germany (2015); Bad Feminism<\/em>, RPL Film Theatre, Regina, Canada (2015); 60. International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, International competition, Germany (2014).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kaspars Gro\u0161evs<\/span> (1983) lives and works in Riga. The artistuses a variety of media and materials, such as \u2013 drawing, text, textile, sound, objects and installations in aconstant search forformal solutions, aimed at shaping a coherent and intriguing message.Recent solo\/two person exhibitions include Qu’est-ce que <\/em>\u00e7<\/em>a peut faire tout <\/em>\u00e7<\/em>a<\/em>(in collaboration with Ieva Kraule, 2015), Shanaynay, Paris;\u00a0OAOA (J<\/em>\u016b<\/em>ras griesti)<\/em>\u00a0(in collaboration with Ola Vasiljeva, 2014),\u00a0 J\u016bras V\u0101rti, Ventspils; 00:10:00:00<\/em>\u00a0(2013), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga;\u00a0I\/O. Without Enemies<\/em>(2011), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga and H <\/em>(2012),<\/em> Kanepes Culture Centre, Riga. Group shows: Lily’s Pool<\/em> (2015), Art In General, New York;\u00a0Vortex<\/em>\u00a0(2014), Project Space Garage, Moscow and\u00a0Aspen-Kemmern<\/em>\u00a0(2014) at Kim?\u00a0Contemporary Art Centre, Riga. He infrequently performs with his music and contributes texts to the Latvian cultural press and exhibition\u00a0catalogs.\u00a0Gro\u0161evs is a co-founder and curator of gallery Four To Seven (427) in Riga.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ieva Kraule<\/span> (1987) lives and works in Riga. By usingdifferent media including photography, video, ceramics and painting she references applied arts and architecture of the Soviet era while tracing out theorigins of both personal and collective aesthetic codes. Recent solo exhibitions include Nobody dances like that anymore<\/em> (2014), gallery 427, Riga; \u2026<\/em>if all you told was turned to gold<\/em>(2014), Vita Kuben, Ume\u00e5; Loneliness will be my greatest treasure<\/em> (2014), Kalnciema kvart\u0101ls gallery, Riga; 11 out of 10<\/em> (2013), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, and Long Awaited Holidays by the Abyss of Fictitious Memories<\/em> (2012) at the gallery Bastejs, Riga. Group shows: Lily’s Pool<\/em> (2015), Art In General, New York;\u00a0Vortex<\/em>\u00a0(2014), Project Space Garage, Moscow, and\u00a0Aspen-Kemmern<\/em>\u00a0(2014), Kim?\u00a0Contemporary Art Centre, Riga. Kraule is a co-founder and curator of gallery Four To Seven (427) in Riga.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inga Meldere<\/span> (1979) lives and works in Helsinki and Riga. She works mainly with painting.Her gently coated canvases, characterized by their light and pastel tones, fragile combinations of materials and techniques, often depict apparentlynaive-seeming narratives inspired by personal memories and family events. Recent solo exhibitions include Berzkalni <\/em>(2015), gallery G12, Helsinki. Magic Mountain<\/em> (2014), gallery XO, Riga; Untitled<\/em> (2013) together with Oscar Santillan at Temnikova & Kasela gallery; Enough is Enough<\/em> (2011) with Mikko Hintz at Temnikova & Kasela gallery; Offset<\/em> (2011), gallery XO, Riga. Group shows: Tides of Change. Balticum<\/em> (2011) HangART-7, Salzburg, Austria; FAX<\/em> (2011) South London Gallery, London, England; Mother of Wind<\/em> (2010) HFBK gallery, Hamburg, Germany. Meldere\u2019s work was also included in the Vilnius Painting Triennial in 2010.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daria Melnikova<\/span> (1984) lives and works in Riga. By using sculpture, design, printmaking\u00a0 and mixed techniques she creates spatial and attimes puzzling installations where beauty and intrigue, the handmade and the mass-produced are in balance. \u00a0Recent solo exhibitions include Brewing Harmony<\/em> (2014) at Gallery Vita Kuben, Ume\u00e5, Sweden; A Green Silhouette of Grey<\/em> (2014), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga and Dashing Lines and Forming Heaps<\/em> (2011), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga. Group exhibitions: Lily’s Pool<\/em> (2015), Art In General, New York;Literacy-Illiteracy<\/em> (2014) at the 16th Tallinn Print Triennial, KUMU, Tallinn; Present Tense<\/em> (2014), Kalmar konstmuseum, Kalmar; Aspen<\/em>\u2013<\/em>Kemmern<\/em>(2014), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Vortex<\/em> (2014), Project Space Garage, Moscow; Sculpture Is Space<\/em> (2013), Hobusepea, Tallinn and 24 Spaces <\/em>\u2013 <\/em>Cacophony <\/em>(2013), Malm\u00f6 Konsthall, Malmo. Melnikova has received the first Kim? Residency Award <\/em>in 2015 and is in residency at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin from May till July.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kri\u0161s Salmanis<\/span> (1977) lives and works in Riga. He works with the media ofphotography, video, installation, animation and graphic art, creating conceptually charged accumulations-sets characterized by attention to detail and intellectual sharpness of wit. Together with Kaspars Podnieks, Salmanis was part of the exposition for the Latvian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale. Latest solo exhibitions include 100 Books You Need Not Read Before You Die<\/em> (2015), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; North by Northeast. The Deconstruction of the Pavilion<\/em> (together with Kaspars Podnieks, 2014), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Light<\/em> (2012) in CAC Vilnius, Lithuania; The Fragility of Trust <\/em>(2012), gallery Alma in Riga, Latvia; The Earth may be spinning around the Sun, but the World is turning around me<\/em> (2011), Raum linksrechts in Hamburg, Germany; Moving Landscape<\/em> (2011), Galerie f\u0171r Gegenwartskunst in Bremen, Germany. He\u2019s a regular contributor to the visual arts magazine Studija<\/em> and other daily press. The artist is represented by Gallery Alma.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ieva Rubeze<\/span> (1977) lives and works in Riga. Her work \u2013 poetic videos and installations \u2013are characterized by a clear conceptual core, revelation of thought paradoxes, wit and an extraordinary, timeless radiance. As a member of the artist group Famous Five<\/em> (together with L\u012bga Marcinkevi\u010da and M\u0101rti\u0146\u0161 Ratniks, 2002) she has represented Latvia in Sao Paulo Biennial, Venice Biennale (2005) and group shows, including: Buket<\/em> (2008) in Moscow, Time Will Show <\/em>(2008) in Flensburg andR<\/em>\u012b<\/em>ga dimd!<\/em>(2010) in Rostock. In 2014 she won the competition Riga Smiles Again<\/em> organized by the Boris and In\u0101ra Teterev Foundation in the framework of the program Art in Public Space<\/em> and her proposed artwork (Ghost<\/em>) will be implemented in the Riga urban environment in 2015.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ola Vasiljeva<\/span> (1981)is a Latvian-born artist living and working in Amsterdam. Vasi\u013cjeva\u2019s practice encompassesand crosses video, sculpture, music and texts. Her works engage with references to craft, music, subcultures and literature. Recent solo exhibitions include University <\/em>(2015), Galerie Antoine Levi, Paris; The Limp of A Letter <\/em>(2015), BOZAR, Brussels;\u00a0Jargot <\/em>(2014), New York, USA;\u00a0Cinq <\/em>\u00e0 <\/em>sept <\/em>(2013), Kim?\u00a0Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, Latvia. Group exhibitions, including\u00a0Society Acts – The Moderna exhibition 2 <\/em>(2014), Moderna Museet, Malm\u00f6\u00a0;\u00a0Last Seen Entering the Biltmore <\/em>(2014), South London Gallery, London;\u00a0What Were You Expecting, Mr. Milquetoast, a Plot?<\/em>(2014),\u00a0Badischer Kunstverein<\/em>, Karlsruhe, Germany;\u00a0Material Information <\/em>(2012), Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen, Norway, among others. Vasiljeva is a founding member of the artist collective\u00a0The Oceans Academy of Arts<\/em>\u00a0and the publisher of\u00a0OAOA Magazine<\/em>. In 2014 she was nominated for the\u00a0Prix de Rome<\/em>. Ola Vasiljeva is represented by Galerie Antoine Levi, Paris.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Curators:<\/p>\n Simone Menegoi<\/span> (1970) is a critic and curator based in Milan and Verona. Since 2005, he has curated exhibitions in private and public spaces in Italy and abroad. Recent exhibitions include The Camera<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s Blind Spot II<\/em>, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp, 2015; The Warm Statues. Sculpture <\/em>\u2013 <\/em>Body <\/em>\u2013 <\/em>Action, 1945-2013<\/em>, Museo Marino Marini (Florence), 2014; Michael E. Smith<\/em>, Triennale di Milano, 2014; The Camera<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s Blind Spot. Sculpture – Photography: Recent Examples<\/em>, Museo d\u2019Arte della Provincia di Nuoro, 2013; LE SILENCE Une fiction,<\/em> Nouveau Mus\u00e9e National de Monaco, 2012; Bouvard and Pecuchet<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s Compendious Quest for Beauty <\/em>(together with Chris Sharp), David Roberts Art Foundation (London), 2012. <\/p>\n Zane Onckule<\/span> (1982) is a curator, occasional critic and Programme Director at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga since 2010. She has organised, curated and co-curated exhibitions, parallel programming as well as edited publications and other corresponding materials in collaboration with wide range of artists, curators and theoreticians. She was a co-commissioner of Latvian Pavilion at the 55th<\/sup> Venice Biennale organized in partnership withArt in General, <\/em>New York. Recent curatorial activities include curating Sink Down Mountain, Raise Up Valley <\/em>(2015), solo exhibition by Ulla von Brandenburg at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Lily’s Pool <\/em>(2015), group exhibition at Art in General<\/em>, New York; Jargot <\/em>(2014), solo exhibition by Ola Vasiljeva at Art in General<\/em>, New York and Little Vera <\/em>(2014), a duo show by Sanya Kantarosvky and Ella Kruglyanskaya at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Venue:<\/p>\n Careof (Milan, Italy), founded in 1987,is an Italian non-profit organization for the promotion of contemporary artistic research. It includes people that firmly believe in the value of art as a resource that has the capacity to develop new concepts and promote knowledge. With passion, Careof encourages cultural experimentation in all forms, with particular attention paid to young artists. Developing a dense teaching and exhibition program, documentation services on visual arts] and residences for young creative artists, the organization is also an intermediary between artists, curators, critics and a non-specialized public.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Curated by Simone Menegoi and Zane Onckule Venue: Careof, Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini 4, Milan Participants: \u0112riks Apa\u013cais, J\u0101nis Avoti\u0146\u0161, Ieva Epnere, Kaspars Gro\u0161evs, Ieva Kraule, Inga Meldere, Daria Melnikova, Ieva Rubeze, Kri\u0161s Salmanis, Ola Vasiljeva Organized by Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga in collaboration with Careof, Milan Le fragole […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2015-exhibitions","category-kim-exhibitions","category-past-exhibitions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHe has written essays that have appeared in the publications of a number of international institutions, such as Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ludwig Museum (Budapest), New Museum (New York), Fondazione Galleria Civica di Trento in association with Villa Arson (Nice) and Salzburger Kunstverein, Kunstforum Aachen, Camden Arts Centre (London), Fondazione Prada (Milan and Venice). He contributes regularly to artforum.com.<\/p>\n