A Solo Exhibition by Kri\u0161s Salmanis<\/b><\/p>\n
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Curator: Zane Onckule<\/span><\/p>\n May 5 to June 11, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n Kim? Contemporary Art Centre<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Conceptually clear, formally laconic, and precise in its content, Kri\u0161s Salmanis\u2019 newest solo exhibition offers a critical review of the bygone powers present in one\u2019s consciousness through work that is acutely aestheticized while avoiding nostalgic pitfalls. Challenging (pop) culture\u2019s belated trend of flirting with post-Soviet aesthetics and narratives\u2014a trend which often utilizes a kitschy, \u201cso-bad-it\u2019s-good\u201d approach to artmaking\u2014Salmanis\u2019 exhibition foregrounds\u00a0 an unenthusiastic irony toward the relics of the recent past, the physical and intellectual \u201cruins\u201d of today. It\u2019s an emotional narrative, full of perplexity and bitterness toward those who are willing, able, and prepared to read it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This exhibition put itself together within a couple of hours after I set to work at 11 p.m. on December 31, 2022. By that time, I already had clear ideas for most of the works. It seems they had been piling up for some time.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have always considered myself a happy person. I am lucky to have been born in a place and time where I could comfortably have a good education, find like-minded people, and work and rest. I was exposed to Soviet life just enough to understand how lucky we had been to get out. I considered talk of the Soviet legacy to be that of old people merely complaining.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Staying in the countryside for a long time during the pandemic, I started noticing the white brick slums sagging in the fields, manor complexes, and crossroads. They helped me understand that my Soviet heritage is a developmental disorder in aesthetics. The slums seem to me such a normal part of the countryside I don\u2019t even pay attention to them. This realization allowed me to understand the meaning of the plastic windows in Art Nouveau buildings as well as the plasterboard arches in block-house apartments, which I had hitherto thought of as an effect of poverty. Soviet heritage also means living in a world of symbols. Some people lay down flowers at monuments which others promptly destroy. When, at the end of a cruel and bloody year, some keep on celebrating on Moscow time while, an hour later, others shoot fireworks at the wounds of Ukrainian refugees, we have to admit that our guilt is deeper than aesthetics.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2014 Kri\u0161s Salmanis<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kri\u0161s Salmanis<\/b> (b. 1977) lives and works in Riga, Latvia. He studied at the Art Academy of Latvia and the Media Art Academy of Cologne, Germany. Salmanis has had shows at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga, Latvia, CAC in Vilnius, Lithuania, Art in General in New York, USA,\u00a0 A4 in Chengdu, China, and elsewhere. He has garnered a number of awards, the 13th Tallinn Print Triennial in 2004, 19. Videokunst F\u00f6rderpreis, Bremen, Germany (2010), the Purvitis Award (2017) and the Latvian Theater Award (2019). Salmanis\u2019 works are in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art and the Art Museum of Estonia. He has taken part in numerous international artist residencies, including HIAP in Helsinki, Finland (2012), KAIR in Kamiyama, Japan (2015) and ISCP in New York, USA (2022). He represented Latvia at the 55th Venice Biennale. Salmanis has had three solo exhibitions at Kim? and <\/span>R\u016bgts<\/span><\/i> is his return to the institution since the last exhibition in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Supported by the Culture Ministry, the State Culture Capital Foundation, Absolut.<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cR\u016bgts\u201d \/ Bitter A Solo Exhibition by Kri\u0161s Salmanis Curator: Zane Onckule May 5 to June 11, 2023 Kim? Contemporary Art Centre Conceptually clear, formally laconic, and precise in its content, Kri\u0161s Salmanis\u2019 newest solo exhibition offers a critical review of the bygone powers present in one\u2019s consciousness through work that is […]<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kim-exhibitions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n