Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art postponed
Declaration – Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art announces the postponement of third edition (RIBOCA3) to 2023
“In response to the war in the region, we do not see it possible to open the third Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art this year. The exhibition, curated by René Block, titled ‘Exercises in Respect’ and previously planned to open 15th July – 2nd October 2022, must be postponed, and we hope to open it in the summer of 2023.
“In times like these, to envision working towards an exhibition that was supposed to be a vast celebration of art, respect and togetherness feels inconceivable whilst heinous crimes are still being committed in Ukraine. We strongly condemn the Russian attack on Ukraine and are united with everyone who calls for an immediate end of the war.
“As a contemporary art institution, it is our responsibility to provide a space where artists and the public can interact, engage in discussions, and reflect on our realities. Therefore, together with artists, other art and cultural institutions, curators, and art professionals, we are initiating an open discussion to rethink the art industry’s place in the wider world. We must reconsider the validity of the biennial format in times like these. There must be discourse on how the art world and biennials can influence and engage societies during periods of war and conflict. What kind of platform for expression and exchange do artists, curators, and our society need?
“Our hearts go out to everyone who is suffering in this war. This is an unimaginable tragedy where no one should remain indifferent. We express our enormous respect to everyone who does not keep quiet and is helping those in need.”
ABOUT RIBOCA
The Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA) is an international biennial with a European focus and a strong regional profile, founded in 2016. Taking the rich history of Riga and the Baltic states as its underlying framework, the biennial highlights the artistic landscape of the wider region and creates opportunities for artists to enter into dialogue with the cultural, historical and socio-political context of the city and its geographic surrounds.
Taking into account criticisms of the proliferation of biennial culture, or ‘biennialisation’ as it has been called, RIBOCA is committed to creating a sustainable model based on best practices that prioritise artists, artistic production and the meticulous presentation and mediation of art. The Biennial is based on a working process that starts from the local, expanding to the national and the regional, and finally to the transnational. The Biennial aims to take root and make roots in the place where it is situated. Reflecting the biennial’s global outlook and mission to increase artistic engagement between the Baltic region and the rest of the world, a significant proportion of the commissioned and selected artists either live, work or were born in the Baltic region, a territory which still remains relatively unexplored despite its prolific artistic production.
RIBOCA sees itself as a critical site of artistic experimentation and knowledge production, an activator of co-operation and exchange between local and regional actors and institutions, an instigator of generosity towards peers, and a barometer of current social, political and economic issues filtered through artistic practices.
The inaugural edition RIBOCA1 in 2018 was curated by Katerina Gregos as chief curator and Solvej Helweg Ovesen as associate curator. RIBOCA2 in 2020 was curated by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel.
ASSOCIATION RIGA INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL
The Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA) was founded as a major initiative of the association Riga International Biennial, its commissioning body. The Founder and Commissioner of the Riga International Biennial, Agniya Mirgorodskaya, developed RIBOCA in order to set up a new global platform for international and Baltic artists, to promote contemporary art and provide educational and community support within the region, as well as to increase artistic engagement between the Baltic region and the rest of the world.
Riga has been an important trading post since the Middle Ages, and during the late 19th and 20th centuries, Latvia has served as a significant industrial base. Latvia’s historical relations with Sweden, Russia, Poland and Germany have put it at the crossroads of different cultures and ideologies, with its gaze shifting between East and West. RIBOCA charts the particular psychogeography of this region within the new world order at a time of major global shifts.
