A new art show by The Art Academy of Latvia will be held from June 3 to June 28 at Kronvalda bulvaris 4, the former faculty of Biology of University of Latvia. The show features an exhibition of this year’s graduate students final assignment works. The opening of the festival is scheduled for June 3 at 6pm.

“Fresh meat for critique” offers a brand new format of exhibiting - for the first time in the history of The Art Academy of Latvia, the public will be able to see works from every single department of the Academy. The works of approximately 160 Bachelor and Masters degree graduates will be introduced to the wider audience for the first time, making it the largest exhibition of emerging artists work in Latvian history.

The new format of the graduate exhibition demonstrates the Academy's policy of openness, breaking the connotation of the word "academic", which has acquired quite a heavy reputation. Therefore, the exhibition returns to the original sense of the word, namely the academy in the antique world that emerged as a free, open-minded and creative process of thought. The idea of ​​the graduate festival began by organizing "Design Graduate Days” that included an exhibition, creative workshops, student presentations, and cooperation platforms. The graduate festival will begin with presentations of the final assignments in Bachelor and Masters programs, followed by various pilot projects, meetings with journalists, art curators and industry representatives.

The name of the festival includes witty irony not only about the relationship of a new artist with the art world and its diverse industry specialists, but also with the rest of the society - from potential customers to people who, when exposed to anything unusual and, in their opinion, inappropriate for art, comment- “my five year-old can do that”. Consequently, the young artist must not only be creative and open-minded, but also brave to face and accept any kind of criticism that awaits them outside the academy walls.

The aim of the exhibition is to introduce the visitors with the works of graduates in various mediums - from painting to audiovisual installations - and to start a dialogue on art and contemporary cultural issues, while offering the fresh and unrestricted world view of these young artists.

The exhibition will be open daily for visitors from 1pm till 8pm at Kronvalda bulvaris 4. 

Our exclusive partners are: Latvijas Finieris, State Culture Capital Foundation, Vynoteka, Rizhskiy Samogon, Hercs Flora, Digitāla pele.

The graduate festival will start a season of celebration dedicated to the 100th anniversary of The Art Academy of Latvia. On August 20th, the Academy's garden will host the centenary celebration of the AAL as well as the book launching commemorating this anniversary. This will be followed by The Art Academy of Latvia centennial exhibition opening in September at the exhibition hall “Arsenāls”.

Additional information:

Sandra Liepiņa

Curator of The Art Academy of Latvia graduate festival “Fresh meat for critique”