Until 20 October of this year emerging Baltic curators are invited to submit project proposals for the Award ‘Emerging Curator!’, part of the programme of the Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT 2025. The winner will have the opportunity to realise their exhibition at the ‘Pilot’ Experimental Art Space of the Art Academy of Latvia.

The Riga Photography Biennial was founded in 2015 and its programme NEXT 2025 will take place during its 10th anniversary. RPB – NEXT turns to young and promising artists and curators from the Baltics, Nordic countries and Europe who are still in the early stages of their careers. The Award Emerging Curator! was initiated in 2021, and the first recipient of the award was Tīna Pētersone, curator from Latvia, with her exhibition ‘To Fall in Love, Click Here’. Meanwhile in 2023 the award was received by Laima Daberte with her exhibition ‘Time Found’.

In 2025, the decennary of the Riga Photography Biennial, for the very first time emerging curators not only from Latvia, but all three Baltic states – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – are invited to apply for the award. Through this platform, the local becomes global, presenting on the international art scene projects that will be important newcomers in the telling of current narratives. The award also serves to stimulate discussion about the importance of curator as a creative personality and mediator between artists, works of art, viewers and society within contemporary cultural processes.

In 2018, a new specialisation – Curatorial Studies – was opened under the Art Science Subprogramme at the Art Academy of Latvia. The establishment of this specialisation was determined by developments in the art scene, since curators have an important role in the art ecosystem not only as managers of these processes, but also their originators and drivers. Another motivation was students’ desire to study art history and the development of its processes not only from the conventional aspect of historical, monographic research, but also expanding the interpretative dimensions of processes in art and their connection to other creative spheres and socio-political events.

As a result of the rapid development of new technologies, we are forced to re-evaluate the meaning and message of images. Today photography is everywhere. The classical understanding of photography as an aesthetic and documentary image has been expanded by a row of other understandings that bring the necessity of becoming aware of new content. The Riga Photography Biennial and the Art Academy of Latvia offer a platform, where emerging Baltic curators can challenge themselves and offer their own perspective on these questions.

The competition will be juried by curator, artist, critic and creative director of Publics curatorial platform Paul O'Neill (IE), curator, director of PhD Studies at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Julija Fomina (LT), curator, lecturer and researcher at the Estonian Academy of Art, Triin Metsla (EE), art historian, curator, AAL vice-rector, Antra Priede (LV) and programme director at the Riga Photography Biennial, Inga Brūvere (LV). More information about applying for the award is available on the Riga Photography Biennial website: https://www.rpbiennial.com/emergingcurator_opencall.html.
Application form, click HERE.

The Riga Photography Biennial (RPB) is an international contemporary art event, focusing on the analysis of visual culture and artistic representation. The term ‘photography’ in the title of the biennial is used as an all-embracing concept encompassing a mixed range of artistic image-making practices that have continued to transform the lexicon of contemporary art in the 21st century. The Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT offers visibility and provides a platform for promising emerging artists and curators and helps to announce themselves to a wider audience and context. The NEXT festival edition taking place in spring 2025 is to be the fifth edition of the RPB – NEXT programme. More information: www.rpbiennial.com

Art Academy of Latvia (AAL) was founded in 1919, alongside the establishment of the Republic of Latvia, and is the leading art university in the country. Embodying the spirit of creativity and freedom, AAL has been able to stand for its independence and purposefully develop – it has become an important art institution on a regional and European scale, whose aim is to provide high-quality competitive higher education and comprehensively develop art, design and science, thus ensuring unity of creative and scientific research as well as the continuity of studies. More about AAL: https://www.lma.lv/lv. More about Pilot’ Experimental Art Space: https://www.lma.lv/en/academy/pilot