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.
Gallery name: Art Academy of Latvia
Address: Kalpaka bulvaris 13, Riga
Open: 03.06.2019 - 28.06.2019