In September 2018, a new specialization was opened in the Art History and Theory Depart-ment of the Art Academy of Latvia – Curatorial Studies. The creation of the programme was determined by developments within the art field both locally and internationally, as the curator plays an important role in the art ecosystem not just by managing processes, but also initiating them.
The Emerging Curator! Award aims to help curators change the usual exhibition policy on a local level. With the help of this platform, the local becomes global, showcasing projects – important newcomers within cutting edge narratives – in the international art environment. The competition encourages discussion of the role of the curator in contemporary art and culture as a creative personality and mediator building a more successful dialogue with the public.
The NEXT Emerging Curator! Award 2023 was won by Laima Daberte with the exhibition Time Found, which is included in the NEXT 2023 program at the Pilot Experimental Art Space of the Art Academy of Latvia.
The curator and the artists of Time Found – Laima Daberte, Kristaps Freimanis and Armands Andže – will examine a tendency inherent in human memory, i.e., the way in which the perception of place and space is interpreted in different ways, depending on the individual’s previous experience, feelings, thoughts or the lack of them at a given time. Streets, squares, and even entire cities and landscapes can be defined using associations, thoughts, and even bodily sensations, thus creating collections of sensations and memory maps we carry with us and incessantly experience anew.
The jury explained its decision: “In the turbulent whirlwind of everyday events, artists are increasingly seeking places of refuge to rediscover or return to in order to find what drives our innermost creativity. It seems that Laima has both found these places and continues to search for them in order to provide the audience and the people experiencing the exhibition with a place of refuge.”
Competition jury: curator, artist, critic and creative director of Publics curatorial platform Paul O’Neill (IE); chief curator of the collection of the Finnish Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma PhD Saara Hacklin (FI); director and curator at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art Solvita Krese (LV); art historian, curator and Vice-Rector at the Art Academy of Latvia Antra Priede (LV); director and program curator at the Riga Photography Biennial Inga Brūvere (LV).
Participants: Teresa Faleiro (PT), Laima Daberte (LV), Kristaps Freimanis (LV), Armands Andže (LV)
Curators: Laima Daberte (LV)
Text: Katarzyna Sagatowska (PL)
In cooperation with: gallery Jednostka (PL)
Image: Teresa Faleiro (PT), Untitled, tulle, 2020
