The First Riga Biennale of Contemporary Art in the Context of "Horizontal Art History"
Abstract
Recently, interest in the periphery has become a popular strategy for global exhibitions. Curators are trying to include as many non-European artists as possible in the exhibition program or to place the project at a problem point on the world map. Such an interest in the local, wrapped up in the concept of decentralization and equal dialogue, does not actually carry out critical work with the relations between the center and the periphery, but rather reproduces the old logic of their existence.
In this situation local and global large-scale exhibition projects are in a difficult situation of choosing a relevant curatorial strategy. As an exaple of one of these strategies the approach of the first Riga Biennale of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA) will be analyzed in the article.
The Riga Biennale of Contemporary Art offers an alternative approach to working with local art and territory. This happens through active work with the place, local context and artistic practices.
This approach coincides with the concept of “horizontal art history” by Piotr Piotrowski, which implies the localization of the speaker and comparative analysis of the history of art. At the Riga Biennale artistic expressions, representing various artistic scenes of one region, are presented together, focusing on the critical rethinking the regional history.
At the same time, the Biennale is moving away from the classic “western” exhibition concepts, for example, from the “white cube”. The rejection of a sterile exhibition space in favor of historical buildings allows the event to be rooted in the local context.
The specificity of the biennale will be analyzed on examples of specific artworks, as well as through an analysis of the exhibition and curatorial strategies.
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