NEXT 2025: ‘The Bureaucrat Who Secretly Reads Poems’

Riga Photography Biennial—NEXT 2025 ‘Emerging Curator!’ award-winner Roberta Atraste’s exhibition ‘The Bureaucrat Who Secretly Reads Poems’

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The exhibition The Bureaucrat Who Secretly Reads Poems turns to the bureaucratic and administrative processes in art. Although this practice existed already before conceptual art, it was in the 1960s that artists began functioning as “managers” and “clerks”. Those in the field of visual art were among the first to entrust the production of their work to others – not in order to completely erase or dematerialise the art object, as is sometimes believed, but rather to engage in such activities as registering, documentation, archiving, listing and indexing. In art history, these practices are sometimes related to the concept of institutional criticism. Yet it is also possible to see them in another light, stressing the often-ignored absurd, poetic, psychological and sometimes even pleasurable aspects of these procedures.

The aim of the exhibition is to study and present the aesthetics of bureaucratic and administrative processes in a contemporary context. The ‘PILOT’ Experimental art space of the Art Academy of Latvia is located on the ground floor of an office building, providing an opportunity to reach out not only to the gallery’s visitors but perhaps also to its neighbours.

Participants: John Huntington (SE), Arta Kauliņa (LV), Sara Krøgholt Trier (DK), Katariin Mudist (EE), Evija Pintāne (LV)
Curator: Roberta Atraste (LV)
Scenographer: Krišjānis Beļavskis (LV)

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About the gallery

The Art Academy of Latvia Experimental Art Space PILOT was established in 2020. The art space is 191 square meters in size and is located at 3 R. Wagner Street in the Riga Old Town. One of PILOT's goals is to use the space within the academic study process, as a venue for exhibitions and creative experiments, providing students with the opportunity to gain experience in exhibition activities. The diverse program of PILOT primarily consists of exhibitions of the academy students' works, competition exhibitions, results of collaborative projects, lectures, and other creative projects. PILOT Art Space has participated multiple times in the Art Vilnius art fair in Lithuania, where it was ranked in the Top 7 by the fair organizers both in 2020 and 2024. PILOT periodically announces competition calls for the graduates of Art Academy of Latvia graduates, thus supporting professional career development after completing their studies. Opening hours: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat from 12:00 to 18:00. Free entry.

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About the Riga Photography Biennial (RPB)

‍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 young artists and helps to announce themselves to a wider audience and context.

RFB—NEXT 2025 runs from 24 April to 6 July wide-ranging program of exhibitions and education events. For more information: www.rpbiennial.com.

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