The 2nd edition of Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA2), and suddenly it all blossoms, curated by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, could not be carried out as initially imagined and its completion, production and construction had to be abruptly paused two months prior to its expected opening. Understanding this extreme situation as a call for reinvention, the exhibition, spreading over 200,000m2 of the Tarkovskian former port district of Andrejsala in Riga, will be open to the public from 20 August – 13 September, and will be transformed into the setting for a feature-length film that will be shot during opening hours. Between a ruin and a construction site, past fallen dreams and present reality, the project, transformed into a unique experience, acknowledges the limitations and possibilities of today.
“As with the show itself, the movie will be a reflection on thresholds and metamorphosis at the end of a world. Its script follows the remnants of the original exhibition plan, between unfinished, reconfigured, and reimagined plans, and unfolds as an odyssey, a drift and a meditation on impermanence. This movie is a tribute to a desirable and reenchanted nascent world, where artworks act as guides for thoughts.”
says Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel.
Visitors will be able to explore the exhibition and witness the process of the film being shot. During the three-week run of the show, performances, guided tours and public programmes will be held while maintaining sanitary and social distancing measures. RIBOCA2 chief curator Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, as artistic director and script writer of the movie, invited acclaimed Latvian film director D?vis S?manis to co-direct the film, collaborating with his team including Andrejs Rudz?ts as director of photography. Together they are working on a feature-length film that is planned to be released early 2021.
An accompanying exhibition guidebook designed by The Laboratory of Manuel Bürger / Collaboratoires MB will be published, playfully inspired by Xerox aesthetics.
Latvia’s state of emergency ended on 10 June and its borders are slowly opening. RIBOCA2 will continue to follow government advice closely to ensure the safety of visitors, staff and local communities.
Public Programmes
The series of talks and conversations, imagined with associate curator of public programmes Sofia Lemos, were launched on 21 May unfolding through RIBOCA’s digital platforms. It is constructed from a glossary that has been crucial to the Biennial’s curatorial concept. Outstanding theorists, researchers, poets, and writers are invited to reflect on words such as Ends, Human, Love, Underworlds, Care, Magic, Voices, or Ghosts, taking them as lenses through which to consider alternative perspectives and visions for our presents and futures. Contributors include CAConrad, Marisol de la Cadena, Emanuele Coccia, Boris Groys, Jack Halberstam, Tim Ingold, André Lepecki, Sophie Lewis, Michael Marder, Birgit Menzel, Astrida Neimanis, Tobias Rees and Marina Simakova.
A full list of RIBOCA2 participants is available here.
