The Pavilion of Latvia in the 55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. Read more on the official project web site. 

Arsenale, Venice, Italy.  June 1 - November 24, 2013.

Artists: Kaspars Podnieks and Krišs Salmanis.

Curators: Alise Tifentale, Anne Barlow, and Courtenay Finn.

Commissioners: Zane Culkstena and Zane Onckule. 

Organizers: Art in General (New York) and Kim? (Riga).

Read more about the exhibition and Latvian contemporary art in my catalog essay "Just What Is It That Makes Latvian Art So Different, So Latvian?"

Read a review of the exhibition by Maija Rudovska published in Studija 91, No. 4 (2013). Download a pdf of the review here.

North by Northeast presents two new works by two Latvian contemporary artists, Kaspars Podnieks and Krišs Salmanis. Both artists address the tension between location and dislocation triggered by the ideological implications of constantly shifting political geography.

References to the traditional Latvian rural lifestyle with its intimate relationship to nature, utmost respect to labor, and patriarchal worldview permeate the exhibition. North by Northeast approaches the self-fashioning of an individual, a community, or even a small nation that is grappling with politicized geography, local artistic heritage, and its work ethic.