Anticipating the centenary of the Latvian State and the 2nd Latvia International Ceramics Biennale, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics, in cooperation with Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, announces the exhibition opening and award ceremony of the international ceramics competition “Memory Box”. The event is scheduled to take place at 4 p.m. on 1 December 2017 at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre.
The exhibition is organised in memory of Pēteris Martinsons (1931-2013), an outstanding Latvian ceramicist, who frequently created memory boxes – mostly small-scale geometric containers, often decorated with relief indentations and vivid glazes. In these symbolically-loaded chests, the artist immortalised his memories of places and acquaintances, thereby keeping them safe and preventing them from fading.
To participate in the exhibition, applying artists were invited to submit a miniature clay representation of their memories, i.e. their ‘memory box’ with a brief description of the memories captured in the artwork. 209 applications were received from 45 countries. To select artwork for the exhibition, an international jury was assembled, featuring Valda Podkalne (Latvia), artist; Ieva Nagliņa (Latvia), artist, curator, Rīga Porcelain Museum; Māris Čačka (Latvia), artist, curator, Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre; Rasa Stružienė (Lithuania), manager, Ceramics Pavilion of Panevežys Municipal Art Gallery; Pille Kaleviste (Estonia), artist; Valentīns Petjko (Latvia), artist, curator, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics.
The jury selected artwork for the exhibition from photographs and added descriptions. The names of the artists remained unknown to the jury right until the end of the voting process. Prior to the opening, the jury will review the artwork in person and select 3 winners – works whose authors will have an opportunity to organise a solo exhibition at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre and participate in the next year’s ceramic art symposium “Ceramic Laboratory”.
77 works were selected for the exhibition at the Rothko Centre, including 11 works by Latvian artists and 66 by artists from overseas. The complete list of exhibition participants and award candidates includes Marie-Josee Comello (the Netherlands), Lisa Creskey (Canada), Kwan Sau Man (China), Steve Mattison (the United Kingdom), John Tuckwell (Australia), Kirsi Kivivirta (Finland), Lorena Wowk (France), Marta Radics (Hungary), Mary Conroy (Ireland), Zsofia Karsai (Hungary), Ihor Kovalevych (Ukraine), Nicole Portlock (Ireland), Carla Dijk (the Netherlands), Heesu Moon (South Korea), Irina Razumovskaya (Russia/United Kingdom), Iva Brkic (Serbia), Jacomijn Steen (the Netherlands), Demet Iper Dicle (Turkey), Elif Aydogdu Agatekin (Turkey), Fatma Gurle (Turkey), Leman Kalay (Turkey/South Korea), Seolhwa Kim (South Korea), Karin Putsch-Grassi (Germany), Velimir Vukicevic (Serbia), Makiko Hicher (Canada), Anne Turn (Estonia), Kersti Laanmaa (Estonia), Michal Ityel (Israel), Walter Auer (Italy), Jiyun Chun (South Korea), Natasa Bojanic (Serbia), Edurne Otaduy (Spain/Mexico), Maria Ten Kortenaar (the Netherlands), Fidan Tonza (Turkey), Omur Tokgoz (Turkey), Renate Gellner (Austria), Kinga Rathonyi (Hungary), Palma Babos (Hungary), Kimie Ino (Japan/Brazil), Valdas Kurklietis (Lithuania/Sweden), Dicle Oney (Turkey), Emet Egemen (Isik) Aslan (Turkey), Kadir Erturk (Turkey), Nizam Orcun Onal (Turkey), Melahat Altundag (Turkey), Manos Kalamenios (the United Kingdom), Julia Feld (the USA), Razalina Busel (Belarus), Judy Dibiase (the United Kingdom), Sandra Ban (Croatia), Sirin Kocak Ozeskici (Turkey), Anna Erdos (Hungary), Naim Kim (South Korea), Dilek Alkan Ozdemir (Turkey), Zofia Kosiorek (Poland), Christa Steinmetz (Germany), Dori Schechtel Zanger (Israel), Omer Gorkem (Turkey), Ljiljana Marinkovic (Serbia), Ana Hanzel (Slovenia), Sunbin Lim (South Korea), Emre Can (Turkey), Ismet Yuksel (Turkey), Ozge Tan (Turkey), Viviane Diehl (Brasil), Duygu Kahraman (Turkey), Ilze Emse-Grīnberga (Latvia), Olga Melehina (Latvia), Kate Māliņa (Latvia), Mārīte Margareta Djačenko (Latvia), Elita Taube (Latvia), Ilona Romule (Latvia), Nellija Dzalba (Latvia), Ekaterina Sazonova (Russia/Latvia), Una Gura (Latvia), Andris Vēzis (Latvia), Inese Brants (Latvia).
The exhibition of the Memory Box Competition is open to the public at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre until 21 January 2018.
The event is supported by: Latvijai 100, A/S „Lode”.
Publicity photo:
– Pēteris Martinsons “Memory Box”.
Information: Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, www.rothkocenter.com
