Publication for the Riga Photography Biennial

Riga Photography Biennial has been held since 2016 and focuses on the analysis of visual culture, taking an interest in the impact of technology on our realities and their representations. While getting ready for the 2020’s biennial, the team invited “Kolektīvs” to create its publication – content curation and design.
The scope of texts reflecting on the image culture in Latvian is still somewhat limited, therefore, we saw the biennial’s publication, functioning both as a catalogue and an anthology of texts, as an excellent opportunity to contribute to contents and ideas formulated or translated into Latvian. While creating the publication of 2020, we invited three authors to reflect on the themes raised by the biennial’s artists and curators: historian Kiril Korbin contributed with an essay, tracing how we have gotten from the rarity of heliogravure in cabinets of curiosities to the ocean of images stored in “clouds”; art historian Alise Tīfentāle, analysing images shared on social networks, considered if it’s the right time for landscape photography; we also published an updated version of media theorist’s Kristin Klein’s article which follows the origin and development of the concept of “postdigital”, thus, offering an overview and an interpretation of the main references to the theme. Responding to the research into a lesser known episode in the history of Latvian photography by curator Šelda Puķīte, we published an interview with Šelda and Guna Ševkina, historian of the Museum of Photography.
When creating the publication’s design, we worked with the biennial’s identity developed by Mārtiņš Ratniks. The issue has two sections – essays and interviews printed on yellowish, uncoated paper, and a catalogue section, which gathers information about exhibitions and participants on white coated paper.

ClientRiga Photography BiennialTeamZane Zajančkauska, Ilze Kalnbērziņa-Prā