To turn the spotlight on contemporary ceramics in Latvia and internationally, the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre once again joins forces with the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics to put together the 4th Latvia Ceramics Biennale with an exciting programme set to take over Rīga, Daugavpils and even Aveiro, Portugal.
Invariably, the focal point of the Latvia Ceramics Biennale is the Martinsons Award – an international juried exhibition at the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre. This year, it will be opened on 8 September as the centrepiece of the venue’s approaching autumn exhibition season. The opening event will culminate with an awards ceremony, where an international jury will name the award winners in national and international categories.
This year, the Martinsons Award received a record 685 applications from artists representing 71 countries, including 68 submissions from Latvia, the largest number to date.
The Biennale will bring more than ten exhibitions of contemporary ceramics and a one-man performance by the award-winning Latvian ceramicist Dainis Pundurs. A new open-storage chamber for contemporary ceramics will be opened in a renovated and repurposed bastion casemate of the Daugavpils Fortress, followed by a public launch of an art catalogue documenting ‘The City of Dreams’ – the first permanent display of the Martinsons House.