The winner of the award will be chosen by and international jury and will have an opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at the ISSP Gallery within the framework of the Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT 2023 (RPB – NEXT 2023) program held in May, 2023, where the awarding of other laureates will also take place. Competition participants will receive special prizes from “VV Foundation” and the Lithuanian independent publishing initiative “NoRoutine Books” as well.
The award 'Seeking the Latest in Photography!' is an award founded by the Riga Photography Biennial - an international contemporary art event focusing on the analysis of visual culture and artistic representation. Every other year, the festival holds the programme NEXT that focuses on young and promising artists from the Baltics, Nordic countries and Europe who are still in the early stages of their careers. The award for the young Baltic artists is presented in the framework of the RPB - NEXT programme since 2016.
"The goal of the award is to discover and appraise the creative efforts of young artists who demonstrate the power of the image in their works, offering an original point of view and conceptual depth reflecting our current times. The curators of RPB – NEXT are seeking portfolios of artists who stimulate discussion and offer diverse ideas. At the same time, the organizers wish to provide a public platform for young artists at the beginning of their creative journey in photography or a medium associated with it, so that they can present themselves to a wider audience," say organizers.
The competition is open to emerging artists and photographers from the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – provided that the work they are entering in the competition was created within the last three years.
Besides the main prize – an opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at the ISSP Gallery in Riga, the jury members will nominate five finalists (including the winner) who will present their work at the exhibition launch, and ten finalists who will be granted the opportunity to participate in the NEXT 2023 program portfolio review to the industry professionals free of charge.
Full details of how to submit work is available at www.rpbiennial.com.