Bitter 1 2023

“Bitter” was my last solo show at Kim? in Riga, that helped me understand the lingering Soviet heritage as a developmental disorder of an aesthetic nature.
From cheap plastic windows in renovated Art Nouveau facades to obsession with luxury — plenty of evidence in my surroundings points to an unresolved legacy.

Bitter 2 2023

When, two years into a most bloody and unjust war, the local putinists still celebrate New year an hour early (because that is when it arrives in Moscow) my heart explodes like firecrackers in a jerrycan. White-bricked block houses still litter the parks of country manors.

Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.

Krišs Salmanis

Latvia

https://salmanis.com/en/poems-and-things

Krišs Salmanis lives and works in Riga, Latvia. He studied at the Art Academy of Latvia and the Media Art Academy of Cologne, Germany.

Salmanis has had shows at kim? contemporary arts centre in Riga, Latvia, CAC in Vilnius, Lithuania, Art in General in New York, USA, A4 in Chengdu, China, and elsewhere.
He has gained a number of awards, including at the 13th Tallinn Print Triennial (2004), 19. Videokunst Förderpreis, Bremen, Germany (2010), Purvitis Award (2017) and Latvian theatre award (2019).

Salmanis’ works are in the collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art, Art Museum of Estonia and Contemporary Arts Museum of Finland Kiasma. He has taken part in numerous international artist residencies, including HIAP in Helsinki, Finland (2012), KAIR in Kamiyama, Japan (2015) and ISCP in New York, USA (2022).

He represented Latvia at the 55th Venice Biennale.