Wow, kāds lielisks skats / Wow, what a great view
ISSP Gallery, Riga, Latvia
Demelza Watts’s installation sets the gallery as the residency apartment turned upside down, the exhibition "Wow, what a great view" features works of six artists, created during their time at the ISSP Riga Residency.
With each new occupant, the residency enters another repetition, a sort of monthly Groundhog Day. The photographer arrives at the residency apartment, takes off their shoes, is shown their room to put their bags and then walks into the kitchen. “What a great view!” they note as they look out of the kitchen window onto the street, over an entire block of the city that has been boarded up. Chewed up by the demolition it has been left to nature.
Being on residency involves a strange scenario of living temporarily for a month with two strangers, so small interactions in the kitchen become the make or break of these relationships. The view becomes the mutual television show or the work colleague to bitch about or the old friend you reminisce on. By the time these conversations have been made, you have your bond, and probably several photos of the view.
The exhibition “Wow, what a great view” is a homage to the most popular residency conversation starter and a rumination on the process of being a residency artist in a new city, an outsider looking in.
Mākslinieki / artists: Ekaterina Anokhina (RU), Kenneth Bamberg (Öland / FI), Josefina Malmegård (SE), Hiro Tanaka (JP), Demelza Watts (GB), Filippo Zambon (IT/FI)
Kuratores / curators: Evita Goze, Iveta Gabaliņa
Teksts / text: Demelza Watts
Izstādes atbalstītāji / Exhibition partners & supporters: Nordic Culture Point, VKKF, Krāsu serviss, Vadims Reinfelds, SONY, Fine Art Print
