Coming around just once every four years, the 2024 Sculpture Quadrennial Riga features exhibitions, talks, and an epic 24-hour soundscape performance.
ADVERTISEMENTLast night (15 August), this year’s edition of Sculpture Quadrennial Riga kicked off at the Latvian capital’s NOASS art centre.
Running since 1972, the 2024 festival takes on the theme ‘What Would Not Have Been’ – inviting artists to reflect on themes of urban memory, (in)equality, hostile architecture and defence, while paying attention to the isolating nature of making creative work within the current socio-political context.
Though a thoroughly international event, Latvian creatives are well represented, with participating artists including Laimdota Malle, Kaspars Brambergs and Roberts Balins.
From further afield, Czech artist Matěj Frank, Ukrainian Daniil Shumikhin and Colombian-German Guinci are among the international artists taking part.
In addition to the works themselves, the quadrennial is set to include a number of discussion events (in English), with topics including ‘Ukraine: public art in transition’.
One of the most hotly anticipated parts of the festival is a 24-hour performance by Latvian improvisation orchestra DZZ, who create expansive soundscapes and promise “an immersive journey through ever-evolving sound oceans”.
The 2024 Sculpture Quadrennial Riga runs until 23 August 2024.
