Paulius Petraiti’s Solo Exhibition at the Riga Photography Biennial 2022

Paulius Petraitis, “Figures”, 2021

Riga Photography Biennial 2022
the essence of isolation
April 21, 2022 – July 10, 2022
http://www.rpbiennial.com

From May 20 to July 3, within the framework of the Riga Photography Biennial 2022, the visitors are welcome to the exhibition “Surfaces” by the Lithuanian artist Paulius Petraitis at the ISSP Gallery. In his first solo exhibition in Latvia, Petraitis focuses on the study of analog and digital materiality in photography. The opening of the exhibition accompanied by the artist is on May 19 at 18.00.

The exhibition “Surfaces” expands on the Riga Photography Biennial 2022 central theme – isolation and offers viewers the opportunity to study the development of informative image coding. The exhibition application explains that photographs are usually viewed as transparent. It is assumed that a photograph is not viewed at the surface of the image, but rather through it to contemplate the scene an image reveals. This transparency of the medium serves many purposes, specifically, it enables the photographic image to function as the universal communicative language it is today.

However, photography cannot exist without a physical form. In “Surfaces” (2021-ongoing), Lithuanian artist-researcher Paulius Petraitis focuses on and examines the exterior side of photography. Emphasising the materiality aspect of the screen and print, images are double distorted. Using isolated moments and scenes from films as his source material, Petraitis re-photographs them adding multiple layers of analogue and digital intervention. Anything – a hand gesture, a car’s beam or rubber boots are removed from the continuity of the original environment and are transformed into an image with new possibilities for interpretation. Despite the visible distortions, together all the images twist in an imaginary narrative that forms an impression about a cosmic story.

“Surfaces” is Petraitis’ first solo exhibition in Latvia and is produced in collaboration with Sam Margevicius (US) and Gailė Griciūtė (LT)

Paulius Petraitis (1985) is an artist, theorist, and independent curator based in Vilnius. His practice orbits around image-making in broader social and cultural contexts. Much of his work explores the role of technology in meaning-making and examines ways photographic images function in online and offline environments. Petraitis’ recent project “A man with dark hair and a sunset in the background” explores visual recognition through a dialogue-based approach with an image interpretation software. It was presented in a solo exhibition at “Lokomotif” in Lithuania and published in 2020. Petraitis’ art books are held in numerous institutional collections, including libraries at MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and MACBA, as well as the Clark Art Institute and Yale University.

Riga Photography Biennial 2022 takes place in Riga exhibition halls and urban environment from April 22 to July 10. A total of eight international exhibitions and an extensive educational program will be available to spectators during the event. Up until June 12, the exhibition hall “Riga Art Space” continue hosting the biennial’s central exhibition “Screen Age III: Still Life”, as well as the international group exhibition exhibition “Measured Perspectives”, curated by Paulius Petraitis, and featuring Dutch artist Katja Mater (NL), and works by the American artist Erin O’Keefe (US).

Until May 21, the works of Baltic artist works are on show at the culture space “Smilga” in the exhibition “Utopias”. By the middle of May two other exhibitions will be available – “The Photo Album – A Subjective Narrative” in the Latvian Museum of Photography and the solo exhibition of Reinis Lismanis, a Latvian artist residing in London – at the art gallery “Look!”. At the same time, the central theme of the biennial is being expanded in the educational events program. It has already hosted an international conference dedicated to photo books as well as the first creative workshop for children “Screen and Child”. A series of talks on self-isolation are to begin in May, as well as a series of lectures on photography history, collecting and research for those interested in photography art.

Riga Photography Biennial (RPB) is an international contemporary art event in Latvia, focusing on the analysis of visual culture and artistic representation. RPB covers issues ranging from cultural theory to current socio-political processes in the Baltics and the wider European region.