2025

Beware of dogs gifts, presents

Beware of dogs gifts, presents
Kristers Krūms, Horhe Solorzano, Sofija Frančeska Putniņa and Sims Birznieks
22/03 – 17/05/2025

Beware of dogs gifts, presents

The gift is given by the gift giver

get Gift give gifted got

ai dundur-dundur-dun-dun-dot-dot-dot

now, higher

i want

i want to give

i want to give you something

i have a full bottle of snails

i have an ache belly full

to Estev you should give

i want to give you

Show of love

from door to door

no philosophy of joy in giving

there is no giving

there is no gifting

only gestures

gesture of giving gestures

for today I am dressed in gestures

today I am wearing my blue cap

and (time)I gave you my blue cap

when there is so much sun

disguised as the next spring’s gift

a mask gift

art disguised gifts

never open a gift from my…

face to your face;

wait

let me give you a signal

spits badly on the ground

(beware of dogs who bring gifts)

i want to give you a wall

wall painting walls

work, hard, work

i want you to paint it black darkness

what’s going on

i remember, i gave you a branch

the main one, you know, it flourishes

the swollen branch

the fruit of labour

i want silence

are you for the sun or the darkness

silence

and the wings smile

i want noise

for the fruit gives

the root receives

and i will bite them both

text by Afonso Theias

Support: VKKF, Auss

Kristers Krūms, Jorge Solórzano, Krišjānis Cukermanis
*Bow*, 2025

Kristers Krūms, Jorge Solórzano
*Instrument*, 2025

Morrison James Birznieks (1991 – 2020)
*“ ”* , 2025
Framed by Valters Veide

Sofija Frančeska Putniņa
*origami ak47/ bewitched by reason*, 2025

Kristers Krūms
*“Get better soon”*, 2025
Drawing by Sonia Górska

Kristers Krūms, Jorge Solórzano
*Rock basket*, 2025

Sim Birznieks, Kristers Krūms
*LV flag*, 2025

Māra Avrameca, Anna Osipova and Ģertrūde Cielava
*Tiny exhibition*, 2025

Sim Birznieks, Kristers Krūms
*M flag*, 2025

Emīlija, Emīls, Kristofers, Magnuss, Anna F., Anna O., Māra, Ģertrūde, Edgars, Kristers, Jorge
*Gift of labour*, 2025

Photos: Līva Priedīte

ESX

ESX
Gints Gabrāns
7 – 15/03/2025

Gallery 427 will be occupied for a week by an exhibition whose game rules are governed by an algorithm, transporting visitors’ portraits to a supernatural, digital hallucinatory realm inhabited by transmutant beings among slime mold sculptures and other generated flora in an artificial intelligence-imagined forest. The artificial neural network generates in real time transformations of the viewer’s individual appearance into a representative of another intersex trans species – a being from another world whose origins disappear, with the algorithm using computer vision to choose how to transform the viewer’s features without their participation or the ability to control what to do in an emotional puppet show.

Mining the data oil of imagined present-day values, the algorithm drowns the portraits in a sea of generated functions that surge between the winds of societal development and the movements that have formed within them. By manipulating the AI input prompts, the artist generates his own unique trans-community, which lives in a fantastic, mountainous, uncivilized forest, where what a person identifies with is changed, without the individual having control over the miraculous transformations, giving in to the identities created by the algorithm and resolving the relationship between man and art with algorithmic systems and artificial neural networks.

– Kaspars Groševs

Music by TV Maskava and Platons Buravickis

Programmer: Ansis Spruģevics

Support: VKKF (State Culture Capital Foundation), PXB

Photos: Līva Priedīte

The King of Beatbox

The King of Beatbox
William Ludwig Lutgens
31/01 – 1/03/2025

A door ajar, a window frosted:
Strange figures gather, drawing near,
Their shadows twisted, bent and crossed,
To sip joy sauce, gone rancid here.

While deep in slumber, toxic-bound,
The horned beast dreams of glory’s sound,
His performance, a miraculous feat,
Where praise and triumph seemed complete:

btt-ktt-tbt-ktt
btt-ktt-tbt-ktt
B t K t t b K t t b K t t
b K t
PfdBdbBdbBdbPfdBdbBdbBdbPfdBdb
K f t K K f K f t K K f K f t f
B t K B t K B tKB t K tKPehKBKKBPehK hhhhh K k K

– Luīze Nežberte

William Ludwig Lutgens’ practice delves into the unconscious complexity of the human ego and the pervasive influence of images, media, and representations in our over-achieving society, intertwining these elements with dreamlike desires and symbolic meanings, exploring the fantasies that shape our understanding of reality. His work spans painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, film, and more recently, performance.

William Ludwig Lutgens completed the post-academic residency program at HISK in Ghent in 2017 and has received multiple awards, including the 2020 Gaver Prize for Painting, the 2017 Eeckman Art Prize at Bozar, and the Brussels ArtContest Prize. He has participated in residencies such as the Nanji Residency at the Seoul Museum of Art, Internationale Cité des Arts Paris, Kunstplaats VONK, and Sala D’art Jove/Hangar.
Recent solo exhibitions include De Garage/Museum Hof van Busleyden in Mechelen, Expositieruimte 38CC in Delft, Galeri Kant in Copenhagen, PLUS-ONE Gallery in Antwerp, and CIAP Kunstverein in Hasselt. He has participated in group exhibitions at Museum Schunck Heerlen, the Museum of Contemporary Art Ghent, Seoul Museum of Art, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Z33 House of Contemporary Art, De Warande Turnhout, and Surplus Space in Wuhan. His work is internationally exhibited and part of collections such as De Bruin-Heijn, SMAK Ghent, and the Flemish Government.
Lutgens lives and works in Antwerp and is a board member of the artists’ association NICC.

Support: VKKF (State Culture Capital Foundation), Goethe – Culture Moves Europe, Flemish Government, Kunstplaats Vonk, Auss

Photos: Līva Priedīte

Insider Art Festival

Insider Art Festival
Renārs Zvirgzdiņš, Slumbert Party Entertainment and Latvian Gamer Unit, Aida Šmits, Kārlis Biķernieks, Dream Management, Post Brothers
11 – 19/01/2025

Programma:
11/01 ⚱︎⚱︎⚱︎⚱︎⚱︎⚱︎⚱︎ 13:00 Felt workshop
11/01 ☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎ 13:00-23:00 Renārs Zvirgzdiņš’ exhibition “Felt Holidays”
12/01 ☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎☘︎ 18:00-21:00 Renārs Zvirgzdiņš’ exhibition “Felt Holidays”
14/01 ⛓︎⛓︎⛓︎⛓︎ 19:00-21:00 Slumbert Party Entertainment and Latvian Gamer Unit present: “Matrix” theatrical audioplay stream, 1st Act
15/01 ⛓︎⛓︎⛓︎⛓︎ 19:00-21:00 Slumbert Party Entertainment and Latvian Gamer Unit present: “Matrix” theatrical audioplay stream, 2nd Act
16/01 ☀︎☀︎☀︎☀︎☀︎ 18:00-21:00 Aida Šmits’ creative evening
17/01 ✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎✴︎ 12:00-21:00 Kārlis Biķernieks’ exhibition “Secret”
18/01 ☣︎☣︎☣︎☣︎☣︎ 18:00-23:00 Dream Management: Celestial Exchange
19/01 ⚛︎⚛︎⚛︎⚛︎⚛︎ 18:00-23:00 Post Brothers: Cosmic Syndication – Frank Chu and the 12 Galaxies

Support: VKKF

Felt Holidays
Renārs Zvirgzdiņš
11-12/01

Photo: Kristaps Bušmanis

Slumbert Party Entertainment and Latvian Gamer Unit piedāvā: “Matrix” theatrical audioplay stream
14-15/01

Meetup Unlimited Create
Aida Šmits
16/01

Secret
Kārlis Biķernieks
17/01

Celestial Exchange
Dream Management
18/01

Cosmic Syndication – Frank Chu and the 12 Galaxies
Post Brothers
19/01