Every city is made unique by its individual and inimitable cultural life, whose roots originate not only in historical events, but also in its accumulated and verified cultural heritage. Culture reflects people’s observable habits and their particular traits, as well as testifying to the behavioural, worldview and value system models that are relevant today. 

And, as we know, throughout the ages, the most trustworthy cultural ally has been art, which conceptually applies to the most diverse forms of aesthetic art &ndash; literature, music, theatre, painting and sculpture. However, in everyday life, more often not, we understand art to mean visual art or painting. And, in regard to painting, Riga has venerable traditions &ndash; it was no coincidence that the first exhibition of works by Baltic artists took place in 1842 in what was at the time one of the most distinctive architectural spaces in the Old Town of Riga &ndash; the House of the Blackheads.

As Latvia&rsquo;s capital of culture, Riga is not only home to works by painters dating back to the 19th century and early 20th century, which are currently on view to all art lovers at the Latvian National Museum of Art, the State&rsquo;s collection also includes valuable visual art assets from the post-war period which have had the most direct impact on the cultural and national identity, as well as the self-awareness of the Latvian public today. This impressive collection testifies to what Latvia looked like when the country&rsquo;s independence was still merely a dream. When each and every one of us was still between the lines of a poem, between the canvas and the artist, among notes that had not yet been written. Unfortunately, it is not currently possible to view this cultural heritage in a single location due to a lack of suitable premises. Therefore, for several years now, a hot topic has been the creation of a Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, where visitors could view a broad and systematic collection of late 20th century and contemporary art. The vision is to make it an art space, where one can view the present at a time when it seemingly represented a future beyond reach. It will also be a space offering visitors the opportunity to bear witness to the way in which contemporary art trends shape and concurrently offers an insight into our shared future. It will be a place, where one can view Latvian art history as a continuous whole.

However, in order for the idea of the creation of the Museum of Contemporary Art to be realized it requires unified and persuasive support from both public and governmental bodies. In order to encourage the growth of such support, in cooperation with &ldquo;Live Riga&rdquo; and the foundation &ldquo;Mākslai vajag telpu&rdquo;, the social medium &ldquo;L&rsquo;Officiel Baltics&rdquo; has established a special platform in magazine format, which will provide art lovers with the opportunity to create a kind of temporary space for contemporary and modern art during the period before it gets the chance to manifest itself in physical form. In this edition, we offer you a small insight into Riga&rsquo;s exceptional art stops in the form of galleries and exhibition spaces, each of which, in its own inimitable way, enriches the cultural life of both our capital city and that of the country as a whole.

The only thing they have in common is the fact that each of them has currently set themselves the main task of not only fostering the development of art, but also the preservation of cultural value; thus, in a way temporarily undertaking at least one of the functions of a national museum. They also give fans of visual art the opportunity to view at least part of the accumulated cultural heritage, while at the same time actively reacting to the prevailing trends within creative life. In this sense, the small format of galleries and exhibition spaces has certain advantages, compared with the options available to a national museum. In addition to mobility, another significant advantage they have is the opportunity to support audacious creative experiments in the realm of art, as well as nurturing the most direct and more personal interaction with the art &ldquo;consumer&rdquo;.

“The main sign of true art is that it is always contemporary, existentially important and useful” Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian prose writer

Riga&rsquo;s art galleries have taken part in a wide range of art fairs all over the world: in Madrid, Vilnius, Berlin, Warsaw, Basel, Copenhagen, London, Brussels, Turin and even Miami. The main objective of taking part in art fairs is to raise Latvia&rsquo;s profile globally, while simultaneously actively seeking opportunities to initiate joint collaborations with globally renowned art spaces. Collaboration with high level galleries and exhibition spaces ensures international recognition for Latvian art and its circulation within global art markets, indirectly fostering the development and improvement of the level of art in general and the diversity of forms in which it is manifested.

We wish you a pleasant journey through the world of contemporary art!

What makes it special?&nbsp;The Latvian National Museum of Art is the biggest repository of&nbsp;art in the country and plays an important role&nbsp; n accumulating and&nbsp;safeguarding cultural assets and in promoting them in Latvia and&nbsp;abroad. It regularly organises art exhibitions,&nbsp; ducational activities&nbsp;and cultural events. With its unique vision and outstanding materials,&nbsp;the museum is an integral part of Latvia&rsquo;s&nbsp; dentity, and an&nbsp;exciting asset in the context of global museums.

The Latvian National Museum of Art comprises four museums&nbsp;and one exhibition hall: the Latvian National Museum of Art, Art&nbsp;Museum &ldquo;Riga Bourse&rdquo;, the Museum of Decorative Arts and&nbsp;Design (MDAD), Romans Suta and Aleksandra Beļcova&rsquo;s Museum&nbsp;and the &ldquo;Arsenāls&rdquo; Exhibition Hall.

Address:&nbsp;Jaņa Rozentāla&nbsp;laukums 1, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;permanent display &ndash; 3 EUR,&nbsp;exibitions &ndash; 3,50 EUR,&nbsp;discounts for schoolchildren,&nbsp;students and seniors.

Contacts: +371 67324461

<a href="http://www.lnmm.lv/en/lnma" target="_blank">www.lnmm.lv/en/lnma</a>

&nbsp;

&ldquo;RIGA BOURSE&rdquo;

Address: Doma laukums 6, Riga

Tickets: permanent display &ndash; 3 EUR,&nbsp;exibitions &ndash; from 1,50 EUR (Bose&nbsp;Hall) to 3,50 EUR (Great Hall),&nbsp;discounts for schoolchildren,&nbsp;students and seniors.

Contacts: +371 67357534

<a href="http://www.lnmm.lv/en/mmrb" target="_blank">www.lnmm.lv/en/mmrb</a>

&ldquo;ARSENĀLS&rdquo; EXHIBITION HALL

Address: Torņa Street 1, Riga

Tickets: exibitions &ndash; from&nbsp;1,50 EUR (Creative Studio)&nbsp;to 3,50 EUR (Great Hall),&nbsp;discounts for schoolchildren,&nbsp;students and seniors.

Contacts: +371 67 357 527

<a href="http://www.lnmm.lv/en/aeh" target="_blank">www.lnmm.lv/en/aeh</a>

MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE&nbsp;ARTS AND DESIGN

Address: Skārņu Street 10, Riga

Tickets: permanent display &ndash; 2,50 EUR,&nbsp;exibitions &ndash; from 1,50 EUR (2nd,&nbsp;3rd floor) to 3,50 EUR (Great Hall),&nbsp;discounts for&nbsp; schoolchildren,&nbsp;students and seniors.

Contacts: +371 67222235

<a href="http://www.lnmm.lv/en/mdad" target="_blank">www.lnmm.lv/en/mdad</a>

ROMANS SUTA AND ALEKSANDRA&nbsp;BEĻCOVA&rsquo;S MUSEUM

Address:&nbsp;Elizabetes Street 57a &ndash; 26, Riga

Tickets: 2 EUR,&nbsp;discounts for schoolchildren,&nbsp;students and seniors.

Contacts: +371 67288800

<a href="http://www.lnmm.lv/en/sbm" target="_blank">www.lnmm.lv/en/sbm</a>

LNMM-kaido.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;LOW is a non-commercial gallery, conceived and run by artists&nbsp;themselves. Founded in 2017, the gallery&nbsp; rovides a space where&nbsp;contemporary art institutions can conduct experiments for exhibitions&nbsp;of works by emerging artists in Riga.&nbsp; ith its programme, it&nbsp;actively participates in creating a live art process and offers support&nbsp;to artists seeking to bring new ideas to life.

The exhibition programme is devised by artist Maija Kur&scaron;eva, who&nbsp;places great emphasis on allocating space not only to artists who&nbsp;have already achieved public recognition, but also to promising&nbsp;young artists, thus giving them the chance to hold their first solo&nbsp;shows. Therefore, most of the artists exhibited are Latvian artists of&nbsp;whom over half study at the Art Academy of Latvia or have&nbsp; ecently&nbsp;graduated from it.

More often than not, the exhibitions on view at LOW are specially arranged&nbsp;for the gallery premises. One of the gallery spaces&nbsp; contains&nbsp;the LOW kiosk, where unique books and zines created by Latvian&nbsp;artists are available (a zine is a small magazine with a&nbsp; limited print&nbsp;run, which is published by its author). Art publications of this kind&nbsp;cannot be bought anywhere else and are pleasantly out of the ordinary,&nbsp;not only in Riga but in the Baltics as a whole.

Address:&nbsp;Ģertrūdes Street 115, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts: +371 29905463

<a href="http://www.low.gallery" target="_blank">www.low.gallery</a>

low.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Gallery Daugava is the oldest gallery in Riga. It announced itself as&nbsp;part of the Latvian art scene in 1993 with&nbsp;an exhibition by painter&nbsp;Rūdolfs Pinnis &ldquo;From Aiviekste to Seine&rdquo;. Throughout its history Gallery&nbsp;Daugava has hosted over 500 exhibitions. These include exhibitions&nbsp;devoted to many of Latvia&rsquo;s most distinguished contemporary&nbsp;artists, as well as competitive exhibitions, exhibitions with a slogan,&nbsp;both thematic and conceptual. From the outset, the gallery has been&nbsp;run by art historian Anda Treija.

The work of Gallery Daugava has also been highly recognized at a&nbsp;national level. It has been visited by Prime Ministers from other countries&nbsp;and Latvian State Presidents, including Guntis Ulmanis, Valdis&nbsp;Zatlers, Andris Bērziņ&scaron; and Raimonds Vējonis. Among the guests to&nbsp;visit the gallery have been Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vija Celmins, Egīls&nbsp;Siliņ&scaron; and other globally-renowned creative&nbsp; personalities.

Thanks to the support of businessman Guntis Rāvis, Gallery Daugava&nbsp;has published art albums about the painting of Imants Vecozols,&nbsp;Biruta Baumane and Biruta Delle, as well as smaller format publications&nbsp;about the sculptors Vilnis Titāns and Kārlis Baumanis, painters&nbsp;Jānis Annuss, Baiba Vegere, Alberts Pauliņ&scaron;, and photographer&nbsp;Karmels Skutelskis. An album devoted to the painting of Maija Nora&nbsp;Tabaka is currently under development.

The gallery has also been instrumental in exhibiting Latvian art in&nbsp;Germany, France, the UK, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Sweden.

Address: Ausekļa Street 1, Riga&nbsp;(entrance from Elizabetes&nbsp;Street)

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts: +371 67212896,&nbsp;+371 28668857

<a href="http://www.galerijadaugava.lv" target="_blank">www.galerijadaugava.lv</a>

DAUGAVA.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;ZUZEUM is an art centre founded by the Zuzāns family that will fully&nbsp;open after its reconstruction. The design&nbsp;conceived by Zaiga Gaile&rsquo;s&nbsp;firm of architects firstly envisages the construction of a new extension&nbsp;at the back of ZUZEUM, which will serve as a repository for the&nbsp;Zuzāns&rsquo; art collection. In turn, the second stage of the project will&nbsp;entail the reconstruction of the historical cork factory building and&nbsp;the installation of a sculpture garden.

The nucleus of ZUZEUM will consist of the Zuzāns&rsquo; art collection and&nbsp;the current home of the collection &ndash; the Mūkusala Art Salon. While&nbsp;the reconstruction project is still under development, ZUZEUM is&nbsp;already operating. An exhibition of Israeli contemporary art &ldquo;Dreams&nbsp;and Dramas&rdquo; opened at the historical cork factory in October 2017,&nbsp;while in 2018 ZUZEUM hosted Riga&rsquo;s first international contemporary&nbsp;art biennale. Various arts and culture events will continue to&nbsp;take place at this venue in future. ZUZEUM will offer both permanent&nbsp;art exhibitions and temporary exhibitions, as well as lectures, seminars,&nbsp;concerts, theatre and film screenings. A pleasant addition to&nbsp;the extensive programme will be a restaurant on the roof terrace.

As the creators of the art space, the Zuzāns family place great emphasis&nbsp;on the centre being open to the general public, particularly&nbsp;young people. This will be a creative space with opportunity for visitors&nbsp;to educate themselves, participate in art exhibitions and create&nbsp;new works of art, as well as organising various performances.

Since the autumn of 2018, &ldquo;ZUZEUM: The Ear - Shop-Cinema&rdquo; with&nbsp;a roof terrace and a meeting place for the &ldquo;ZUZEUM 101&rdquo; youth&nbsp;programme have been open on the third floor of the building. In collaboration&nbsp;with the magazine book &ldquo;Benji Knewman&rdquo; and the project&nbsp;&ldquo;Kino Kults&rdquo;, film evenings and other activities for the general&nbsp;public are held here, which will be able to continue on a regular&nbsp;and much broader scale when the reconstruction of ZUZEUM has&nbsp;been completed.

Address:&nbsp;Lāčplē&scaron;a Street 101, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 26444097

<a href="http://www.zuzeum.com" target="_blank">www.zuzeum.com</a>

ZUZEUM.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;The Mūkusala Art Salon is a non-commercial private art space&nbsp;which has been based in Pardaugava, Riga since 2011. The name&nbsp;reflects the idea behind the exhibition space &ndash; this is a place on&nbsp;Mūkusalas Street where visitors can discover the vast art collection&nbsp;of private collectors Dina and Jānis Zuzāns in a relaxed atmosphere.&nbsp;

Currently, it is comprises over 5,000 works of art, which a team of art&nbsp;historians, restorers, collection custodians andexhibition curators&nbsp;work with on a daily basis. The salon regularly organizes exhibitions&nbsp;of the Zuzāns&rsquo; collection, solo exhibitions showcasing Latvian and&nbsp;Baltic artists and excursions as part of the exhibitions. The salon&nbsp;actively collaborates with State and municipal museums, as well as&nbsp;other exhibition spaces in Latvia and overseas, lending works from&nbsp;the Zuzāns&rsquo; collection for exhibitions outside the salon.&nbsp;

Mūkusala Art Salon will change its location and become part of the&nbsp;Zuzeum Art Centre with more spacious permanent and temporary&nbsp;exhibition spaces and a more extensive events programme.&nbsp;While Zuzeum is still under development, the Zuzāns&rsquo; vast collection&nbsp;can be viewed in exhibitions at Mūkusalas Street. The exhibitions&nbsp;are taking place in two exhibition spaces and are changed once&nbsp;every two months.

Address:&nbsp;Mūkusalas Street 42, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+ 371 28640886

<a href="http://www.mmsalons.lv" target="_blank">www.mmsalons.lv</a>

mukusalas.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Gallery Birkenfelds was founded in 1994 and its Director is Toms&nbsp;Zvirbulis. The gallery&rsquo;s motto is &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll find it interesting, even if you&nbsp;all you do is take a look!&rdquo;

This year, the gallery is celebrating its 25th anniversary. With a&nbsp;fine appreciation of contemporary demands and the wishes of its&nbsp;customers, Gallery Birkenfelds has always opted to accept creative&nbsp;challenges. It was Gallery Birkenfelds that transformed the Latvian&nbsp;art market back in 2005 by launching auctions of works of art, which&nbsp;over the years have become well-known among art lovers and&nbsp;collectors.

In 2009, a chance discussion about photo art paved the way for&nbsp;photography to become a commercial medium, not only through the&nbsp;gallery but within the art market as a whole. Its extensive expertise&nbsp;and auction experience make the gallery interesting for both&nbsp;collectors and those taking their first steps in the art world. Visitors&nbsp;to the gallery can receive information about art market trends and&nbsp;valuable advice on how to buy works of art for their pleasure or for&nbsp;investment purposes. The gallery stresses the art business is not a&nbsp;bohemian t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te over a glass of wine. Instead, it is comparable&nbsp;to a stock exchange which is constantly on the move.

The gallery represents world famous masters of photography such&nbsp;as Ulvis Alberts (USA/Latvia) and Antans Sutkus (Lithuania), as well&nbsp;as the painter Juris Zvirbulis.

Address:&nbsp;Kaļķu Street 28, Riga&nbsp;(Hotel Roma, 4th floor)

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 29141605

<a href="http://www.birkenfelds.lv" target="_blank">www.birkenfelds.lv</a>

Birkenfelds.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Gallery &ldquo;Careva&rdquo; (established in 2017) is based in Riga, Latvia and&nbsp;represents mid-career and emerging artists from Northern and&nbsp;Eastern Europe. &ldquo;Careva&rdquo; promotes contemporary art by organising&nbsp;solo artist exhibitions in the permanent gallery space in Riga,&nbsp;as well as represents them abroad by partaking in international&nbsp;art fairs. Moreover, &ldquo;Careva&rdquo; organises educational programme for&nbsp;local community.

Gallery &ldquo;Careva&rdquo; organises exhibitions of works by artists from this&nbsp;region (representing countries in the Baltics, Eastern Europe and&nbsp;Northern Europe) in its Riga premises, thus placing the creative output&nbsp;of Latvian events within the context of prevailing trends in&nbsp; eighbouring&nbsp;countries, as well as introducing local art lovers to developments&nbsp;in the art world beyond Latvia&rsquo;s borders. In addition to this&nbsp;programme, Gallery is an active participant at international art fairs&nbsp;such as Code Copenhagen, Cos Moscow, Vienna Contemporary,&nbsp;and ALAC, thus promoting Latvian art in a goal-oriented manner.

Address:&nbsp;Kaļķu Street 24, Riga&nbsp;(2nd floor)

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 27883992

<a href="http://www.carevacontemporary.com" target="_blank">www.carevacontemporary.com</a>

careva.jpg

LATVIAN CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART (LCCA)

What makes it special?&nbsp;The Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art is is Latvia&rsquo;s biggest contemporary&nbsp;art institution &ndash; a curator and producer of international&nbsp;and national art events. Among LCCA&rsquo;s flagship events are the contemporary&nbsp;art festival &ldquo;Survival Kit&rdquo;, contemporary art exhibitions&nbsp;at the Latvian National Museum of Art, in addition to which it represents&nbsp;Latvia at international art events.

This year, in collaboration with the contemporary art centre kim?,&nbsp;LCCA has been entrusted with the honour of curating Latvia&rsquo;s Pavilion&nbsp;at the 58th International Art Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia,&nbsp;with artist Daiga Grantiņa&rsquo;s exhibition &ldquo;Sun Dog&rdquo;.

Address:&nbsp;Alberta Street 13, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 67039282

<a href="http://www.lcca.lv" target="_blank">www.lcca.lv</a>

LCCA.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;&ldquo;kim?&rdquo; &ndash; an abbreviation of the perennial question &ldquo;what is art?&rdquo;&nbsp;(&ldquo;kas ir māksla?&rdquo;). Since 2009, it has organized over 190 exhibitions&nbsp;by Latvian and foreign artists in Riga, as well as over 30 exhibitions&nbsp;abroad. A total of over half a million visitors have visited &ldquo;kim?&rdquo; since&nbsp;it was founded.

Augmenting the exhibition programme, an ongoing programme of&nbsp;lectures, seminars, readings and creative performances are organised.&nbsp;The art centre also offers an education programme run by&nbsp;professionals, which gives various audiences and age groups the&nbsp;chance to discover the contemporary art world.

This year &ldquo;kim?&rdquo; Contemporary Art Centre is celebrating its 10th&nbsp;anniversary. It will be celebrated by participating at the 58th Venice&nbsp;Art Biennale, under the auspices of which, &ldquo;kim?&rdquo; and the Latvian&nbsp;Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) will jointly organize Daina&nbsp;Grantiņa&rsquo;s exhibition &ldquo;Sun Dog&rdquo;.&nbsp;Parallel to this, work continues with the annual kim? The Residency&nbsp;Award, which was launched in 2015.

Address:&nbsp;Sporta Street 2, Riga

Tickets: 3 EUR,&nbsp;students, seniors &ndash; 1,5 EUR.&nbsp;Tuesdays &ndash; free entrance.

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 29600916

<a href="http://www.kim.lv" target="_blank">www.kim.lv</a>

KIM.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Since 1999, Gallery Māksla XO has focused on contemporary and&nbsp;modern Latvian art &ndash; painting, sculpture and works on paper &ndash; large&nbsp;scale drawings, paintings, photographs and graphic works, ranging&nbsp;from traditional representation through to contemporary forms of&nbsp;urban and social art. The gallery&rsquo;s founder and exhibition curator is&nbsp;Ilze Žeivate.

Among the artists represented by gallery are some of Latvia&rsquo;s most&nbsp;distinguished contemporary artists, whose artistic signature has&nbsp;become the artists&rsquo; trademark not only in the context of art in Latvia,&nbsp;but also internationally: Ieva Iltnere, Helēna Heinrihsone, Vineta&nbsp;Kaulača, Tatjana Krivenkova, Kristaps Ģelzis, Ilmārs Blumbergs,&nbsp;Ivars Heinrihsons, Ģirts Muižnieks, Leonards Laganovskis, Guntars&nbsp;Sietiņ&scaron;, Kristaps Zariņ&scaron;, Edvards Grūbe. They also include several&nbsp;Latvian artists from the mid and younger generation who&nbsp; have the&nbsp;audacity to look further and deeper than the prevailing trends in&nbsp;contemporary art and those dictated by fashion: Paulis Liepa, Arturs&nbsp;Bērziņ&scaron;, Kaspars Podnieks, Mārīte Gu&scaron;čika, Zīle Ziemele.

Every year Māksla XO organises about 20 exhibitions at the gallery&rsquo;s&nbsp;premises in Riga and outside the capital. Parallel to this the gallery&nbsp;engages in local and foreign art projects. Under the auspices&nbsp;of the centenary celebrations of the Baltic States a particular focus&nbsp;has been devoted to artists from Lithuania and Estonia &ndash; Jonas&nbsp;Gasiūnas, Rūta Katiliūte, Marko M&auml;etamm and Leonhards Lapins.

Address:&nbsp;Elizabetes Street 14, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 29482098,&nbsp;+371 67334205

<a href="http://www.makslaxogalerija.lv" target="_blank">www.makslaxogalerija.lv</a>

XO.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;RIXC Gallery is the only one gallery in Latvia which initiates projects&nbsp;in intersection of art, science and emerging technologies. RIXC&nbsp;Gallery represents both young and established Latvian as well as&nbsp;international digital media artists. Located in the very hart of Riga&nbsp;RIXC Gallery provides space for the digital art exhibitions, pop-up&nbsp;exhibitions, workshops, performances and talks.&nbsp;

Artists represented by the gallery: Rasa &Scaron;mite and Raitis &Scaron;mits,&nbsp;Jānis Garančs, Mārtiņ&scaron; Ratniks, Daina Taimiņa, Rihards Vītols,&nbsp;Paula Vītola.

Address:&nbsp;Lenču Street 2, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 67228478,&nbsp;+371 26546776

<a href="http://www.rixc.org" target="_blank">www.rixc.org</a>

RIXC.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;The PUTTI Art Gallery has been operating in Riga since 2000. Initially,&nbsp;the gallery was founded with the goal&nbsp;of promoting Latvian&nbsp;contemporary jewellery artists and their creative output. Over time it&nbsp;has expanded its programme and the gallery&rsquo;s range of artists has&nbsp;now been augmented with outstanding foreign jewellery artists, thus&nbsp;forming a unique collections that encompasses both contemporary&nbsp;and conceptual jewellery.

Address:&nbsp;Peitavas Street 5-31, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 67214229

<a href="http://www.putti.lv" target="_blank">www.putti.lv</a>

Putti.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Gallery was founded in April 2014 by artists Ieva Kraule and Kaspars&nbsp;Gro&scaron;evs with the goal of infusing contemporary art with new ideas,&nbsp;exhibiting great artists and seeking adventures. Its main aim was&nbsp;to become an alternative (artist-run space) to Riga&rsquo;s art institutions&nbsp;and commercial galleries, offering programmes curated by artists&nbsp;themselves.

Since then, over 40 exhibitions, events, readings and online projects&nbsp;have taken place with the participation of many internationally-renowned&nbsp;artists including Tore Valerts, Miraks Džamals, F5, Vitenis&nbsp;Burokas, Karls Palms, Golf Clayderman, Darja and Agata Meļņikova,&nbsp;&ldquo;the Ocean Academy of Arts&rdquo;, Evita Vasiļjeva, Visente Mollestads,&nbsp;Raids Kalniņ&scaron;, Gilija Tala, Metjū Luts-Kinojs, Henings Lindkvists,&nbsp;Marianne Viero, Līva Rutmane, Marija Ol&scaron;auskaite, Monika Lip&scaron;ica,&nbsp;Vivjena Grifina, Gaile Pranckunaite and many others.

Over the course of time, 427 Gallery has manifested itself in many&nbsp;creative guises: as a restaurant, a horoscope-reading session, a 
striptease bar, a venue for rituals, an empty nightclub with the biggest&nbsp;disco ball in the Baltics, tombs, a dance floor from the Lithuanian&nbsp;Ministry of Education, a fashion catwalk, a beauty care salon,&nbsp;a dating game, a pop competition, travelling box and many others.&nbsp;Its range of interests has always included artists who work in physical&nbsp;media: painting, drawing and spatial forms; who also conduct&nbsp;experiments, seeking opportunities to expand these media.

Address:&nbsp;Stabu Street 70, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 29567606

<a href="http://www.fourtoseven.info" target="_blank">www.fourtoseven.info</a>

427.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Gallery Bastejs actively participates in shaping both Latvia&rsquo;s and&nbsp;Riga&rsquo;s cultural scene, making each of its projects, be it a solo or&nbsp;group exhibition, a special art event.

The gallery represents and collaborates with artists including&nbsp;Henrijs Preiss, Ritums Ivanovs, Sigita Daugule, Sergejs Djomins,&nbsp;Helēna Heirihsone, Ivars Heinrihsons, Kristiāns Brekte, Juris&nbsp;Utāns, Frančeska Kirke, Egils Rozenbergs, Pēteris Alliks and Iveta&nbsp;Vecenāne. Among the emerging artists involved in the gallery&rsquo;s&nbsp;projects are Zane Balode, Pēteris Līdaka and Inese Vēriņa Lubiņa.&nbsp;Operating internationally, Gallery BASTEJS participates in the VOLTA&nbsp;NEW YORK and VOLTA BASEL art fairs to which it has been&nbsp;specially invited by the art fair organisers. This testifies to the gallery&rsquo;s&nbsp;increasing international renown. Currently, at the suggestion&nbsp;of VOLTA New York and ARTNET, work is under way to create an&nbsp;internet profile for the gallery to raise its profile within the global art&nbsp;market internet.

In 2019, the galley will be organizing solo shows for Henrijs Preiss&nbsp;and Artūrs Virtmanis in New York and Basel, as well as group shows&nbsp;at the KUNST 19 ZURICH art fair in Switzerland and at the Luxembourg&nbsp;ART FAIR in Luxembourg.

Address:&nbsp;Alksnāja Street 7, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 29136840

<a href="http://www.bastejs.lv" target="_blank">www.bastejs.lv</a>

Bastejs.jpg

What makes it special?&nbsp;Gallery was founded in 2005. Its founders are the artist Astrīda&nbsp;Riņķe and art historian Ilva Kri&scaron;ane.

After operating for 13 years in a gallery space on Rūpniecības Street,&nbsp;Alma has moved to new premises and can now be found in a glazed&nbsp;modernist style building at Tērbatas Street. Exhibits are illuminated&nbsp;and open to the life of the city 24 hours a day!

Artists represented by the gallery include Ēriks Apaļais, Andris&nbsp;Breže, Barbara Gaile, Ivars Drulle, Ernests Kļaviņ&scaron;, Kri&scaron;s Salmanis&nbsp;and Zane Tuča. The gallery also collaborates with Sarmīte Māliņa&nbsp;and Amalija Smith, as well as the music, sports and art&nbsp; collective&nbsp;Golf Clayderman, whose creative nucleus comprises the artists&nbsp;Margrieta Griestiņa and Aksels Bruks.

The gallery participates in art fairs, such as Arco Madrid, Art Brussels,&nbsp;Art Cologne, Art Berlin and Artissima.

Address:&nbsp;Tērbatas Street 64, Riga

Tickets:&nbsp;free entrance

Contacts:&nbsp;+371 29155572

<a href="http://www.galerija-alma.lv" target="_blank">www.galerija-alma.lv</a>

ART Space Riga

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