PARTICIPANTS

Andris Breže (1958) graduated from the Department of Woodworking at the Riga Secondary School of Applied Art (1977), Department of Industrial Art at the Art Academy of Latvia (1984). He has been taking part in exhibitions since 1977, while in the late 1980s he was one of the first installation artists, making a significant contribution to the history of contemporary art in Latvia. He is a graphic and poster artist, he creates installations and environmental objects, and makes book illustrations. Since 1978 he has been publishing poetry under the pseudonym Žebers. His most recent collection of poetry, Ejas un asakas, was published with the artist's own photo illustrations by liels un mazs in 2022 and earned a nomination for the Annual Latvian Literature Award (2023) as well as the Jānis Baltvilks Prize for Children's Literature (2023).

Stephanie Dinkins is a transmedia artist whose art practice explores emerging technologies, documentary practices, and social collaboration toward more equitable social and technological ecosystems. Dinkins exhibits internationally. Recent exhibitions include Stephanie Dinkins: On Love & Data, Queens Museum of Art, In Search of the Future, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland, and BioMedia, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Germany. Dinkins is a Creative Time R&D Fellow, Sundance Artist of Practice Fellow, United States Artist Fellow, and Knight Arts & Tech Fellow. Recently named the inaugural recipient of the LG-Guggenhiem Award and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in AI (2023), her art and ideas have been highlighted by Wired, Art In America, Artsy, Art21, Hyperallergic, the BBC, The New York Times, Rightclicksave.com, and a host of popular podcasts and online publications.

Ivars Drulle (1975) graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Riga Secondary School of Applied Art (1996) and the Department of Sculpture at the Art Academy of Latvia (2000). MA at the University of Montana (USA, 2003). Has been taking part in exhibitions since 2002. He’s a sculptor, coin designer and teacher at the Riga School of Design and Art. His articles have been published in the Kultūras Diena, Satori and Rīgas Laiks magazines. He fuses sculpture with other art forms, as demonstrated by the illustrations to the publication of Jānis Sirmbārdis' poem Piedzīvojums, published by liels un mazs in 2016 and featuring staged photographs of figurines made by the artist.

Victoria Durnak (1989) is a writer and visual artist based in Askim, Norway. She is the author of two collections of poetry and five novels. Durnak has shown her work at venues like Young Artist’s Society, Atelier Nord and MUNCH in Oslo, in addition to Tallinn Art Hall and Nida Art Colony among other places abroad. Much of her work is concerned with how the Internet has changed how we interact with each other offline and how our social relationships are increasingly commodified and based on economic transactions.

Anna Dzērve (1995) holds a bachelor's degree in graphic arts from the Art Academy of Latvia. Since 2018, she has participated in group exhibitions and festivals, including the Riga Photomonth (2022) and the ImageNation group exhibition in Paris (2023). In 2022, Snap Collective published Anna's photo book, The Lay of The Light. In 2023, she won the NEXT prize at the Riga Photography Biennial. She has participated in the production of three music videos: Resistance by Katrīna Gupalo (director of photography and lighting designer), Sower by Inese Bērziņa Quartet (director and director of photography), and Reality by Rihards Zaļupe (director and lighting designer). Since 2018, she has been a board member of the association Free Art Movement, where she organises cultural events, including the Kņada festival (2019–2020).

Benjamin Freedman (1990) is a Canadian artist whose practice spans multiple mediums including photography, video and computer generated imagery with an interest in complex histories and the restorative potential of photographic research and play. While probing the relative truths and deceptions of photography, he purposefully adopts visual vocabularies from cinematic genres such as science fiction and horror in an effort to create expanded documentary projects. He self-published his first photography book in 2015, and has exhibited extensively across the greater Toronto area, most recently at Pumice Raft Gallery, Stephen Bulger Gallery, The Image Centre, 8eleven Gallery, Art Gallery of Mississauga, and Division Gallery and has shared his work internationally at the Aperture Foundation in New York City, Chung-Ang University in Seoul and recently as part of the Foto/Industria Biennale in Bologna.

Jānis Gailis is a Paris-based Lacanian psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Holding a doctoral degree in psychology, he defended his Advanced Research Diploma in psychoanalysis, "Psychoanalysis in a Foreign Language – Tower of Babel?" at the Department of Psychoanalysis, University of Paris 8. He is in private practice and directs the Montreux Centre for Medical Psychoeducation (CMPP). He is a regular speaker and author on psychoanalytic topics in Latvia, France, Belgium and Greece. He has addressed issues of visual art and culture in lectures at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (2010), at the New Lacanian School Congress "The Psychotic Subject in the Geek Era" (2013), and at the exhibition hall Arsenāls in Riga as part of Kaido Ole's exhibition "Dancing in the Lonely Hearts Club" (2019).

Albert Grøndahl (1985) weaves together motif, subjectivity and storytelling in the creation of his works. Using as his vantage point a personal, sometimes unorthodox, photographic foundation, Grøndahl sees photography as a process where artistic ideas can be shaped and changed in an inner archaeology, whether in the encounter with a place, in the sourcing of a material, in the analysis, in the written essay or in physical processing of the work in the darkroom. His process manifests itself across exhibition formats, in book productions and in architecture, in an unending cycle of connection and replacement. As an artist he is interested in the equilibrium between artist and society, and he has a keen focus on how his impressions and expressions can benefit his surroundings. He wants to create works which offer us new ways of looking at ourselves, using topics such as ecology, psychiatry and history as windows, and he endeavors to create lasting relationships with both subjects and audience through a cyclical process of research and response. Grøndahl’s work vibrates within multiple temporalities involving the past, its decay, and the encounter with its traces. It refers to ruination, to the materiality of being, to an order of ephemerality by which we are partially constituted. It deals with the gaps between things, the dirt trapped between floor tiles. The results of slow processes of life and death, chaos and construction. As a result, Grøndahl’s works are not only socially engaging and foster empathy and self- reflection in their creation and manifestation, but also ensure that his practice is anchored in the future.

Ivars Ījabs (1972) is a doctor of political science, politician, translator, columnist and musician.

Annemarija Gulbe (1997) works with photography, video and installation. She graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia and studied photography at the ISSP School and Andrejs Grants Studio. She is one of the winners of the Kim? Open Call (2023) contest, as well as a finalist of the BDO Young Artists Awards (2023). She received the Grand Prix and was awarded a residency at the contemporary art biennial Jeune creation Européene in Paris (2019) and the FK Prize as the best young Latvian photographer (2018). Her most recent personal exhibitions include: Faith to Believe – or Not at Kim? Contemporary art centre (Riga, 2024), Under Stone Vaults in Domed Structures (Kuldīga Municipality Artists Residence, Alsunga,2023), Challengeable Heritability at Look!  Gallery (Riga, 2023); Love Re-search at the ISSP Gallery (Riga, 2020) and photography festival Organ Vida (Zagreb, 2019). She curated the group exhibition Decentrality Dispersed in One Place at the Padure Manor (2023). She has taken part in group exhibitions in Latvia and abroad.

Cloe Jancis (1992) is an Estonian artist who operates across the mediums of photography, video, drawing, and installation. She graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a bachelor's degree in photography (2018) and is presently enrolled in the master's programme of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Jancis' artistic exploration revolves around the multifaceted representation of women in society, encompassing their everyday roles, prevailing myths, societal expectations, and intricate emotional landscapes. Recently, her creative endeavours have focused on the symbolism and rituals intertwined with the portrayal of femininity. Through her works, she positions herself at the centre as both the creator and the subject, utilising performance and performativity as fundamental tools of expression. This interplay between personal introspection and societal dynamics characterises the essence of her artistic narrative, straddling the boundary between the profoundly intimate and the broader social impulses.

Arta Ozola-Jaunarāja (1963) graduated from the Department of Graphic Art at the Art Academy of Latvia (1988), MA (2003). She has been taking part in exhibitions since 1986. She has worked in advertising, graphic design, packaging and coin design. Designer of more than 100 postage stamps released by Latvijas Pasts, the country’s postal service. She is the author and illustrator of the book Kurmītis un sudraba kurpes (Zvaigzne ABC, 2020). To illustrate the book, she used photographs of installations made of household items, papers, pieces of fabric and packaging.

Kotryna Ūla Kiliulytė (1986) is an artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art, completing a degree in Communication Design and masters in Fine Art Practice. Kotryna’s practice stems from her background in photography, now operating in an expanded lens-based territory. Often spending a significant amount of time for research in different disciplines, like biology, history and plant science, she makes works that exist in between scientific and speculative, poetic and political, global and personal. In her recent and ongoing works Kotryna is focusing on ecology, climate heating and solastalgia, or climate-related anxiety. Her works have taken different shapes from video works and installations to small run publications. Most recent exhibitions and screenings include Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania; CCA Glasgow, Scotland; Northern Photographic Centre, Oulu, Finland; and Edinburgh Art Festival, Scotland.

Mari-Leen Kiipli studied photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Pallas University of Applied Sciences. He was an exchange student at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and currently lives and works in Tallinn. Kiipli’s recent solo or duo exhibitions are Nanshe Gone Fishing in Draakon Gallery, Tallinn (2021), Husa in Haapsalu City Gallery (2020), Mari-Leen Kiipli Husa & Paul Kuimet Crystal Grid in Kogo Gallery, Tartu (2020). Her works have been showcased at group exhibitions, screenings and art fairs such as Liste Art Fair Basel (with Kogo Gallery, 2021), photo fairs Unseen Amsterdam and Foto Tallinn (with Kogo Gallery, 2019), The Others, independent art fair, Turin (with the Estonian Union of Photography Artists FOKU, 2018), Estonia Now: Artists’ Moving Image Program, Tramway, Glasgow (2018). In 2018, Mari-Leen received the annual award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, and her installation Passiflora, presented by FOKU, won the prize in the Expanded Screen section of The Others art fair in Turin.

Kristīne Krauze Slucka (1979) focuses on the investigation of industrially produced materiality as a starting point for pseudo-socioanthropological findings. Her approach is like that of a hunter-gatherer who learns the world order through observation, chance and association. She creates objects, installations and works with photographically conditioned renderings, often creating images through the use of an experimental, tactile method. Kristine Krauze-Slucka has a Fine Art Master's degree from the Visual Communication Department of the Art Academy of Latvia and received the Grand Prix of Nordic and Baltic Young Artist Award (2020). She was nominated for the prestigious Purvītis Prize twice: in 2021 for her solo exhibition Obedient Touch as part of the Riga Photography Biennial exhibition Digital Middle Ages, and in 2022 for her solo exhibition Forced Movements of the Past in the Tu Jau Zini Kur space. In 2022 chosen as a FUTURES (Europe-based photography platform) artist. She is a lecturer at the ISSP School in Riga.

Sandra Krastiņa (1957). Graduated from Janis Rozentāls Riga Art School (1976), Department of Monumental Painting at the Art Academy of Latvia (1982). She has been taking part in exhibitions since 1985. Active in painting, book illustration, as animated film artist, coin designer, exhibition curator. In 2016, the publishing house liels un mazs released a book with Leons Briedis' poem Rudzu puisītis, for which the artist created illustrations – photographs employing collaged stagings.

Renāte Feizaka (1987) and Klāvs Liepiņš (1991) are an artist duo originally from Latvia but based in Iceland. Both are graduates of Iceland University of the Arts, with Klāvs holding a BA in contemporary dance and Renāte with a BA in Fine arts. In their collaboration, artists combine Renāte's installations and sculptures with Klāvs' movement and choreography to create videos, performances, and installations. In their works, they transform their own physical appearances into characters to explore themes of identity, nationality, and cultural structures that shape individuals and society as a whole. Their installation Potato People in the exhibition As You Are Now So Once Was I/As I Am Now So Will You Be at The Living Art Museum, NÝLO in Reykjavik, Iceland in 2022 was nominated for the Icelandic Art Prize. In October 2023, they exhibited their solo show Doom Loop in Reykjavik Art Museum, Hafnarhús.

Adam Mazur, PhD (1977) – art historian, art critic and curator. Since 2013, he has been teaching at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznań (Faculty of Photography). Editor of magazines, anthologies, catalogs and author of books. In 2019 published the monograph The Mutilated World. Histories of Central European Photography 1839-2018. In 2019, he curated the exhibition Photobloc. Central Europe in photobooks 1918-2018. The exhibition was also shown in the Czech Republic (2020) and Lithuania (2021). In 2022, together with Łukasz Gorczyca, he opened the exhibition Photographics. Art photography in Poland 1927-1978 at MUFO in Krakow. In 2023 together with Vilma Samulionyte and Natalia Zak curated Lithuania. Two Centuries of Photography at the International Centre for Culture in Kraków. In 2018, he founded the BLOK magazine.

Katrīna Neiburga (1978) graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia (2002). Makes installations, light and video projections, stage design and video for opera and theatre productions and concerts. She holds performances in Latvia and abroad, as well as makes book illustrations. On several occasions she has used staged photographs, photographs of objects as illustrations in children's books published by liels un mazs: Pasakas par bērnu dzīvi (together with I. Maurīte, G. Gabrāns, O. Zitmanis, A. Vītoliņš, 2005), Pauls Bankovskis' Mazgalvīši spēlē mājās (2007) as well as the publication of Anna Brigadere's poem Danču tracis (2017).

Ingrīda Pičukāne (1978) graduated from Janis Rozentāls Riga Art School (1997), Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia (2006), as well as the Department of Animation at the Estonian Academy of Arts (MA, 2010). She has been taking part in exhibitions and art projects since 1998. Fields of activity: comic books, animation, video, installations, performances, book illustrations and design. For her illustrations for Juris Zvirgzdiņš' book Kad muzejā iespīd Mēness jeb Tobiass un draugi sargā Rīgas vēsturi (Riga: liels un mazs, 2012) she used a montage of drawings, collages and photographs, creating a visually engaging story about the museum's building and exhibition.

Andreas Refsgaard is an artist and creative coder based in Copenhagen. Working in the field between art and interaction design he uses algorithms, coding and machine learning to explore the creative potentials of emerging digital technologies. In his artistic practice, Andreas applies a humorous and cheerful approach to the digital tools and their potential applications, purposes and values. His works often consist of imaginative and unconventional combinations of inputs and outputs allowing people to e.g. play music using eye-movement, control games by making silly sounds or transforming drawings of musical instruments into real compositions. His playful, somewhat wacky and often interactive works are characterised by a naive and open minded approach, which questions and exposes both the possible benefits and drawbacks of the applied technologies in a straightforward and unassuming manner.

Nastja Säde Rönkkö  is an artist working with video, performance, installation and text. She has exhibited and performed internationally in places such as Somerset House, London, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, SXSW, Austin, TX, Royal Academy of Arts, London, FACT, Foundation for Art and Technology, Liverpool, Museum of Moving Image, New York and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. Recent solo exhibitions include Those Who Kept the Light, Rønnebæksholm Kunsthall, Denmark (2022) and Salt in Our Blood, in Our Sweat, In Our Tears, Beaconsfield Gallery, London (2023).  She has been artist-in-residence in Somerset House Studios, London (2018-2019), Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2018). Recent festivals include the International Competition Lago Film Festival, Italy (2023). She is the 35th recipient of the Young Artist of the Year 2019 title and award in Finland and recipient of Below Zero Art Prize (2023). She is currently showing work at The Irreplaceable Human, Louisiana Museum of Art, Denmark. Forthcoming exhibitions include solo shows at HAM Helsinki and Serlachius Museum, Finland (2024).

Ieva Rojūtė (1989) is Lithuanian artist and painter. Her textual works, which acquire the spatial form of an installation, explore everyday human relationships, conflicts of family and individual identity, and everyday folklore. In her work, Ieva Rojūtė repeatedly returns to her main themes of fear, failure, disaster, and anxiety. By rewriting excerpts from conversations, pieces of advice, warnings, and speeches, the artist presents fragments from the shared past and collective dreams. Rojūtė’s work combines hand-written texts that turn into images and drawings of natural elements and abstract forms. They act almost as separate objects found by the artist in her everyday environment. The author creates evocative installations that adapt to exhibition spaces by wrapping around them almost like climbing plants or snakes. Talking about small and big failures or fears, the artist investigates, sensitively and aptly, a wide range of mental states which shape the contours of our imperfect but inevitable reality.

Krišs Salmanis (1977) graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia (2003) and studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (2009–2010). Has been taking part in exhibitions since 1996. Salmanis makes installations, video and animated films, as well as illustrates children's books. In 2020, the publishing house liels un mazs released Inga Žolude's children's book Pirmo reizi uz Zemes with the artist's photographs-illustrations.

Keith Sargent and Lindsay Seers live on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Seers & Sargent began working together in 2012 when Sargent was commissioned to develop digital animations and publications for Seers. This continued and has developed into a collaborative practice. They have shown large scale works internationally in museums and art centres including SMK (National Gallery of Denmark); Venice Biennale 2015; Hayward Gallery, UK; MONA, Tasmania; Bonniers Konsthall, Sweden; Smart Project Space, Amsterdam; Kiasma, Finland; Turner Contemporary, UK; Tate Triennial, UK; TPW, Canada; Sami Centre for Art, Norway; Centre for Contemporary Art Poland; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, UK; Sharjah Art Foundation (The Flying Saucer), UAE; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan; E-Werk, Luckenwalde/Berlin, Germany. Their works are in a number of collections including Tate collection, Arts Council collection, Artangel collection, collection of MONA, Tasmania, The Government Art collection, MTA Collection, Lebanon and a number of private collections in Amsterdam, Norway, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Paraguay, and Mauritius. They have won several prestigious grants and awards such as the Sharjah Art Foundation Production Award, UAE; Le Jeu de Paume production award, France; the Paul Hamlyn Award; the Derek Jarman Award; AHRC Award; a number of Wellcome Trust Awards and Arts Council and British Council Awards in support of the works and Seers also received the Wingate Scholarship from The British School at Rome 2007/8.

Lindsay Seers and Keith Sargent live on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Seers & Sargent began working together in 2012 when Sargent was commissioned to develop digital animations and publications for Seers. This continued and has developed into a collaborative practice. They have shown large scale works internationally in museums and art centres including SMK (National Gallery of Denmark); Venice Biennale 2015; Hayward Gallery, UK; MONA, Tasmania; Bonniers Konsthall, Sweden; Smart Project Space, Amsterdam; Kiasma, Finland; Turner Contemporary, UK; Tate Triennial, UK; TPW, Canada; Sami Centre for Art, Norway; Centre for Contemporary Art Poland; Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, UK; Sharjah Art Foundation (The Flying Saucer), UAE; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan; E-Werk, Luckenwalde/Berlin, Germany. Their works are in a number of collections including Tate collection, Arts Council collection, Artangel collection, collection of MONA, Tasmania, The Government Art collection, MTA Collection, Lebanon and a number of private collections in Amsterdam, Norway, UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Paraguay, and Mauritius. They have won several prestigious grants and awards such as the Sharjah Art Foundation Production Award, UAE; Le Jeu de Paume production award, France; the Paul Hamlyn Award; the Derek Jarman Award; AHRC Award; a number of Wellcome Trust Awards and Arts Council and British Council Awards in support of the works and Seers also received the Wingate Scholarship from The British School at Rome 2007/8.

Līga Spunde (1990) was born in Riga, Latvia. Her works are often created as multimedia installations in which personal stories are closely intertwined with deliberately construed fictions. By casting a wide and yet, at the same time, fine thematic network, Spunde’s works contain references to different periods and symbols. The precision of interpretation together with newly acquired contexts become an extension of personal experience touching on well-known truths. Her works are executed using a variety of materials and media. Spunde has participated in several exhibitions and art projects in Latvia and abroad: No Blessing for Evil Will Come (Being Safe is Scary, Survival Kit 11, 2020, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Riga); When Hell Is Full, the Dead Will Walk the Earth (Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga, 2019); Champs-Élysées (427 Gallery, Riga, 2019); Interlude, in collaboration with Alvis Misjuns (Riga Circus Elephant Stables, KVADRIFRONS, Riga), 2018; Screen Age I: Self-Portrait (Riga Art Space, Riga, 2018); Free French Fries (Komplot, Belgium, 2017); NNN (LNMA, Riga), 2017, etc.

Deniss A. Ševeļovs (1985) is a researcher of social media influencers, a doctoral student of communication science at Riga Stradiņš University, and co-founder of the Collex talent and influencer agency.

Sabīne Šnē (1996) explores the intersections between culture and nature in her creative practice. She is particularly interested in the relationships between humans and non- humans. By weaving together scientific research, contemporary theories, and fiction, she creates worlds that highlight entanglements in ecosystems and multi-species intelligence. Šnē has a broad interdisciplinary practice that combines video, 3D animation, sound, sculpture, and drawing. Šnē studied at the Art Academy of Latvia, Department of Visual Communication. For her graduation work The Same Worlds (2022), she was awarded the Helen Scott Lidgett Award and a year-long residency at the ACME Studios Programme in London. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including exhibitions at Kupfer Gallery (London, 2024), solo exhibition at Lot Projects (London, 2023), National Gallery of Art (Vilnius, 2023), Vent Space (Tallinn, 2022), Survival Kit 13 (Riga, 2022), RIXC Art and Science Festival (Riga, 2022), solo exhibition at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre (Riga, 2022).

Daina Teters (1963) is a doctor of philosophy, professor, board member of the International Association for Semiotic Research (Paris, France), an international expert in semiotics, and full member of the International Institute of Communication (Washington, USA). She is preparing a project of Visual Semiotics for the World Congress of Semiotics 2024.

Agate Tūna (1996) is a multidisciplinary artist from Riga, Latvia, specialising in the field of analogue and experimental photography. Her techniques include film soups, chemigrams and photograms along with experiments in sound art. With her camera, Tūna plays the role of an investigator between reality and fiction, uncovering intriguing strangeness and compelling evidence, and thereby stimulating discussions about the blurred boundary between these two domains. Tūna delves deep into the influential role of imagery in shaping our beliefs by examining the complex, evolving interplay between technology and spirituality. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Arts from the Painting department at the Art Academy of Latvia (2020). In 2022, a two-year programme in Developing Photographic Language at ISSP School and more recently, in 2023, she graduated from an interdisciplinary MA programme POST at the Art Academy of Latvia. Her recent exhibitions: BDO Young Artist Award (received the main award), PILOT, Riga (2023), Chasing the Devil to the Moon, Tallinn Art Hall Gallery (2023), The Language of Flowers, Riga Photography Biennial (2023), METAHORROR meets METAHUMOUR, Lethaby gallery, London (2023), Flora Fantastic, Apexart gallery, New York (2022), solo exhibition The Order of Invisible Things, DOM gallery, Riga (2022).

Synnøve Sizou G. Wetten (1978) is a visual artist residing and working in Oslo. With their poetic and atmospheric short films, SSG Wetten explores the existential questions which emerge when the borders between biology and technology are blurred. What happens to the experience of the “I” and interactions between humans? What forms a community? What happens to our perception of time? What is consciousness? And where exactly is the distinction between consciousness and artificial intelligence? Synnøve Sizou G. Wetten’s works have been shown at the Sydney Biennial, The National Museum of Art Norway, KODE Art Museum, Human Resources Los Angeles, Public Art Screens- i/o/lab - Senter for Fremtidskunst, Sørlandets Art museum, Bomuldsfabriken, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Haugar Art Museum, Kunsthall Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus and Nordnorsk Kunstnersenter. The film Is This Now? XXYX was awarded the BKV Photo Art Award in 2019.

Ieva Viksne (1990) is a new media artist based in Riga, whose source of creative impulses are deep curiosity and personal experience. In her work she delves into diverse realms, including perception, alternative interfaces, virtual environments, and the exploration of the unseeable, such as the nuanced landscape of mental health. She works with virtual reality, digital image, interactive art and experiments with performance art and BCI (Brain- computer-interface). Ieva Vīksne holds a BA in new media art from the University of Liepāja and MA in Virtual reality and smart technologies from the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences. Ieva Vīksne is a lecturer at the Art Academy of Latvia and actively partakes in different cultural events.

Andris Vītoliņš (1975) graduated from the Department of Painting at the Art Academy of Latvia (2000). Vītoliņš is a professor and educator at the Academy. He has been serving as its Vice-Rector for Administrative and Creative Work since 2017. Has been taking part in exhibitions since 1996. Works in advertising and design, curates art exhibitions and projects. Illustrator of several children's books. The liels un mazs publishing released a collection of works by children in 2005. The book was illustrated by Ieva Maurīte, Gints Gabrāns, Otto Zitmanis, Katrīna Neiburga and Andris Vītoliņš, whose contribution used photographs of objects and figures expressly made for the book. In the competition Golden Apple-Tree 2005, together with the other authors of the book Pasakas par bērnu dzīvi (Riga: liels un mazs, 2005), he received a special prize for bringing parents and children closer together. Nomination for the Jānis Baltvilks Prize 2006.

Zane Zelmene (1990) is a prominent Latvian video artist. She completed her education in visual communication at the Latvian Academy of Art and furthered her expertise in new media art at the University of Lisbon's Faculty of Arts in Portugal. Zelmene's specialisation includes video art, audiovisual performances, and land art, utilising advanced technologies such as virtual reality, video projection mapping, and 360-degree video. Her works explore the interplay between art, science, and nature, the contrasts of antiquity and modernity, and delve into human consciousness, offering a profound and engaging experience for viewers.

Konstantin Zhukov (1990) is an artist living and working between Riga and London. His creative practice is informed by his research into recorded and oral histories exploring different forms of attachment and sexualities – from homoerotic poetry of the Islamic golden age to the scarcely explored and poorly-documented queer histories of his home country, Latvia. Most recently, Zhukov has held solo shows at NEVEN gallery in London (2024) and ISSP gallery in Riga (2022), exhibited at the Latvian National Museum of Art and Latvian Centre of Contemporary Art in Riga (2024), MO Museum in Vilnius (2024), Cromwell Place in London (2022), and hosted a talk on Latvian gay histories at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris (Paris Ass Book Fair, 2022). Zhukov’s work has been published online and in print, including i-D, CAP74024 and now-closed Открытые (o-zine.ru), a progressive LGBTQ+ publication based in Moscow.

Rūta Briede (1984) graduated from the Janis Rozentāls Riga Art School (2003) and the Department of Stage Design at the Art Academy of Latvia (2009). She is an illustrator, stage designer, costume designer, author of children's books, and book designer. Since 2009, creative editor at publishing house liels un mazs. Since 2014, docent at the Art Academy of Latvia. Creative editor of the series of poetry picture books BIKIBUKS (published from 2012 to 2017).

Artis Briedis (1977) graduated from the Department of Economics at the Latvian State University. Book designer. He has been working at the liels un mazs publishing house since 2009. Designed more than 140 books.

Mārtiņš Grauds (1973) studied at the Baltic Film and Media School at the Tallinn University. Director, cameraman, photographer. Chairman of the board at film studio TANKA, director of more than 500 TV commercial clips in Latvia and Lithuania. Photo publications in the press, photo series for theatre productions and projects. Photobooks Lūkot ies (Neputns, 2006), Cemetery Festival — Coming Together (Neputns, 2016).

Kristaps Kalns (1981) is active as a photographer and artist. He has been working at the daily newspaper Diena since 2001. He makes exhibitions together with artist Sarmīte Māliņa. I. Zandere's 2009 book Latviešu zvēri (idea and direction Mārtiņš Grauds, design by Rūta Briede, Artis Briedis, photographs by Kristaps Kalns. Riga: liels un mazs, 2009) received a special prize at the Golden Apple-Tree 2009 competition for non-traditional solutions in artistic design in children's literature as well as Jānis Baltvilks Prize 2010 for the concept, photography and design.

Inta Kamara (1927) graduated from the Department of Sculpture at the Faculty of Visual Arts of the State Art Institute of Estonia (1965). Worked as a prop manager in Riga and Tallinn film studios, later in theatres in Riga. In parallel, continued working in sculpture: monuments to poet Eduards Veidenbaums (1967) and Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš (1982). In 1961, the Latvian State Publishing House released the first collection of poetry for children by poet Laimonis Kamara, Gadam nosala degungals, for which his spouse Inta Kamara made plasticine figurines. Artist Normunds Zvirbulis used photographs of the figurines for the illustrations, and these became an indispensable part of the poems and created the impression of a stylistically coherent book design.

Normunds Zvirbulis (1929–1973) graduated from the Department of Graphic Art at the Art Academy of Latvia (1956). Zvirbulis is a fine art graphic artist, cartoonist, and illustrator. From 1957 onwards, his works were regularly published in the Dadzis magazine. He designed and illustrated more than 20 books. In 1961, the Latvian State Publishing House published L. Kamara's collection of poetry for children with the title Gadam nosala degungals. Photographs of plasticine figurines made by Inta Kamara together with graphic design by artist Normunds Zvirbulis became an essential part of the collection.