Valley of the Strange
Parallel
ISSP Gallery
Curated by Eric Lawton
English
Contributibg artists José Alves, Cihad Caner, Federico Ciamei, Ela Polkowska, Rocco Venezia, and Ana Zibelnik.
Hardcover
56 Pages
210 x 300 mm
2019
ISBN 9789934199226
The Parallel Photo Platform exhibition in Riga highlights six emerging European artists who use photography to explore the boundaries of time and the disruption of the ordinary. The exhibition considers the role of the image in navigating past and present, while questioning how photography and film can defamiliarize our everyday encounters with the world.
The works live in the hyperreal — zooming in and focusing on our innermost fears — blurring truth and fiction, and everything else in between. Nostalgia, superstition, and the ephemeral coalesce to form an unsettling tension. Far from avoiding the uncomfortable, these artists relish it, embracing moments both typical and deeply alienating: an exposed eyeball, cracked glass, a haunting cry. It is specifically in these seconds of uncertainty and trepidation that our rich sensation of life is finally awakened.
(source: https://issp.lv/en/gallery/valley-of-the-strange-parallel)
About the Organisation
Parallel Platform is a platform that brings together creative European organisations committed to promoting cross-cultural exchanges and mentorships in order to set new standards in contemporary photography. Members include museums, galleries, cultural centres, festivals, art schools and publishers – 18 vibrant European cultural hubs, from 16 countries, that will participate in selecting and hosting emerging artists and curators, organising exhibitions and promoting artistic networking.
parallelplatform.org
(source: https://parallelplatform.org/curators/about/)
About the Gallery
The ISSP Gallery is an exhibition space dedicated to contemporary photography, operating in Riga since 2018. The gallery’s focus is on photography as an integral part of contemporary art and the interaction of photography with other media, and it exhibits work by established local and foreign artists, as well as the younger generation of Latvian photographers.
(source: https://issp.lv/en/gallery)
