Art Riga Fair 2022

For its eighth edition, ART RIGA FAIR left its usual exhibition halls and moved up: five days inside Zunda Towers, a brand new high rise on the left bank of the Daugava, with Rīga spread out below the stands.

A fair in the sky

From 21 to 25 September 2022, ART RIGA FAIR, in full the "Starptautiskā mākslas izstāde ART RIGA FAIR 2022," set up inside Zunda Towers at Raņķa dambis 30, a multifunctional high rise that had only just opened on the Riga skyline. Latvian public broadcaster LTV covered the opening, describing the venue as a huge hall inside one of the tallest buildings in the city and calling the fair the largest professional art market in Latvia that year, in its 8th edition, with around 50 local and foreign artists taking part.

The Latvian Association of Textile Art, which promoted the show on its own site, put the appeal of the new venue simply.

Māksla mājos tuvāk debesīm. Latvijas Tekstilmākslas Asociācija, ltm.lv (2022)

"Art housed closer to the sky," in other words. Visitors got the exhibition and the panoramic views over Rīga that only the towers could offer, a change of pace from the fair's more usual home at the Latvian Railway History Museum.

Galleries and artists, by country

Per the Latvian Association of Textile Art's announcement, the eighth edition gathered artists and classical and contemporary art galleries from:

Named exhibitors

The edition's exhibitor catalogue names a run of Latvia-based artists showing that September: Agate Apkalne, Elga Grīnvalde, Signe Drulle, Vera Bondare, Ilze Preisa, Nele Zirnīte and Rita Pranča, alongside Russia-based artist Tamara Grizjuk and the gallery BAZAR'T, which represented several further Latvian names of its own.

The Latvian Association of Textile Art singled out one exhibitor by name: textile artist Emma Sofia, who showed four works at the fair.

The fair's own 2022 participant list adds a wider international roster. From France: Karim Borjas, Shalva Khakhanashvili, Henri Matchavariani, Belka Lassare, Bénédicte Gerin, Aliska Lahusen, Annette Turrillo, Adelina Bogdanova, Katja Kameneva, and Assia and François Mouret. The Georgian painter Zurab Arabidze; Sergey Dubroff and Miroslava Blazheva (Switzerland); Christina Bohin and Nina Urlihs (Germany); Dirk Denoyelle (Belgium); Frida and Ruven Shezen (Israel); Giordano Morganti (Italy); Daša Delone and Dima Gorjačkins (Montenegro); Olga Yakubouskaya (Belarus); and, from Estonia, Frank Koop, Eduards Zentčiks, Darja Jasnjuk, Maksims Simčenko and Oļegs Serebrjakovs.

Organized by Happy Art Museum

The eighth edition was presented by Happy Art Museum together with Zunda Towers, with Dags Vidulejs as founder and organizer. The fair announced its 21 to 25 September dates and the Zunda Towers address across its channels.