The laureates of the Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT 2025 (RPB – NEXT 2025) and ISSP Gallery Award ‘Seeking the latest in photography!’ have been announced. The main prize – the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at the ISSP Gallery within the framework of the RPB – NEXT 2025 program in May 2025– has been awarded to Estonian artist Ruudu Ulas. The ‘VV Foundation's’ 1000-euro monetary prize and an opportunity to spend a month working at their residency ‘PAiR’ in Pāvilosta, Latvia will go to Karlotta Lainväe (EE), while the special prize of the Lithuanian book publisher ‘NoRoutine Books’ – the opportunity to publish a photo book – will go to Triin Kerge (EE). Six finalists will also present their work at the exhibition launch.

RPB – NEXT 2025 will take place on the 10th anniversary of the Riga Photography Biennial – RPB was first held in 2016. The goal of the award ‘Seeking the Latest in Photography!” is to discover and appraise the creative efforts of young Baltic artists who demonstrate the power of the image in their works, offering an original point of view and conceptual depth reflecting our current times. The curators of RPB – NEXT are seeking portfolios of artists who stimulate discussion and offer diverse ideas. At the same time, the organizers wish to provide a public platform for young artists at the beginning of their creative journey in photography or a medium associated with it, so that they can present themselves to a wider audience.

The organizers of NEXT 2025 received more than 60 applications from artists in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. The winner of the prize was determined by an international jury: the art critic, historian and curator Adam Mazur (PL), the Artistic Director of Tallinn Photomonth Kulla Laas (EE), artist and curator Paulius Petraitis (LT), art historian and critic Santa Hirša (LV) and artist and curator of the ISSP Gallery Iveta Gabaliņa (LV).

About RPB – NEXT 2025 awards ‘Seeking the latest in photography!’ main prize winner Ruudu Ula’s project ‘Difficult Objects’ the jury member Kulla Laas (EE) said: ‘Ruudu Ulas is very skillful in creating powerful photographic imagery with minimal elements and pure forms of display. Depicted scenes are frozen and isolated moments in time that have a quiet oddness to them and always leave something unseen. Her work has a strong cinematic quality, and each separate image raises an aspect of expectancy for the viewer. This is well reached with the combination of staged and documentary photography and sizes that put small material objects and large architectural structures on the same scale in the narrative. The sense of the images is filled with an air of the unknown, anxiety and fear, so commenting well the state of contemporary living.’

The RFB – NEXT 2025 Award launch event at the ISSP Gallery will feature a solo exhibition by the award winner, as well as presentations by six finalists nominated by the jury – Ruudu Ulas (EE), Klaus Leo Richter (LT), Riin Maide (EE), Keiu Maasik (EE), Gedvile Tamosiunaite (LT) and Paula Punkstiņa (LV) – will present their works at the opening of the exhibition.

The ‘VV Foundation’ presents a 1000-euro monetary prize and an opportunity to spend a month working at their residency ‘PAiR’ (Pāvilosta Artist in Residency) in Pāvilosta, Latvia to the Estonian artist Karlotta Lainväe, who participated in the award with the series ‘Where Do I Go When I Follow the Thread?’. ‘Her work reflects metaphysical questions that are always relevant to humanity, about the framework of a person's inner and outer sense of security in the world, which ensures emotional, spiritual and intellectual evolution. We challenge ourselves, deconstruct ourselves and put ourselves back together again and again – better or different than before. This is what permeates the work of the young Estonian photographer and creates a very personal aesthetic DNA,’ the foundation explains.

The Lithuanian publishing initiative ‘NoRoutine Books’ gives the artist Triin Kerge (EE), who participated in the competition with the project ‘Birth Day’, the opportunity to publish his photo book. ‘NoRoutine Books’ thinks that work ‘Birth Day’ would fit the book format very well and here photography brings the personal, intimate and tangible planes as close as possible.

The winners of the RPB 2016 award ‘Seeking the Latest in Photography!’ were Vika Eksta (LV), Andrejs Strokins (LV) and Alissa Nirgi (EE). The 2018 winners were Diāna Tamane (LV), Taavi Suisalu (EE) and Kristīne Madjare (LV). In 2019, the award was received by Annija Muižule (LV). In 2021, Visvaldas Markevičius (LT) became the winner, and he also received the first award presented by the ‘VV Foundation’. The 2023 winner was Ieva Baltaduonytė, LT), but ‘VV Foundation’ award received Anna Dzērve (LV). The winners of the ‘NoRoutine Books’ award were Ieva Balode (LV) in 2016, Madara Gritāne (LV) in 2018, Reinis Lismanis (LV) in 2019, Kristīne Krauze-Slucka (LV) in 2021 and Armands Andže (LV) in 2023.

The Riga Photography Biennial (RPB) is an international contemporary art event, focusing on the analysis of visual culture and artistic representation. The term ‘photography’ in the title of the biennial is used as an all-embracing concept encompassing a mixed range of artistic image-making practices that have continued to transform the lexicon of contemporary art in the 21st century. The Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT offers visibility and provides a platform for promising young artists and helps to announce themselves to a wider audience and context. The NEXT festival edition taking place in spring 2025 is to be the fifth edition of the RPB – NEXT program.

ISSP is a platform for contemporary photography, art and education that is based in Latvia and operates internationally. Since its establishment in 2006, ISSP has been fostering an active photography scene in Latvia, educating the young generation of artists and promoting international exchange. With the opening of the ISSP Gallery in Berga Bazārs, 13 k-3 Marijas Street, Riga, ISSP has made its mark on the cultural map as the only space in Latvia dedicated to contemporary photography. More information: www.issp.lv

Image: Ruudu Ulas (EE) from the series ‘Difficult Objects’, work in progress