Exhibition ‘Measured Perspectives’

Perspective is a long-standing topic of interest for Dutch visual artist Katja Mater and American photographer Erin O’Keefe. It functions both as a playing field for practical experimentation and as a tool to raise questions about the supposedly indexical status of the photographic image. Even more, perspective reveals itself to be a significantly malleable construct. Mater and O’Keefe employ the optical ambivalence intrinsic to photography to highlight that seemingly fixed viewpoints are carefully composed, rather than fluid and subjective.

Along with the ambivalence of spatial perception, Measured Perspectives also underlines the potential of a process-based approach in the context of today’s increasingly fast-paced and result-oriented work culture. Mater and O'Keefe embrace time-consuming work habits that could be described as methodical, deliberate, even slow. Their practice, which stands in contrast to the quick project-based systems propagated by the market economy, restates the value of measured and process-based experimentation.

Participants: Katja Mater (NL), Erin O'Keefe (US)
Curator: Paulius Petraitis (LT)

Supported by: State Culture Capital Foundation, Riga City Council, Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council, Exhibition hall ‘Riga Art Space’, ‘’Poligrāfijas Apgāds’’, Printing house “Adverts”, Rixwell Hotels, ‘’Kokmuiža’’, Arterritory.com, Echo Gone Wrong, Punctum, BLOK and others.

Image: Erin O’Keefe, Orange Break, 2020