ISSP Riga Residency
The ISSP Riga Residency provides an opportunity for concentrated work on a personal research or art project informed by interaction with Riga and its residents (or elsewhere in Latvia), or much needed time to rethink and complete ongoing work. We welcome photographers, artists and curators interested in exploring the local social and cultural context and connecting to ISSP platform of activities and other contemporary art and culture actors in Latvia.
Information about the 2024 programme will follow.
NB! We are friends with a couple of wonderful artist residency centres outside Riga. So in case you wish to spend time in Latvian countryside, we can help you - send us your ideas together with your portfolio at residencies@issp.lv.
Who can apply?
Our residency programme is open for photographers, artists and curators working with photography. There are no limitations regarding age, background or photographic style of the participants. The residents will be chosen based on the strength of their applications and fit to the residency calendar.
Special priority will be given to participatory art projects involving local inhabitants.
Thanks to our cooperation partner kuš!, the residency also hosts illustrators and comics artists – if you are one or the other and want to come to Riga, get in touch with kuš! through their website.
Duration and timing
In general, we recommend longer stays of 2 – 3 months in order to get to know the new location and make some serious work. Stays of 1 month can still be possible, depending on the individual circumstances and residency schedule.
The residency calendar is based on full month slots, from 1 to last day of the month.
Participation fee
The residency participation fee is 400 EUR per calendar month; a partial advance is payable to confirm the participation.
The participants are responsible for their travel and production costs. We will provide you with an official invitation letter to apply for funding in your country.
Nordic scholarship
NB! 3 selected artists from a Nordic or Baltic country* will be awarded a Nordic Culture Point scholarship - 500 EUR stipend, residency stay free of charge and covered travel costs to Riga.
* residents of following countries are eligible for the scholarship: Denmark, Finland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Åland, Estonia, Lithuania.
What we offer:
- a private room in a comfortable residency apartment in the center of Riga (3-bedroom apartment), shared with 2 other artists. The rooms are spacious and equipped with working tables; the artists share a common living room, fully equipped kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, wifi, scanner, printer.
- a possibility to use the library and extra equipment at the ISSP premises;
- contact with a dedicated staff member to provide local support, and access to the ISSP local network;
- a possibility to meet with the local community at an artist talk, and to organise a pop-up exhibition or a small workshop.
What we expect from the residents:
- to work on their artistic project in Riga / Latvia for the period of the residency;
- to be open to present their work to the local audience in the form of an artist talk or other public event;
- within one month upon the completion of the residency, to send us a selection of the images produced for publicity purposes.
TO APPLY
Please fill in APPLICATION FORM with short information about yourself & why would you like to come to Riga (your project idea).
If you have any questions, please contact us at residencies@issp.lv.
Organisers
The Riga Residency is curated by ISSP – a platform for contemporary photography, art and education. The residency is run in partnership with kuš! – a comics art anthology born in Riga in 2007, who publish comic editions and organise exhibitions, workshops, comics jams and other comics-related events, besides travelling to international festivals to spread the Latvian comics fever. For more info contact Kuš! Comics Residency.
Host town
Riga stands at a geographical and cultural crossroads between Eastern and Western Europe and has a multicultural history. The largest city in the Baltic States, Riga offers plenty of tradition and historical charm, while its urban neighbourhoods still bear witness to post-Soviet reality. There is an active art and culture scene with plenty to discover; the countryside with beautiful forests and beaches can be easily reached by public transport.
During 2018 – 2023 we had an opportunity to host over 80 artists from different corners of Europe and some from further away in the world. You can get an insight into the work produced in the galleries below.
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The ISSP Residency was a wonderful experience, mostly thanks to all the dedicated wonderful staff. So helpful and nice and engaged! The platform of the ISSP and the gallery was a big help in the production of work. Also the fact that you were open about splitting my residency period in two helped a lot! You are the best!
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Very resultful, I produced completely new body of work during the residency and I'm really happy about it!
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I had enough time to explore my subject and develop it. Good location, very nice apartment/studio. And the help I needed was provided by the ISSP organizers.
Tons of new pictures for the future projects!
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It was a great opportunity to develop new work based on personal history of my family member living in Riga. I had very interesting conversations with the staff of ISSP and other residents about my work which helped in development of the work’s concept. The staff of the ISSP was very kind to provide additional equipment and were generally super helpful.
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I’ve been able to make good work here and I have also made good friends here. Being able to have the time to make work, plan for a workshop, and even bounce ideas off the other residents was so valuable for me. I felt supported and cared for. We cooked together and worked on many things during this time... it was extremely valuable for me.
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Great experience at this point of my career, as I wished. New inspirations from a great city and Baltic contemporary art scene, new friends and contacts. The staff of ISSP was friendly and I also appreciated common trips outside Riga and free-time activities in the gallery.
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I enjoyed the space of the residency and the possibility to use the library and the facilities of the ISSP office. Very inspirational for developing my work was to organize the two events and have the possibility to talk with the participants. I think this was one of the highlights of my residency time.
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Overall brilliant experience. Great and friendly support; loved having other artist residents as roommates. Very useful also personally – for seeing other work processes and discussing practices and methods with artists at different stages of their career.
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The ISSP Riga residency gave me a unique opportunity to work on my new project, exploring the nature of traditional museums in connection with the idea of creating a personal imaginary museum.
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Perfect spot to be impressed and influenced by Riga’s charm. Despite one month of residency wasn't enough for the project like mine, due to advance preparation, great help of the Residency coordinator and strong support from the local photographic community, I’ve achieved my aim in a best way.
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My experience at ISSP was extremely productive, it allowed me time to focus on my work and have a new environment to explore in my research and photographic practice.
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I got more than I asked for out of this experience. I came to the residency to reboot my artistic practice and to think about and work on my project that was on hold, and I succeeded in both. I'm very happy I had a chance to be a part of the residency, it was great being with other artists and the kind and friendly support of ISSP people was priceless. Thank you! ♥
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The residency offered exactly what I am in need of — time and space in a stimulating urban environment. I really appreciated how centrally-located the apartment and everything was, the ease of walking and using public transit, and having access to the gallery as a reference library and work space. Everyone involved was very generous and helpful, in regards to our work but also just as friends navigating an unfamiliar city, which definitely helped make it an even more worthwhile and enjoyable experience.
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My experience at ISSP was extremely productive, it allowed me time to focus on my work and have a new environment to explore in my research and photographic practice.
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We are very delighted about new connections we made during the residency with local artists and overall Riga’s art scene, also possibilities for future projects. Working in residency was inspiring and very productive, even for a short amount of time we spent there.
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This was an amazing experience of informational detoxification from the Belarus context. This allowed me for some period to get a needed distance and get to the feeling of normality. That helped me to work on the situation at home in a more conceptual way rather than documenting events. Also it was really helpful and healthy to meet people who are not in trauma and to encounter a normal human reaction on our stories of violence and craziness.
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The main goal for me was to switch from the situation in Belarus and to focus on my own practice. Before I had many ideas in my head but could not concentrate on them being swept by pessimism of the everyday news. Being physically away and far from the epicenter helped a lot. Time spent at the ISSP library brought many new ideas and helped to structure the old ones in a better way. And, as always when learning, I felt that I understand myself a bit better. Great experience, great new contacts even despite the pandemic. Thank you!
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The residency provided a great chance to get to know Riga, explore the city and surrounding areas and to have much needed head space to focus on new work. I felt very welcomed and it was great to meet the comic artists as well as ISSP residents. The apartment was really great, it had a lot of space and was in an amazing location. I gained much needed time and space to think, read, write and make new work.
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The ISSP Riga Residency provided an opportunity for artistic and personal growth in the form of reflection and research. The extended community surrounding the residency created a welcoming, insightful and thoughtful social space for exchange and discussion. Overall, the ISSP Riga Residency provided me with a holistic approach for the development of a new body of work.
Emma Backlund (Sweden) - Recipient of Nordic Culture Point Scholarship
Sam Margevicius (United States)
Martyna Nitkowska (Poland)
Elizabeth Glauser (Sweden)
Fred Mungo (Italy)
William Britten (United Kingdom)
Rujuta Rao (India/United States)
Janette Holmström (Finland) - Recipient of Nordic Culture Point Scholarship
Toivo Heinimäki (Finland) - Recipient of Nordic Culture Point Scholarship
Oskar Söderman (Sweden) - Recipient of Nordic Culture Point Scholarship
Alena Grom (Ukraine) - in cooperation with Sustainability foundation and Media Hub Riga
Maryna Brodovska (Ukraine) - in cooperation with Sustainability foundation and Media Hub Riga




Helen Liene Dreifelds (Canada)
Lucyna Kolendo (Poland)
Margaryta Nikitskaya (Ukraine)
Caitlin Littlewood (Sweden/Australia)
Carlo Lombardi (Italy) and Miriam Stanke (Germany)
Cristina Molina (USA) - in cooperation with A Structure Envisioned for Changing Circumstances project
Anne Mai Keldsen (Denmark)
Marna Slappendel (Netherlands)
Andrea Torrei (Italy) in cooperation with Eyes on Main Street festival (Wilson, USA)
Nica Junker (Germany)
Fred Mungo (Italy)
Ikuru Kuwajima (Japan)
Daniel Orlando Lara Garcia (Mexico)




Robin Hinsch (Germany)
Clement Briendt (France)
Victor Drouineau (France)
Maxim Sarychau (Belarus)
Ihar Hancharuk (Belarus)
Violetta Savchits (Belarus)
Charli Herrington and Gordon Williams (The Netherlands/USA)
Vytaute Trijonyte (Lithuania)
Stefano Conti (Sweden/Italy)
Sophie Thun (Austria/Poland)
Leonardo Taddei (Italy)
Weronika Perlowska (Poland)
Josef Kovac (Sweden/Czech Republic) - Recipient of Nordic Culture Point Scholarship
Jo Hislop (UK/Finland)




Stewart Hardie (UK)
Alan Huck (US)
Tytus Szabelski (Poland)
Klaus Richter (Lithuania/Austria)
Kertu Rannula & Sidney Lepp (Estonia)
Viktorija Bernotaitė (Lithuania/UK)
Valentyn Odnoviun (Lithuania/Ukraine)
Martin T Raggio (Germany/USA)
Tim Sullivan (UK)
David Ashley Kerr (Germany)
Thibaut Henz (Germany)
Tamara Aalto (Finland)
Volker Kreidler (Germany)




Demelza Watts (UK)
Franek Ammer (Poland)
Filippo Zambon (Italy/Finland)
Anna Hornik (Poland)
Sara Palmieri (Italy)
Julia Borissova (Russia)
Ekaterina Anokhina (Russia)
Jaana Kokko (Finland)
Shoji Kato (Japan/Finland)
Céline Gobillard (France)
Emma Sandström (Sweden)
Cleo Wächter (Netherlands)
Sergey Novikov (Russia)
Stefanie Kulisch (Germany)
Fernando Criollo (Peru)
Néha Hirve (Sweden)
Mako Ishizuka (Japan/Sweden)




Theo Elias (Sweden)
Maija Annikki Savolainen (Finland)
Hiro Tanaka (Japan)
Josefina Malmegård (Sweden)
Ameena Rojee (UK)
Diāna Tamane (Estonia/LV)
Arimasa Fukukawa (Japan/France)
Bjargey Ólafsdóttir (Iceland)
Henna Tyrväinen (Finland)
Kenneth Bamberg (Finland/Åland Islands)
Michael Holland (UK)
Tekla Inari (Finland)
Anastasia Starikova (UK/LV)




Contacts
In case of questions, contact us at residencies@issp.lv
In the period July 2021 - December 2023 the Residency is supported by the Nordic Culture Point (project "United Riga Residency for photographers and illustrators").