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Back to Nature
Exhibition, Tinta Festival, DobraVaga, Ljubljana, 06.10.-12.11.2022
Isn't nature just utterly beautiful? Sometimes, we feel this urge to get “back to nature”, but mostly we stand with our backs to it. Let’s face it: we are destroying the natural world with every step. Literally. At our current pace, the apocalypse seems unavoidable. But is it? It might already be too late to change, but it’s definitely inevitable if we don’t even try.
The exhibition celebrates nature in its many forms, showcasing works by Latvian artists Rebeka Lukošus, Oskars Pavlovskis, Lote Vilma, Agate Lielpētere, Ingrīda Pičukāne, Vivianna Maria Stanislavska and Mārtiņš Zutis, as well as Mark Antonius Puhkan (Estonia), Ciara Quilty-Harper (UK/Ireland), Theo Ellsworth (USA) and Harukichi (Japan).
Exhibition opening : THU, 6. 10. 2022, 20.00
As part of the exhibition, visiting authors Rebeka Lukošus and Vivianna Maria Stanislavska will lead the 'Come Back, Nature!' zine workshop on Friday, 7th October.
On Saturday from 10.00–20.00 you can find us at the kuš! table in Kino Šiška!
Supported by: Latvian Literature
Illustration by: Oskars Pavlovskis
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Past Events
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Artist talk with Janne Marie Dauer and Marco Quadri
Presentation, Bolderāja, Avotu iela 29, Riga, 28.09.2022, 19:00-21:00
Meet our current kuš! residents Janne Marie Dauer and Marco Quadri. They will tell about their personal work and hold a comics reading!Illustration by Janne Marie Dauer and Marco Quadri -
Rebel Rebel
Exhibition, LOW gallery, Lāčplēša iela 78A, Riga, Latvia 21.07-17.09.2022
Celebrating the 15th anniversary of Kuš!, we're happy to present a selection of local and international artists at LOW gallery and releasing our anniversary edition š! #45 'Rebel Rebel'. Artists: Anna Malicka (Latvia), Disa Wallander (Sweden), Indrė Svirplytė (Lithuania/ Belgium), Mārtiņš Zutis (Latvia), Samplerman (France), Tara Booth (USA), Zody Burke (USA/ Estonia).
Open Thursdays and Fridays from 15:00-18:00 and Saturdays from 14:00-17:00.
This is a travelling exhibition, with LOW + Kuš! taking the show onward to Kuldīga Art House in the end of September. Photo reports on O Fluxo and echo gone wrong
This project has been generously supported by Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation, Kuldīga Municipality, Kuldīga Artist's Residency and Malduguns.
Flyer Image: Zody Burke, Flyer design: David Ashley Kerr, Photos: Līga Spunde -
Indiecon 2022
Independent Publishing Festival, Oberhafen, Hamburg, Germany, 02.-04.09.2022
kuš! is happy to be nominated by the curational board and will have a table at the Independent Publishing Festival Indiecon in Hamburg! kuš! will be represented by Zane Zlemeša, she will bring the newest kuš! releases and also her own zines and prints. Nicht verpassen! -
Participatory workshops
Pauls Stradins Medicine History Museum, Antonijas iela 1, Riga, 10.09.2022
The Pauls Stradins Medicine History Museum in collaboration with the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art continues the Participatory Workshops launched in March this year, in which artists strive to promote public engagement in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the urban environment you will notice "kuš!" comic artists' instructions on what to do in different crisis situations. On the 10th and 15th of September, the museum will host a series of workshops and a discussion on "The Art of Conversation in Times of War", where you can learn crisis intervention skills under the guidance of experts and find out how art can help bring society together.
The artists involved are
Kuš! will be present with a table with free posters and books for sale on 10 September from 11.00 to 16.00. Find the rest of the program here.
Illustration:
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SPX 2022
Small Press Expo, Bethseda, Maryland, USA, 17.-18.09.2022
kuš! will be attending the one and only SPX! Together with special guest Lote Vilma, kuš! will have a stand selling books at table M1.Meet us also on the 18th of September from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm in the White Flint Auditorium. There will be the panel discussion "Spotlight On kuš!: The Latvian Publisher With An International Vision." Moderator Rob Clough discusses with kuš! editor David Schilter and artists Lote Vilma, Box Brown, Matt Madden, and Noah Van Sciver!
kuš! is also very proud, that their anthology š! #42 'Scientific Facts'has been nominated for an Ignatz in the category "Outstanding Anthology". You can register to vote here: https://www.smallpressexpo.com/ignatz-ballot-request/Illustration: Lote Vilma -
Waldgeschichten
Exhibition, Jauniešu telpā, Agenskalns Tirgus, Riga, Latvia, 04.07 - 27.08.2022
The results of our forest-themed comics workshop with Michel Esselbrügge in cooperation with the Goethe Institut Riga are on display at Agenskalns tirgus in the framework of SĀBRS festival!
Artists from Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia created comics about the forest. Michel Esselbrügge, Alberta Ziemele, AmandaJ-Art, Anna Vaivare, Jurjis Tatarkins, Krista Bitmete, Lote Vilma Vītiņa, Magdalena Kaszuba, Mārtiņš Zutis, Noorie Fisher, Rebeka Lukošus, Richard Thompson, Rūta Kygaitė, Sabīne Moore, Stas Bashilov und Zlata Novikova. The results are printed by risograph and are also available as a poster book.
Exhibition opening: 04.07.2022, 19:00
Illustration: Michel Esselbrügge
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Open Studios
Open Studio, Vienības gatve 20, Riga, 27.07.2022, 18:00
Your chance to visit the kuš! office, the studios of Anna Vaivare, Zane Veldre, Rebeka Lukošus, Zīle Ziemele, Austra, Vivianna Maria Stanislavska, and LOW Gallery! You can also buy some prints or books from us and the artists, and have a look at our mess for free! Maybe you can even find a space for yourself and make your own creative mess!
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documenta fifteen
Lumbung of Publishers, documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany, 06.-10.07.2022
kuš! is proud to be a selected member of the Lumbung of Publishers at documenta fifteen. kuš! will take part in the Lumbung of Publishers assembly represented by it's editor David Schilter and by it's designer Monika Grūzīte.
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Artist Talk with Magdalenz Kaszuba
Presentation, Bolderāja, Avotu iela 29, Riga, 25.05.2022, 19:00-21:00
Meet our current kuš! resident Magdalena Kaszuba. She will tell about her personal work, hold a comics reading, and present MamiVerlag!.Magdalena Kaszuba was born 1988 in Poland and grew up in Germany. She studied Illustration at the University of Applied Science in Hamburg und finished her master's degree in Febuary 2022. During her studies she specialized in comics. Her first graphic novel "The empyt vessel" was published in 2018 by the publishing house avant-verlag and currently she is working on two new graphic novels. Since 2019 she runs the publishing house MamiVerlag together with two friends. It's an indie-publishing house focussing on picture stories and comics. She lives and works in Hamburg. -
Comics Workshop with Michel Esselbrügge
Workshop, Goethe-Institut Riga, Berga bazārs, Marijas iela 13 k-1, 06.-08.05.2022
Michel Esselbrügge will lead a comic workshop on the topic "Forest" at the Goethe-Institut Riga. Together we'll discover various forest stories and transform them into comics. Michel will make a short introduction into the basics of comics and show the silliness cartooning offers us to redraw serious topics in a different, emotionally accessible way. With many tips and tricks the participants will each create their own short comic about the forest. The best results will after the workshop be printed as riso posters and exhibited around Latvia.
Michel Esselbrügge was born 1990 in Bielefeld, Germany. He studied Visual Communication at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. He is a co-founder of the Institute for Contemporary Cartooning and part of the collective FanArt. His comics have been published in international anthologies such as Orang, Kuti and kuš! and on vice.com. His first book Langfinger & Wackelzahn was published in 2018 by Rotopol and translated to French by l'employé du moi in 2021. In this coming-of-age story also the forest plays an important role.
The workshop is open for adult participants from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Language: English. Participation is free. The current epidemological regulations will be observed.
Dates and Place
06.05.2022 (18.00- 20.00), 07.05.2022 (11.00-18.00), 08.05.2022 (11.00-17.00)
Goethe-Institut Riga, Berga bazārs, Marijas iela 13 k-1The spaces are limited, therefore you need to apply with the following information to kushmens@gmail.com:
- Name, age, city
- Link to your blog/portfolio (alternatively three drawings, or comics pages)
- Brief motivation letterApplication deadline: 22 April 2022
Travel Grants
The Goethe Institute Riga offers four travel grants of 50.00 euros for participants from Estonia and Lithuania. The application procedure is the same as above, just mention you are interested in a travel grant.
Organizers
The workshop is organized by Goethe-Institut Riga in collaboration with kuš!
Questions?
Write to kushmens@gmail.com -
Artist Talk with Zody Burke
Presentation, Bolderāja, Avotu iela 29, Riga, 27.04.2022, 19:00-21:00
Meet our current kuš! resident Zody Burke! She just had her first solo show "(mouse trap)" at DOM gallery and will tell us about her work from comics to ceramics and more...
Zody Burke is an American multimedia artist currently living in Tallinn. Her disciplines are mutable but she is a musician and performer, as well as a sculptor and illustrator who has shown work around the USA and Europe. She began showcasing her visual work as a teenager in the punk scene of the mid aughts, in the form of comics and flyers for DIY shows in her hometown of Brooklyn. Much of her subsequent practice has used this foundation of comic illustration as a jumping off point, to inform sculptural mixed media work, narrative storytelling in the form of music, and so on.
As the noise-pop musician Sapphogeist, Zoe is interested in hyperconnectivity's passive creation of simulacra, the tenuousness of language, and the birth-pangs of the post-physical world. She is also a member of the pan-American experimental country music group Buck Young, who work with perceived histories of traditional music and push them through a turbine of cartoonish yet abysmal melancholy; the project being very informed by the artists' histories with noise/experimental projects & mutual love of American country music.
She lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia and is currently pursuing a MFA in Contemporary Art from the Eesti Kunstiakadeemia. -
Baltics Gone Wild
Exhibition, Baba Jaga Fest, Industrie Fluviali, Rome, 08.-10.-4.2022
Kuš! will be in Rome at the brand new Baba Jaga Fest with a special exhibition by Akvile Magicdust and Gvidas Pakarklis from Lithuania, Jana Ribkina and Pauls Rietums from Latvia, and Mark Antonius Puhkan from Estonia. Come and discover these fresh comic gems from the Baltic States.
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Fumetto 2022
Small Press Market, Lucerne, Switzerland, 02.-03.04.2022
After a long break we'll be back at Fumetto! kuš! will have a table at the first weekend at the International Comics Arts Festival Fumetto in Lucerne. kuš! will be represented by it's editor David Schilter and by König Lü.Q.. -
Comics Talk with Omar Cheikh and Tim Ng Tvedt
Presentation, Bolderāja, Avotu iela 29, Riga, 24.02.2022, 19:00-21:00
Meet the kuš! residents Omar Cheikh and Tim Ng Tvedt who will present their work and show a special collaboration.Omar Cheikh is an illustrator, comic artist and animator from Italy. His work is published in kuš, Invisible Lines and other publications. Besides drawing, he collects sounds, noise around and objects from the ground.Tim Ng Tvedt is a cartoonist from Norway. His most recent publication is "SNAKKEBOB, jeg?" a collection of thirty SNAKKEBOB comic strips published at Jippi comics. -
Comics Talks with Ana Margarida Matos and Mohar Kalra
Presentation, Bolderāja, Avotu iela 29, Riga, 20.01.2022, 19:00-21:00
Meet our current resident artist Ana Margarida Matos from Portugal and special guest Mohar Kalra from the USA! They will present their work in comics and also have some short comic readings!Ana Margarida Matos is a Portuguese artist based in Almada, Portugal. Freshly graduated from FBAUL in Painting, she hasn’t been seen holding a paintbrush in over 2 years, instead she dedicates all of her time to make very cool comics deconstructing the concepts of identy, otherness and the self.Mohar Kalra is a cartoonist and media artist from New York and currently based in Tartu, Estonia. He experiments with perception to craft narratives that seek meaning and poetry in the networks of relations we tangle with every day.Free entry. Please bring a valid covid pass and a mask.!
Illustration by Ana Margarida Matos
© kuš!