Always the Sun at Riga Contemporary Art Space
What does it mean to carry the sun with you?
As Northern Europe moves into autumn, Always the Sun at Riga Contemporary Art Space invites visitors to encounter artworks shaped by the intense light of the Mediterranean South. Curated by Marina Fokidis, the exhibition brings together 27 artists whose practices resist any singular reading of place, identity, or belonging.
Across the exhibition, different generations, artistic languages, and experiences enter into dialogue with one another. While grounded in a shared engagement with a particular light, Always the Sun creates space for multiple perspectives and ways of relating to place, memory, and everyday life. The sun operates not as a fixed theme, but as a point of reference through which questions of perception, environment, and lived experience unfold.
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Background: Christina Dimitriadis, “J’AI PERDU MON EURYDICE – Ancient Theatre I (diptych)”, 2024. Courtesy of Eleni Koroneou Gallery and the artist. Foreground: Kostis Velonis, “Untitled (Life Without Tragedy series)”, 2015. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
Always the Sun features works by Andreas Angelidakis, Bill Balaskas, Panos Charalambous, Dimitra Charamandas, Christina Dimitriadis, Anastasia Douka, Apostolos Georgiou, Marina Gioti, Maria Hassabi, Menelaos Karamaghiolis, Panos Koutrouboussis, Aliki Paliou, Malvina Panagiotidi, Nefeli Papadimouli, Eftihis Patsourakis, Angelo Plessas, Theo Prodromidis, Panos Profitis, Georgia Sagri, Serapis Maritime, Socratis Socratous, Stefania Strouza, Iris Touliatou, Panos Tsagaris, Jannis Varelas, Kostis Velonis, and Paky Vlassopoulou.
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Malvina Panagiotidi, “The Mornings Grow Silent I”, 2023. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Marina Gioti, “As to Posterity”, film (colour, sound), 12 min, 2014. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Paky Vlassopoulou, “Explosions in the Sky – Welcome, Ghosts”, 2013. Courtesy of Kostis Velonis Collection and the artist. Dimitra Charamandas, “Sun Burn”, digital film, 8:14 min, 2023. Courtesy of Gypsum and the artists. Photo: Līga Spunde
Curator Marina Fokidis stresses that she does not believe there is a single Greekness that these 27 artists could collectively represent, nor would she want there to be: “What interests me is precisely the coexistence of different generations, experiences, artistic languages, and relationships to the place they come from.
Of course, there are recognisable references: the ancient column, the city of Athens, the sun itself. But none of these appears entirely as we might expect. The column has lost its monumentality, the city can appear deserted, and the sun is not always a promise of happiness or abundance.
Perhaps what emerges is not an image of national identity, but a series of tensions between the inherited and the lived, the monumental and the precarious, the familiar and the contradictory. And I think there is something important about presenting these works in Riga. They enter a different climate, geography, and cultural imagination, where their meanings can shift again.”
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Nefeli Papadimouli, “Dream Coat”, 2023–2025. Courtesy of T H E P I L L ® and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Foreground: Andreas Angelidakis, “Anarchaeological
Anaparastasis”, 2025. Courtesy of Onassis Collection and the artist.
Background: Jannis Varelas, “Baron de Charlus (Façade)”, 2008. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Nefeli Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Papadimouli, “Dream Coat”, 2023–2025. Courtesy of T H E P I L L ® and the artist. Photo: Līga
Spunde
The exhibition space has become a kind of agora, a place of encounters, negotiations, and sometimes conflicting voices. Another distinctive architectural feature of the exhibition hall, the staircase, introduces a different position: that of the spectator, someone who observes the activity below while remaining physically separate from it. The distinction between participation and spectatorship has become central to the exhibition’s spatial dramaturgy. Visitors can move between these positions, choosing when to participate, when to observe, and when to withdraw.
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Foreground: Socratis Socratous, “Stolen Goods”, 2009–2015. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist; Angelo Plessas, “The Quilt of All Beings”, 2022. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Anastasia Douka, “Anger Organizes”, 2021. Courtesy of the artist, commissioned by NEON. Photo: Līga Spunde
For Daiga Rudzāte, Director of Riga Contemporary Art Space, this openness to multiple perspectives is among the exhibition's greatest strengths. Always the Sun is one of the most significant projects presented by Riga Contemporary Art Space this year. “What makes Always the Sun exhibition particularly compelling is that it encourages us to move beyond simple ideas of North and South, difference and distance, and instead search for what can be shared, discussed, and understood together. Inspired by the song by The Stranglers, the exhibition unfolds through an unhurried rhythm, diverse material expressions, and precise artistic gestures. It is an invitation to become acquainted, to recognise common concerns, and to linger over a conversation.”
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. From left: Panos Charalambous, “Tobacco Archives: Accounts”, 1994. Courtesy of CITRONNE Gallery and the artist. Apostolos Georgiou, “Untitled”, 1986. Courtesy of Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection and the artist; Maria Hassabi, “Column”, 2021. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Foreground: Georgia Sagri, “The Heart of Kore”, 2025. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Background: Panos Charalambous, “Tobacco Archives: Accounts”, 1994. Courtesy of CITRONNE Gallery and the artist. Apostolos Georgiou, “Untitled”, 1986. Courtesy of Irene Y. Panagopoulos Collection and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
The exhibition is accompanied by the book Always the Sun, created by Una Meistere, who initiated the idea of bringing the exhibition to Riga, and Marina Fokidis, and designed by Krišs Salmanis. Una Meistere emphasizes: “We wanted to create something beyond a conventional exhibition catalogue. Always the Sun is an attempt to capture Athens’ contemporary art scene at a particular moment in time, reflecting on how the economic crisis has reshaped its cultural landscape. At its heart is conversation - an exploration of the people, ideas, and relationships that make this art scene so distinctive.”
The publication includes texts by Marina Fokidis, Una Meistere, Yorgos Tzirtzilakis, and Kaspars Eihmanis, as well as interviews with Artistic Director of the Athens Biennale Poka-Yio, art collectors Irene Y. Panagopoulos and Dakis Joannou, Founder and Director of Tavros Maria-Thalia Carras, co-founder of ARTWORKS Marily Konstantinopoulou, and Kunsthalle Athens founders Klea Charitou, Michelangelo Corsaro, Eleana Papathanassiadi, Jorgina Stamoyanni, Apostolis Vasilopoulos, and Marina Fokidis.
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Panos Profitis, “Scene of a Landscape”, 2025. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Panos Tsagaris, from the “Golden Newspaper” series: “September 6 2015” (2016), “August 26 2015” (2016), “April 9 2024” (2024). Courtesy of Kalfayan Galleries and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
The exhibition Always the Sun is on view at the Rigs Contemporary Art Space until January 10, 2027.
Installation view, “Always the Sun”, Riga Contemporary Art Space, 2026. Photo: Līga Spunde
Title image: Malvina Panagiotidi, “The Mornings Grow Silent I”, 2023. Courtesy of The Breeder and the artist. Photo: Līga Spunde
