Artist Residency: Beate Gjersvold

SIVIA Gallery was pleased to welcome Norwegian artist Beate Gjersvold for an individual artist residency in Daugavpils from April 28 to May 17, 2025. During her stay, Beate created new works inspired by the landscapes and culture of Latgale, connecting artistic communities in Latvia and Norway.

Artist Residency in Daugavpils – Beate Gjersvold
Revisiting the city of Daugavpils and the Rothko Museum always brings me good feelings and memories. This was my seventh stay in Daugavpils. Previously, I have had many solo exhibitions in museums and galleries in Latvia and have been involved in artistic collaborations since 1998. I value the Mark Rothko Painting Symposium 2015 and my solo exhibition at the Rothko Museum in 2017/2018 as important highlights of my artistic career.
This time, I was invited by Gallery SIVIA to participate in their individual artist residency in Daugavpils. The stay took place from April 28 until May 17, 2025. I was very excited about this opportunity to gain new inspiration and experiment with new watercolor techniques. The studio in this residency was beyond all expectations: SIVIA offered me a huge studio and beautiful living rooms, where I had access to all the necessary resources for my project.

Every morning, I woke up with a view of the beautiful Daugava River, and on some days, I could have breakfast on the balcony overlooking the river. These moments brought me a sense of peace and creativity.
During these three weeks, I was filled with impressions and inspiration: excursions, visits to artists and workshops, visits to museums and galleries (both in Latvia and Lithuania), concerts, and travels through landscapes so different from the Norwegian scenery. Not least, I gained new experiences and knowledge about ceramics by following the artists in Ceramic Laboratory 2025 at the Rothko Museum. A good atmosphere, wonderful surroundings, and new friends made my stay unforgettable.

In the spacious, light-filled studio, I created four new paintings, investigating how genuine pigments in new layers can give special expression, and trying out new forms and colors inspired by the landscapes we traveled through. My project explored both nature and the concept of TIME. My paintings became full of lines, which for me are a symbol of timelines.
Two of the works “By the River of Daugava” and “Spring Blossoming” will be included in the permanent collections of the Rothko Museum.

  • “By the River of Daugava” was inspired by the colors along the river: the green meadows and yellow rape fields, and also the beautiful view to the river from the studio and balcony–a river that seems eternal and infinite.
  • “Spring Blossoming,” a pink and peach-colored painting, was inspired by the flowering trees, and also connects to the theme of time and renewal.

First of all, many thanks to Māris Čačka and SIVIA for a stay full of experiences and for ongoing cooperation– both artistically and between our two cities, Daugavpils-Trondheim, and our two countries, Latvia-Norway. Many thanks to all friends at the Rothko Museum and in Daugavpils, and to Aivars Baranovskis and Valentīns Petjko, who included me in excursions together with the participants of Ceramic Laboratory 2025.

For me, Latvia has truly become my second homeland.

Artist Residency: Māris Čačka at L’Esparrou, Canet

We are pleased to share that Latvian artist Māris Čačka has recently completed his artist residency at L’Esparrou, as part of the ACCR–Heritage Sites for Culture residency programme. During his stay, he immersed himself in the light and atmosphere of the French Riviera, developing a new body of work that reflects his encounters with the local community and landscape.

Working in his signature technique that merges painting and printmaking, Čačka created a series of expressive acrylic compositions—his personal visual journal of the South of France.

The resulting artworks are on view from 2 to 13 April at the Librairie Victor & Madeleine, Canet-en-Roussillon.
📍 Free admission.

This residency was supported by the French Ministry of Culture and coordinated by the ACCR (Association des Centres culturels de rencontre) network.

13th International Latgale Graphic Art Symposium Held in Daugavpils

From 10 to 22 March 2025, Daugavpils hosted the 13th International Latgale Graphic Art Symposium—a key event in the region’s cultural calendar and the most important international gathering dedicated to the graphic arts in Latgale. The symposium was initiated and organized by SIVIA, in collaboration with the Rothko Museum.

Over two weeks, selected artists worked in the museum’s printmaking studios, exploring traditional and experimental techniques while drawing inspiration from the local landscape and history. This year’s participants, chosen by an expert jury, represented eight countries:
Ana Vivoda (Croatia), Anatolijs Šandurovs (Latvia), Antonia-Styliani Taralli (Greece), Caterina De Nisco and Michele Bernardini (Italy), Martyna Rzepecka and Łukasz Koniuszy (Poland), Lilli-Krõõt Repnau (Estonia), Sioban Piercy (Ireland), and Sirkku Ketola (Finland).

The symposium concluded with a public exhibition opening on 21 March at the Rothko Museum, showcasing the results of this intense and inspiring creative exchange.

Supported by Daugavpils City Council, Latvia’s State Culture Capital Foundation, Caparol, and Devona.

Poetic Layers of Emotion: Māris Čačka’s Neuro-Pathways in Warsaw

On Friday, February 7, 2025, the latest solo exhibition by Māris Čačka, Neuro-Pathways, opened in Warsaw, Poland. This is the artist’s second exhibition in the city, presented at Galeria DAP1 and DAP2, part of Dom Artysty Plastyka.
Curated by Dariusz Mlącki, the exhibition showcases Māris Čačka’s poetic approach to painting, where technical precision merges with personal experience. His multi-layered works, shaped by emotions and memories, carry a sense of tenderness and romanticism while also evoking moments of existential reflection.

The opening event was attended by Ambassador Juris Poikāns from the Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in Poland, highlighting the importance of cultural exchange between the two countries.

The exhibition runs until March 2, 2025, offering visitors the opportunity to explore Māris Čačka’s deeply expressive and thought-provoking work.

OPEN CALL for 13th International Latgale Graphic Art Symposium

The Rothko Museum, in collaboration with the Gallery SIVIA, invites applications for the 13th International Latgale Graphic Art Symposium, taking place from 10–22 March 2025 in Daugavpils, Latvia.

This prestigious symposium serves as a dynamic platform for artistic exchange, bringing together leading graphic artists from around the world. Over the years, it has hosted more than 100 participants from nearly 40 countries, significantly contributing to the development of the graphic medium in the Latgale Region.

When: 10–22 March 2025
Where: Rothko Museum, Daugavpils, Latvia
Who Can Apply: 10 professional artists will be selected through a competition based on submitted application materials (application form, CV, and portfolio).

Be part of this esteemed international event celebrating innovation and excellence in printmaking.

APPLICATION FORM 2025

The 18th International Vilnius Painting Triennial

The second part of the 18th International Vilnius Painting Triennial opened on October 3rd at the “Titanikas” gallery, featuring two exhibitions: a Baltic artists’ collection curated by Meda Norbutaitė and Arvydas Žalpys and “Inner Worlds,” showcasing Nordic and Baltic Young Artists Awards nominees.

The Baltic artists’ showcase emphasizes regional trends in contemporary painting, with works addressing existential themes and societal reflections. Latvian artists Andris Vītolinš, Māris Čačka, and Sigita Daugule are prominently featured, alongside counterparts from Estonia and Lithuania, highlighting their unique contributions to the evolving art dialogue within the region.

This exhibition is an important platform for cultural exchange and artistic comparison across Baltic countries, reinforcing Latvia’s active engagement in the international art scene.

Māris Čačka’s Solo Exhibition “Among Others” in Zarasai, Lithuania

The latest exhibition title from the artist Māris Čačka is yet another enigmatic wordplay. Fitting the artist’s playful style like the proverbial hand in a glove, it lends his latest output a certain semantic direction while leaving ample room for individual interpretation by an open-minded viewer.

As an alternative, the title may have been conceived as an allusion to the famous Latin parenthesis inter alia (incidentally, among other things). This reading adds another layer of intrigue and leads the viewer down another path of speculation and reflection on what the author meant to say and what associative train of thought his work suggests.

In his dynamic daily life, among so many other things, the artist seeks and values meaningful experiences of encounter with and being among others. He thrives in the supportive company of similarly minded people, such as his colleagues and dear friends, who will recharge his creativity and feed the silent conversation that unfolds between the artist and his work.

The Museum of Zarasai Region will exhibit multi-layered and colourful works on watercolour paper, an offshoot of the artist’s hallmark format of abstracted colour fields on canvas. On a smaller, more intimate scale, they show the author’s current placement and social connectivity in the spacetime continuum.

The exhibition runs from 2nd to 30th August 2024.

Māris Čačka’s “Acceptance” Exhibition at Ventspils Museum


Māris Čačka’s solo exhibition, “Acceptance,” is on display at the Ventspils Museum, The Castle of the Livonian Order, from July 6th to September 15th, 2024.

An artist’s skin

They say self-acceptance means feeling good in one’s skin. For an artist, their skin is their canvas or paper, extremely thin and vulnerable to harm. Perhaps this is the reason it is so assiduously painted, as if for camouflage.

In his reflective commentary on the exhibition title, Čačka says: “Acceptance ties to the persistent habit of self-questioning and doubt. Your mind keeps asking if you’re ever good enough and perfectly accepted when and where you want. It seeks to know how consequential it is for you to be accepted and how other people feel about acceptance in their lives. All these reflections are forever jostling in your head… Beyond that are other forms of acceptance, such as feasting and celebrating life. Being able to make it happen for yourself and others. Acceptance as being accepted by and accepting of others… Those are my functional keywords.”

“Acceptance” by Māris Čačka comes to the Ventspils Museum’s Livonian Order Castle in mid-summer and midway through the exhibition season at the castle’s gallery space, where the latest solo project was “Heading towards the Unknown” by Kaspars Zariņš and where the current cycle will conclude with paintings by Aija Zariņa. But now, “Acceptance” shines on all three castle floors with brand-new artworks and a series of prints the artist made expressly for this venue.

Čačka’s visual vocabulary is consistently abstract. Jubilant acrylic splashing across a darker canvas background and offsetting playful experiments with the material in prints on mirror surfaces. The artist’s inner child playing in peaceful contentment. The multi-coloured fireworks, however, hold a secret, the clues for which the artist leaves in cryptic titles. I like to think they are abbreviations. That MMA stands for My Mother Aina and TM for Tuesday’s Mayhem. I’m only joking, but it’s wonderful that Čačka’s artworks have their secrets, and I will let them stay that way. Because what can be more exciting than to keep scanning colour fields and be delighted by a flash of an elusive tiger or some other fleeting shape. The artist’s enigmatic concept is so charming, a private secret that resists disclosure.

“Reflections” (40×40, 2024), a standalone series shown on the third gallery floor, echoes the theme of the sweeping “RR” made in acrylic on canvas (190×190, 2024) – a black rain starting on the canvas and continuing in congreve print. Perhaps it represents the sorrows of the world continuously raining on the artist’s skin in tiny rivulets that leave distinctly lighter, washed-out trails in the emergent piece. This figurative rain is yet another version of acceptance, where every feeling and experience will have its place.

Although the artist is an active public figure and holds a key administrative post as the Rothko Museum’s director, his creativity flows with abundance. Čačka’s extensive exhibition record dates back to 2001. Since then, it has swelled to 34 solo exhibitions, of which 19 were held domestically while 13 spanned international venues in Lithuania, Germany, Poland, China and Belarus. Čačka is an eager and regular contributor to plein airs and artist residencies, not least at the Ventspils Museum. The latest highlights of his curatorial and organisational record are the Valdis Bušs International Painting Plein Air (creative producer since 2017), the International Latgale Graphic Art Symposium (curator since 2012) and the Silva Linarte International Painting Symposium (curator in 2019 and 2020).

Ieva Rupenheite, exhibition curator

The Surnadal Billag residency

The Surnadal Billag residency offers two artists a ten-day stay. They work in spacious studios that enable them to create monumental works.

Māris Čačka – artist, curator and director of the world-renowned Rothko Museum in Daugavpils, Latvia – has developed a unique hybrid method of abstract expression that integrates painting and graphics. His works are multi-layered in technique and content, unfolding as imaginary dialogues between the artist and his contemporaries about the meaning of the world today. Čačka’s creative expression is free and intuitive, as he aims for emotional harmony in himself and the finished artwork. Thus, he is equally open to largely decorative construction and a profound symbolic message contained in such elements as colour, darkness and light, and their rhythmical structures emerging on the canvas plain. At Surnadal Billag, Čačka creates his third work on a brick wall. Taking full use of the excellent location that offers opportunities for large-scale expression, he conveys his sense of Norwegian nature. His residency output captures fragments of stunning Norwegian mountains and breath-taking waterfalls. Latvia is a flat country, without mountains, so he finds waterfalls both fascinating and intensely inspirational.

Beate Gjersvold is an artist and art historian based in Trondheim, where she has her studio at Rotvoll Kunstnerkollektiv. She works on parts of her current project on Nordmøre, has an address on Ertsvågsøya, Aure, and is a member of BKMR (Biletkunstnarane Møre og Romsdal). Her project is to immerse herself in the concept of TIME, which she conveys through paintings, installations, photography, video installations, and text. In Nordmøre, she carves out rocks, minerals and crystals, which become installations that are shown together with paintings. During her stay in Surnadal this time, she works with paintings using a special watercolour technique with real minerals.

Both artists draw inspiration from nature and their surroundings during their stay.

Here, the two artists have a dialogue with their art, where colours, lines and genuine emotions talk together.