Agne Šemberaite and Dainis Pundurs receive gold at the Martinsona Prize Ceramic Biennale / Article

Artist Agne Šemberaite from Lithuania and artist Dainis Pundurs from Latvia received the gold award for the central event of the Latvian Ceramics Biennale – the competition exhibition “Martinson Prize 2021”.

“Martinson Prize 2021” is an exhibition of the 3rd Latvian Ceramic Biennale International Competition, in which artists from 38 countries participate. From the almost five hundred applications initially submitted for the exhibition, 120 best works from Latvia and all over the world were selected. In addition to the usual decorative objects and sculptural works, the exhibition also features large-scale spatial installations and performative expressions.

For two days, the invited ceramic specialists evaluated the works of the exhibition, discussed their artistic performance and technical performance, in order to distribute a total prize fund of 20,000 euros.

Gold awards were given to Agne Šemberaite (Lithuania) for her work “Mimicry” and Dainis Pundurs (Latvia) for her work “Plato’s Dream”. Silver awards were given to Marta Palmjēri (Italy) for the work “Mākoņkalns 2” and Elīna Titāne (Latvia) for the work “Drops”. Barnabas Maders (Hungary) for the work “Coronation Lace” and Una Gura (Latvia) for the work “Mutual Harmony” were awarded bronze. Līga Skariņa (Latvia) received an honorary letter and an award from SIA “Keramserviss” for her work “Krasta būve”. Honorary articles have also been awarded to Yuri Musatov (Ukraine) for his work “Ancient Alien”, Atis Šnēvelis (Latvia) for his work “Dour” and Eleonora Pastare (Latvia) for his work without a name.

The jury of the competition included Claudia Kazali (Italy), art historian, director of the Faenza International Museum of Ceramics; Ilona Romule (Latvia), artist, board member of the International Academy of Ceramics; Steve Metison (UK), artist, international coordinator of the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet (Hungary); Arina Ailinkaya (Romania), artist, curator of the Cluj Ceramics Biennale; Kaspars Geiduks (Latvia), artist, winner of the 2018 Martinson Prize bronze award; Irina Razumovska (Russia / Great Britain), artist, lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London; Misuna Rima (South Korea), Member of the Board of the Korean Crafts and Cultural Industry Promotion Committee of the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Adviser to the Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul Crafts Museum; Valentīns Petjko (Latvia), artist, curator, Latvian Center for Contemporary Ceramics; Pille Kaleviste (Estonia), artist, curator; Rūta Šipalīte (Lithuania), artist, winner of the 2018 Martinson Prize bronze award.

The exhibition “Martinson Prize” is organized by Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Center and Latvian Center for Contemporary Ceramics.

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