Krišs Salmanis

Krišs Salmanis. On One's Own. 
Wood, needle, electric motor, vinyl record, support, 2017.

Krišs Salmanis. Colour Samples: Common Chaffinch, Hoopoe, Eurasian Blue Tit, Common Crane, Bullfinch. 
Watercolour on paper, 2016.

A needle attached to a slender birch tree reads from a vinyl record the song of a chaffinch recorded a couple of years ago. Back then, the bird had perched within arm's reach on a similar branch of a tree, intoxicated by its own song. Salmanis managed to film it. Since then, from time to time he has wondered how the chaffinch is doing and how he might return to this incident once more. There are no amplifiers or speakers in the installation; the situation is almost analogue.

Artist's bio

Krišs Salmanis (b. 1977, Riga, Latvia) lives and works in Riga. His works are characterised by their directness and simplicity, and by a conceptual approach, which is often accompanied by an ironic perspective and an element of play. Salmanis is interested in questions of identity and self-reflection, and usually explores these through moving images and installations. Recently he has been interested in poetry and things, and noises and songs, as well as animation and video. In 2013, together with the artist Kaspars Podnieks, he represented Latvia at the 55th Venice Art Biennale. In early 2017, Salmanis received the Purvītis Prize for the exhibition Song (2015), which was made in collaboration with the artist Anna Salmane and the composer Kristaps Pētersons. Currently, all three artists are continuing their collaboration and are already working on their third project together, which will be shown next autumn.