Artists from Thirty Countries to Compete for the Martinsons Award at the Fifth Latvia Ceramics Biennale
An international jury has selected artists from thirty countries to compete for the prestigious Martinsons Award at the fifth Latvia Ceramics Biennale. The winners will be announced this September at the exhibition hosted by the Rothko Museum.
The Latvia Ceramics Biennale has announced the selected participants for Martinsons Award 2025 – its flagship international exhibition and one of Europe’s foremost events dedicated to ceramic art. Drawn from an extraordinary 941 submissions representing 69 nations – a record that reflects the Biennale’s growing global stature – the final selection includes 80 works by artists from 30 countries. Among the finalists are 23 artists from Latvia, reflecting the country’s vibrant contribution to contemporary ceramics.
The winners in both the national and international categories will be chosen by the jury after an in-person review of the works on the eve of the exhibition’s opening. The prize fund for the 2025 Biennale amounts to 20,000 euros.
The jury for the fifth Martinsons Award included Aivars Baranovskis (Latvia), artist and curator of the Latvia Ceramics Biennale; Claudia Casali (Italy), art historian and Director of the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza; Kristine Michael (India), independent curator and researcher; Leeji Choi (South Korea), curator at the Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art; and Weronika Surma (Poland), artist, lecturer at the E. Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław, and organiser of the International Ceramics Sculpture Triennale Poland ICST.
The Martinsons Award 2025 exhibition will open on 5 September at the Rothko Museum in Daugavpils, where the prize-winning artists will be announced during a celebratory opening ceremony.
The full list of selected participants is available here.
The 5th Latvia Ceramics Biennale is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia and its target programme towards historical Latvian lands.
The Latvia Ceramics Biennale is a landmark event on the European cultural calendar, renowned for its scale, quality, and curatorial vision. Organised by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics in collaboration with the Rothko Museum, the Biennale combines documentation and innovation, offering a platform for both established and emerging artists to showcase recent achievements in the medium, while also encouraging bold new directions in ceramic art.
The theme of the fifth edition – “From Stardust to Lush Sprouts” – invites reflection on materiality – its forms and transformations, and the enduring value it acquires over time. This evocative concept will unfold across a rich programme of exhibitions and cultural events throughout August and September 2025 in Daugavpils, Liepāja, and Cēsis.
