MARTINSONS AWARD 2025
Latvia Ceramics Biennale is a key event in contemporary ceramics in the Baltic Sea region. The biennale is organised by the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics in cooperation with the Rothko Museum. The event attracts artists from all over the world and seeks to develop and promote contemporary ceramics in Latvia and the Baltics. The central event of the biennale is Martinsons Award – an international juried exhibition held on the premises of the Rothko Museum as a testament to the current vitality of ceramic art and a tribute to Pēteris Martinsons – the world-renowned Latvian ceramicist.
MARTINSONS AWARD 2025
Latvia, Daugavpils, 5 September 2025 –1 February 2026
Latvian Centre for Contemporary Ceramics in cooperation with the Rothko Museum announces an open call for the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Ceramics Competition under the 5th Latvia Ceramics Biennale.
ENTRY CONDITIONS
THEME OF THE BIENNALE
From Stardust to Lush Sprouts
For billions of years, nothing existed – except for everything that somehow already was. The fundamental elements of matter smashed into each other at extraordinary cosmic speeds, eventually forming nebulae of gas and dust. These early clusters of primeval matter coalesced, in time, creating all we know today: innumerable stars, our Sun, and planets. On some of them, on one for sure, life as we know it has emerged and then evolved into innumerable forms, from lush palms rising up towards the sky to chubby hippos churning sunlit waters.
Through its impressive exhibition programme, the Latvia Ceramics Biennale attempts to pin down the elusive points of reference that transform material into something that has added value and new meaning. This time, it asks the question: is the almighty, all-controlling human hand the only one that holds the power to create, or do entirely independent processes unfold in parallel to its activity, transforming an initially amorphous mass of clay into creative output capable of containing information? The works selected for the Biennale’s exhibitions reflect this spectrum of engagement with and impact on the matter – from full control and detailed exploration of material to pieces where the artist allows the matter to express itself while staying in the shadows as a curious observer.
In ceramic art, perhaps more than in any other material art form, there is a strong awareness that we all are nothing more than stardust. And yet, within this dust, complex and compound forms have come to be whose force enables luscious sprouts to shoot from lumpy earth. The same creative force is carrying forth the ever-growing trove of information about the progress of our civilisation in one of its most ancient and enduring mediums – the testimony of ceramic works.
PARTICIPANTS
Individual artists and artist groups are invited to submit their artworks for the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Ceramic Art Competition. Each applicant (individual artist or a group) can submit up to two artworks. MARTINSONS AWARD 2023 recipients who won Gold, Silver or Bronze in either National or International category cannot run in the 2025 competition.
The ceramic component of the artwork must be at least 80%, and it must have been created in 2023-2025. The work can’t have been displayed in other competitions. The minimum size of the artwork should be at or above 25cm in at least one dimension (height, width or depth). There are no maximum size restrictions.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Individual artists or artist groups are invited to apply for the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Ceramics Competition via an ONLINE APPLICATION FORM below (⇓).
Each applicant can submit up to 2 artworks.
Up to 3 high printing quality jpg or jpeg images (at least 300 dpi) per submitted artwork should be attached to the Application Form.
The images should feature the artwork on a neutral background (white, black, or grey).
The images of the selected artworks may be used in the exhibition catalogue. Image quality may affect selection results.
Do not use your name or surname in the file names of the attached photos.
Applications must be submitted by 30 April 2025. Applications received after 30 April 2025 will not be considered.
SELECTION PROCEDURE
Selection procedure will run in 2 stages:
Stage 1 – participant selection
The jury will assess the application forms and choose the works that will run in the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 international ceramics competition and appear in the juried exhibition. Selection results will be announced after 20 May 2025. Participants must deliver the selected works to the exhibition venue by 1 August 2025. MARTINSON AWARD 2025 curators reserve the right not to exhibit damaged works, works that do not match the originally submitted photos or are found technically unexhibitable.
Stage 2 – winner selection
The National and International winners of the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 will be selected before the exhibition opening in a closed jury vote after seeing and assessing the artworks on site.
The winners will be announced at the opening ceremony of the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Juried Exhibition on 5 September 2025. The wining artworks will become the property of the Rothko Museum (included in its collection).
TRANSPORTATION & INSURANCE
Artwork delivery to the exhibition venue:
The participants selected in the first round have to deliver the selected work to the exhibition venue by 1 August 2025. The work may be submitted in person, directly to the exhibition venue during its opening hours, or sent via door-to-door delivery service at the expense of the sender (participant). Participants are responsible for proper packaging of their work (the organisers will use the same packaging to return the work). All insurance costs during the transportation of the artwork to the exhibition venue shall be borne by the participant.
Return of the artworks:
Participants may either collect their work from the exhibition venue in person or use door-to-door delivery service at the expense of the receiver (participant) till 28 February 2025. All insurance costs during the return of work to the participant shall be borne by the participant.
Participants may also leave their work to the organisers. In this case the work becomes the property of the organisers, and the donor may receive appropriate certification.
Works that are not collected by 28 February 2026 will become the property of the organisers, to all intents and purposes.
The artworks are not insured during the exhibition, but physical supervision is provided at the venue. The organisers are not financially responsible for any damage or loss of the artworks that may occur during transportation, unpacking or packaging.
EXHIBITION
The MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Juried Exhibition will take place at the Rothko Museum from 5 September 2025 to 1 February 2026, as the central event of the 5th Latvia Ceramics Biennale. The exhibition setup and dismantling will be exclusively undertaken by the organisers.
Exhibition venue:
Rothko Museum,
3 Mihaila Street
Daugavpils, LV-5401
Latvia
The artworks are not insured during the exhibition, but physical supervision is provided at the venue. The organisers are not financially responsible for any damage or loss of the artworks that may occur during the setup, running period or dismantling of the exhibition.
AWARDS
The total amount of no less than EUR 20 000 will be distributed among the National and International winners. The Awards will be subject to the applicable withholding taxes.
BENEFITS FOR PARTICIPANTS
Exhibition
Selected artworks will be exhibited at the Rothko Museum, Latvia’s largest and most-renowned centre for contemporary art. The exhibition venue is located in the old Dünaburg Fortress, still standing in the most historical area of Daugavpils – the native city of Pēteris Martinsons (1931–2013), Latvia’s best-known contemporary ceramicist who earned broad international acclaim. Since 2013, the Rothko Museum holds the world’s largest collection of Martinsons’ ceramics.
Prize
The jury will select MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 winners in two categories, National and International.
Participation in the biennale programme
Along with the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Juried Exhibition, participants will be invited to attend all the other events (exhibitions, conferences, lectures etc.) of the 5th Latvia Ceramics Biennale.
Catalogue
All artworks featured in the MARTINSONS AWARD 2025 International Juried Exhibition will be included in the exhibition catalogue. Each participant will receive a copy of the catalogue and a certificate of participation.
Promotion
The organisers will promote participants in art-related media, websites and social networks.
Use of Personal Information
Participants allow the organisers to reproduce the images of the artworks and any other information submitted through the application form in any kind of media.
Contact information
APPLICATION FORM “MARTINSONS AWARD 2025”