[spectre] TECHNO-ECOLOGIES (art+communic.) festival in Riga this week!

Rasa Smite rasa at rixc.lv
Mon Oct 31 15:21:44 CET 2011


Hello!

Please see below information about RIXC's annual festival  
"Art+Communication" in Riga, which with the title of TECHNO-ECOLOGIES  
takes place this week, from November 3 - 5 in Riga, featuring  
conference, workshops (still open for participation!), special video  
programme, and the exhibition (which will take place in Contemporary  
Arts Center kim? in Spikeri, from November 4 to December 11, 2011, in  
Riga, Latvia)

with best regards,
Rasa

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TECHNO-ECOLOGIES

XIII International Festival for New Media Culture ART+COMMUNICATION 2011

Riga, November 3 – December 11, 2011
http://rixc.lv/11


“Techno-Ecologies" is the theme of this year's Art+Communication  
festival that explores how we inhabit the deep technological spheres  
of our everyday life.

Everyday life has become so intimately interwoven with complex  
technological ecologies that we can no longer consider technology as  
the alienating other. A careful consideration of the relationships  
between the natural and the artificial is required. Techno-Ecologies  
concept for this festival is built by Eric Kluitenberg upon the  
concerns of Felix Guattari (the French philosopher and co-conspirator  
of Gilles Deleuze) about the lack of an integrated perspective on the  
dramatic techno-scientific transformations the Earth has undergone in  
recent times. Guattari urges to take three crucially important  
'ecological registers' into account: the environment, social  
relations, and human subjectivity.

	The Techno-Ecologies festival will facilitate a discussion between  
artists, theorists, designers, environmental scientists,  
technologists, responsible entrepreneurs and activists to develop this  
perspective. Diversity, social and ecological sustainability, and a  
much deeper understanding of technology as an extension of our desires  
are the building blocks that we want to bring together to build a  
perspective that can help us chart less hazardous routes into the  
future than the ones currently travelled.

(Full concept text please read on festival website:  
http://rixc.lv/11/en/theme.html)


* Exhibition

Artists in the Techno-Ecologies exhibition will introduce with their  
diverse and creative approaches in building technological ecologies  
perspective and dealing with environmental and social sustainability  
issues. The exhibition is curated by Raitis Smits and Rasa Smite in  
collaboration with Eric Kluitenberg. It will take place from November  
4 to December 11 in the Contemporary Art Center kim? at Spikeri  
Quartier in Riga, featuring 14 media artworks and innovative design  
objects by various artists.

	Belgian artist Bartaku, who explores the transformation of light into  
electrical and nutritional energy, in his PhoEfarium artwork  
introduces how to make solar cells by your own – from glass-based to  
edible ones; whereas The Toaster Project by British artist Thomas  
Thwaites is a story on artist's attempt to build a simple electric  
appliance – the toaster – from scratch. French artist duo Scenocosme  
explore relationships between nature and digital technology – their  
Phonofolium artwork is interactive installation that displays a living  
tree reacting to the human touch by sound and voice. Aptium by  
Franco-german artist Lynn Pook invites visitors to lay-down in a  
hammock and in an unexpected way to hear and feel sound, which is  
specially composed for this installation in collaboration with Julien  
Clauss. Another exhibition piece – Andrea, is designed to improve  
houseplant capability of purifying the air with an increased  
efficiency, it is the joint invention by Paris-based designer Mathieu  
Lehanneur and Harvard professor of bioengineering David Edwards. RIXC  
artists collective: Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Jaanis Garancs, Martins  
Ratniks / RIXC (Latvia) have developed Renewable Network Interface –  
an online research tool that maps artists, projects and fields that  
emerge on the  boundaries of art, energy and open information systems  
(http://renewable.rixc.lv/network/).

	The Techno-ecologies exhibition also displays many other unique and  
interesting artworks by inernationally recognised artists from  
different countries of the world, including Worldprocessor by Ingo  
Günther (Germany); Plantas Parlantes by Popkalab artists: R icardo  
O'Nascimento (Brasil), Gilberto Esparza (Mexico), Javier Busturia  
(Spain), Jingni Wang (China) and Jelle Decker (The Netherlands); O.T.  
by Ulrich Vogl (Germany); Psworld by Julian Oliver (New Zealand /  
Germany), Deaddrop by Aram Bartholl (Germany), m/e/m/e 2.0 by Danja  
Vasiliev (Russia / Germany).

	Opening of the exhibition: November 3 at 18.00 – press conference and  
curators' guided tour through the exhibition, at 19.00 – official  
festival and exhibition opening, welcome to all interested.


* Workshops

In addition to the exhibition, in kim? venue at Spikeri, 3 workshops  
will take place in November 4 and 5 (12.00 – 18.00): SonicDrift  
workshop will be conducted by memelab artists (Canada), Symptoms Riga  
workshop – by Martin Howse,  and Talking to the Plants by artists from  
Popkalab, in which they will demonstrate how to build an interactive  
sound generation system by using simple electronics.


* Be Your Own Souvenir!

During two days only – on November 4 and 5 at RIXC Media Space,  
festival guests will be invited to create a souvenir figurines of...  
themselves! Spanish artists Raul Nieves, Gerard Rubio, Jordi Bari from  
BlablabLAB in their artwork Be Your Own Souvenir! use custom-made 3D  
printer with a 3D scanner – come by and … be your own souvenir!


* Video Programme

Another special event – the video programme curated by the film  
curator Erwin van 't Hart (NL) will be shown on Friday, November 4,  
20.00 at RIXC Media Space. The video programme features works by Pilvi  
Takala (Finland), eteam (US/DE), Sebastian Diaz-Morales (AR/NL), Neïl  
Beloufa (FR), Yin-Ju Chen and James T. Hong (NL).


* Conference

Meanwhile, the professional audience and students can take interest in  
the international art and science conference “Techno-ecologies.  
Inhabiting the deep technological spheres of everyday life”. The  
conference is organized by RIXC in collaboration with MPLab, Art  
Research Laboratory of University of Liepaja and it will be taking  
place on November 4 and 5 at RIXC Media Space. The conference will  
gather both artists and academic researchers as well as theorists,  
environmental scientists, activists and other lateral thinkers who are  
engaged with technological, social, and ecological sustainability  
issues. The 2-day conference will consist of 6 sections, moderated by  
Eric Kluitenberg (NL).

	DAY1 – Section 1. TECHNOLOGY AND NATURE: Ronald van Tienhoven / Next  
Nature (NL), Grégory Lasserre / Scenocosme (FR), Anne Sophie Witzke /  
Media Art and Ecology at Aarhus University (DK), Julian Oliver (NZ /  
DE), Ricardo O'Nascimento (BR), Javier Busturia (ES). // Section 2.  
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY: Prof. Dr. Siegfried Zielinski (online talk),  
Daniel Irrgang / Chair for media theory/archaeology and variantology  
of the media at Berlin University of the Arts (DE), Anita Jóri / The  
_Vilém _Flusser_Archive / Berlin University of the Arts (HU / DE),  
Martin Howse  (UK), Normunds Kozlovs / Faculty of Communications at  
Riga Stradins University (LV), Matze Schmidt (DE). // Section 3.  
TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT: Erich Berger / Ars Bioarctica / Finnish  
Bioart Society (FI), Dr. phys. Liga Grinberga / The Institute of Solid  
State Physics / University of Latvia (LV), Arne Hendriks  
(Netherlands), Dr. phys. Ojars Balcers / Environmental Protection Club  
(LV)

	DAY2 – Section 4. TECHNOLOGY AND PEOPLE: Rob van Kranenburg (NL),  
Tatiana Goryucheva (RU / NL), Andrew Gryf Paterson / Pixelache /  
Pixelversity 2012 (FI), Kyd Campbell (CA / DE), Gerard Rubio (ES),  
Jordi Bari / BlablabLAB (ES), Lynn Pook (FR). // Section 5.  
TECHNOLOGY, ART AND ECOLOGY: Tapio Makela / M.A.R.I.N. (FI), Niki  
Passath / The University of Applied Arts Vienna (AT), Mirae Rosner and  
Jesse Scot / memelab (CA / DE), Raitis Smits / RIXC / Visual  
Communication dept. of Latvian Arts Academy (LV), Dr.sc.soc. Rasa  
Smite / RIXC / Art Research Lab of Liepaja University (LV). // Section  
6. TECHNOLOGY AND OPEN SYSTEMS: Thomas Thwaites (UK), Heath Bunting /  
irational.org (UK), Danja Vasiljev (RU / DE), Dr.philol. Ilva Skulte /  
Faculty of Communications at Riga Stradins University (LV), Zsofia  
Ruttkay / The Creative Technology Lab / Moholy-Nagy University of Art  
and Design (HU), Matthew Gardiner / Ars Electronica Futurelab (AU / AT).


* Imaginary Media Show

The closing event of the main festival programme in Riga will take  
place on the evening of November 5, at 20.00 in RIXC Media Space,  
featuring an audio-visual performance-lecture “Imaginary Media” by  
Eric Kluitenberg, which will be dedicated to the newly published  
Latvian edition of “The Book of Imaginary Media”, ed. Kluitenberg  
(translation into Latvian provided by Daina Siliņa, published by RIXC,  
2011).


* iWeek Programme in Liepaja

The festival will continue in Liepaja, where iWeek 2011, the  
International New Media Art Week programme will take place from  
November 7 to 13 in MPLab (Art Research Lab) of Liepaja University  
including workshops, “show and tell” sessions, lectures, performances  
and exhibitions.


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PROGRAMME:

Thursday, November 3
18.00 Press conference and curator's guided tour through the  
exhibition (kim? in Spikeri, Riga)
19.00 Opening of the “Art+Communication 2011” festival and  
“Techno-ecologies” exhibition (kim? in Spikeri)

Friday, November 4
10.00 – 17.00 Conference “Techno-ecologies”, Day 1. Panels: 1.  
Technology and Nature, 2. Technology and Society, 3. Technology and  
the Environment (RIXC Media Space, Riga)
12.00 – 18.00 Workshop “SonicDrift” by memelab / CA (kim? in Spikeri)
20.00 Video programme: eteam (US/DE) “Prim Limit”, Pilvi Takala  
(FI/NL) “Players”, Sebastian Diaz-Morales “Oracle” (AR/NL), Neïl  
Beloufa (FR) “Kempinski”, Yin-Ju Chen & James T. Hong (NL) “End  
Transmission”  (RIXC Media Space)

Saturday, November 5
10.00 – 17.00 Conference “Techno-ecologies”, Day 2. Panels: 4.  
Technology and People, 5. Technology, Art and Ecology, 6. Technologies  
and Open Systems (RIXC Media Space)
12.00 – 18.00 Workshops: “Talking to the Plants” by Popkalab and  
“Symptoms Riga” by Martin Howse  / UK (kim? in Spikeri)
20.00 Closing of the festival: “Imaginary Media”, audio-visual  
lecture-performance by Eric Kluitenberg and presentation of the  
Latvian edition of “The Book of Imaginary Media” (RIXC Media Space)

November 4 and 5, 10.00 – 17.00 (in parallel to conference )  
blablabLAB (ES) will hold the 3D printing project “Be Your Own  
Souvenir!” (RIXC Media Space)

November 7 – 13 –  iWeek 2011 programme – international new media art  
week: workshops, “show and talk” sessions, lectures, performances,  
exhibitions in Liepaja (MPLab, Liepaja).

November 4 – December 11 – exhibition “Techno-ecologies” open to  
visitors (kim? in Spikeri, Riga).
Entrance free. Opening hours: Mon.: closed, Tue., Wed.:  14.00 –  
19.00, Thu.: 14.00 – 20.00, Fri.: 14.00 – 19.00, Sat., Sun.:12.00 –  
18.00. Free entrance.


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* Venues and addresses:

RIXC Media Space, 11. novembra krastmala 35, entrance from Minsterejas  
street, Riga. (http://rixc.lv)
kim? Contemporary Art Center in Spikeri Quartier for Creative  
Industries, Maskavas street 12/1, Riga. (http://kim.lv)
MPLab, Art Research Laboratory of Liepaja University, Kurmajas  
prospect 13, Liepaja. (http://mplab.lv)

* Organisers:

The festival is organised by RIXC, The Centre for New Media Culture in Riga.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with Contemporary Art  
Center kim?; the conference – in collaboration with MPLab, Art  
Research Lab of Liepaja University. iWeek is organized by LiepU MPLab  
(Art Research Lab) in collaboration with RIXC.

* Festival team:

The Techno-Ecologies idea and concept developed by Eric Kluitenberg (NL).
Exhibition curators: Raitis Smits and Rasa Smite in collaboration with  
Eric Kluitenberg.
Video programme is curated by Erwin van 't Hart (NL).
Festival producers: Daina Silina, Agnese Baranova, Linda Vebere /  
RIXC, Anna Trapenciere / MPLab.
Design: Martins Ratniks.
Website: Raitis Smits, Davis Bojars.
Exhibition scenography: Rudolf Bekic, Raitis Smits.

* Support: State Culture Capital Foundation, Mondriaan Foundation, EU  
Culture programme 2007 – 2013 (Survival Kit project), Riga City  
Council, Latvian Ministry of Culture, EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7)  
(Studiolab project), Cultural dept. of Liepaja City Municipality,  
Hotel Elizabete, B&B Riga.

* Media Support: Studija, IR, Easyget.lv, Delfi.lv, euroAWK,  
Artterritory.com, Anothertravelguide.com, Kultūra.lv, Satori, Veto  
Magazine, Ilustreta Zinatne.

* Contacts:
RIXC Center for New Media Culture, 11. Novembra krastmala 35-201,  
Riga, LV-1050
Ph.: +371-67228478 (office), +371-26546776 (Rasa Šmite, mob.)
e-mail: rixc ( at ) rixc.lv

Festival website: http://rixc.lv/11

http://twitter.com/rixcriga

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