[spectre] VIRTUALITIES & REALITIES, RIXC festival and Open Fields Conf. Early Bird Reg.

[Rasa Smite]

Hello!

we are happy to announce that the RIXC festival and the 2nd Open Fields 
conference in Riga is approaching! This year, the festival and 
conference with the title Virtualities and Realities will take place 
from October 19-21, 2017,

and we also have extended the Early Bird registration till September 30, 
2017!
more info: http://festival2017.rixc.org

Hope to see you in Riga soon,
best

Rasa

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES
RIXC Art Science Festival
and the 2nd Open Fields Conference
Riga, October 19 – 21, 2017

http://festival2017.rixc.org

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -
Early Bird registration is extended until September 30, 2017
Register Now: http://festival2017.rixc.org/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES is the theme of this year's RIXC Art Science 
festival and the 2nd Open Fields conference taking place in Riga, 
Latvia, aiming to establish a space for artistic interventions and 
conversations about the complex implications of immersive technologies.

This year's festival programme features Public Keynotes, the 2nd Open 
Fields Conference sessions, AR/VR Showcases, Exhibitions and 
Performances. RIXC Festival is internationally renowned gathering for 
artists and scholars working at the intersection of arts, digital 
humanities and science.

The main festival events will take place from October 19–21, 2017, in 
some of Riga's most visible art venues – the Conference will take place 
in the Art Academy of Latvia, and the Latvian National Museum of Art, 
while the exhibitions – in kim? Contemporary Art Centre and RIXC Gallery 
spaces.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

* Monika FLEISCHMANN (DE) & Wolfgang STRAUSS / research artists & 
scientists, DE
* Ellen PEARLMAN / Parsons / New School / Art-A-Hack / ThoughtWorks / 
New York, USA
* Chris SALTER / Concordia University, CA
* David ROTHENBERG / New Jersey Institute of Technology / USA

VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES

Immersive technologies coupled with superior virtual environments, 
artificial intelligence algorithms, faster processors, and biometrics 
are launching a new era in virtual experiences, entertainment and 
story-telling. At the same time these technologies have the potential 
for reinforcing stereotypes, contributing to massive economic and social 
disruptions, and implementing new systems of invasive monitoring and 
control.

 What do these new developments in VR/AR mean for education, 
entertainment, social policy, and systems of codified knowledge? Like 
their predecessors the telephone, television, and mobile phone, what are 
the impending new vistas and reduced horizons?

Biometrics and the uploading and tracking of personal data spans areas 
from healthcare to advertising, with implications for law, criminal 
justice, entertainment (gaming), education and sports. Machine learning 
and algorithms are harvesting and making use of big data in new and 
startling ways. Some of it allows pinpoint accuracy in determining 
issues of public health, economics, climate change, story-telling, 
political leanings and the migration of populations. What does all this 
data combined with new technologies mean? What are some current and 
future artistic strategies that deal with this? Combined with the 
acceleration of VR/AR and technologies of immersion, how will societies 
react?

Taking place in the framework of RISK CHANGE EU Creative Europe’s 
project, various festival events will explore relations between 
“virtualities” and “realities” in our post-media society. The Open 
Fields conference will discuss the socio-cultural and neurobiological 
impacts of virtual and augmented reality, and other immersive 
technologies. The conference participants will also look at the places 
and movements from a socio-political perspective, the mapping and 
charting of migrating cultures particularly people and their data traces.

The conference will be complemented by the festival exhibition that will 
explore the changing role of art in society, its transformative 
potential, and its relations to the sciences, especially focusing on 
neomateriality, new aesthetics and other critical qualities of the 
post-digital.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME

THURSDAY, October 19, 2017
15.00 – 16.00 Registration
16.00 – 18.30 OPENING KEYNOTE LECTURES
Monika FLEISCHMANN and Wolfgang STRAUSS / DE
David ROTHENBERG / US
Venue: The Latvian National Museum of Art (Address: Jana Rozentala 
laukums 1, entrance from the park side)
19.00 – RECEPTION and FESTIVAL EXHIBITION OPENING
Venue: kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Sporta iela 2

FRIDAY, October 20, 2017
Conference Day 1: VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES I: IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES 
AND ARTISTIC RESEARCH
10.00 – 11.30 Plenary Session: Thematic Keynotes and Featured Presentation:
By Media Lab of AALTO University (Helsinki/FI)
Venue: The Art Academy of Latvia / Address: Kalpaka bulvaris 13 (from 
the park side).
12.00 – 16.30: Parallel Sessions
Venues: The Art Academy of Latvia, and The Latvian National Museum of Art
17.00 – PUBLIC KEYNOTE LECTURES:
Ellen PEARLMAN / US
Chris SALTER / CA
Venue: The Latvian National Museum of Art

SATURDAY, October 21, 2017
Conference Day 2:  VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES II: AR/VR, ECO/DATA 
AESTHETICS AND CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES
10.00 – 11.30 Plenary Session: Thematic Keynotes and Featured Presentation
Venue: The Art Academy of Latvia
12.00 – 16.30 Parallel Sessions
Venues: the Art Academy and the National Art Museum
17.00 – Closing Session: OPEN FIELDS BOOK-REVIEW, presentations by 
authors (Pecha Kucha format), and “RENEWABLE FUTURES” (Acoustic Space 
Vol. 16) book discussion.
Venue: The National Art Museum
21.00 – Satellite Event: PERFORMANCE NIGHT
Venue: RISEBA Media and Architecture Center H2O6, Durbes iela 6

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

CONFERENCE
October 19-21, 2017

The 2nd Open Fields conference will take place in October 19-21, 2017, 
in Riga, Latvia, in two venues (which are closely each to other) -- the 
Art Academy of Latvia, and the Latvian National Museum of Art.

The Open Fields conference is the annual gathering in Riga, Latvia, for 
international scholars and artists working at the intersection of arts, 
humanities and science. The conference was launched in 2016 with the aim 
to create the Nordic-Baltic region based platform for artistic research. 
It is a part of the annual RIXC Art Science festival, and it is closely 
connected to the festival exhibition that every year showcases the most 
innovative artwork and artistic research projects. The 1st Open Fields 
conference edition took place in Riga, October 2016, gathering together 
120 participants from 30 countries worldwide. The conference is 
complemented by the exhibition and closely linked to it, as the 
conference also aims to reflect upon artistic practice and research in 
the age of post-media and post-digital, whereby inventing new taxonomies 
and shaping new contact zones between art, science, technology and 
social engagement.


This year we received more than 260 compelling conference and exhibition 
proposals from around the world, out of which conference organizational 
board selected 80 proposals for the conference, and 20 for the 
exhibition. Overall, this year we expect more than 100 participants from 
35 countries, representing more than 60 universities, art centers, 
museums, institutions and companies, as well as independent artists, 
scientists and scholars from different fields, who work with immersive 
technologies, experiment with augmented and virtual reality, discuss 
future of digital and data aesthetics, whereby exploring complex 
relations between the “virtualities” and “realities” in our post-media 
society.

Conference chairs:
Rasa SMITE / RIXC / Liepaja University / Latvia
Ellen PEARLMAN / Parsons / New School / Art-A-Hack / ThoughtWorks / New 
York, USA

The International Conference Scientific board:
Lev MANOVICH / Cultural Analytics Lab / The Graduate Center, City 
University of New York, USA
Jussi PARIKKA / Winchester School of Art / University of Southampton / UK
Geoff COX / School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark
Kristin BERGAUST / Oslo and Akershus University, Norway
Laura BELOFF / IT University, Copenhagen / Finnish Bioart Society, 
Helsinki, Finland
Lily DIAZ-KOMMONEN / Head of Research Department of Media, Aalto 
University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland
Ursula DAMM / Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany
Vytautas MICHELKEVICIUS / Nida Art Colony, Vilnius Academy of Arts, 
Lithuania
Margrét Elísabet ÓLAFSDÓTTIR / Art Education at the University of 
Akureyri, Iceland
Ilva SKULTE / Riga Stradins University
Regine DEBATTY / we-make-money-not-art.com / UK/BE
Piibe PIIRMA / Tallinn University / Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, 
Estonia
Raivo KELOMEES / Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
Aleksandra KOSTIC / Kibla / Risk Change project / Maribor, Slovenia

Conference Participants:
John-Patrick AYSON (USA), Memo AKTEN (United Kingdom), Hiba ALI (USA), 
Jamie ALLEN (Canada), Miguel ALMIRON (France), Sandra ALVARO (Spain), 
Arnas ANSKAITIS (Lithuania), Daniil BAKALIN (Russia), Tracey BENSON 
(Australia), Kathryn BLAIR (Canada), Andrew BLANTON (USA), Luis 
BRACAMONTES (Mexico), Jonah BRUCKER-COHEN (USA), Kim BURGAS (USA), 
Samuel CAPPS (United Kingdom), Aoun CARLOTTA (France),  Oksana CHEPELYK 
(Ukraine), Cristina COCHIOR (Netherlands), Alice CORONA (Netherlands), 
Guillermo CROSETTO (France), Shannon CUYKENDALL (Canada), Doville 
DAGIENE (Lithuania), Christina DELLA GIUSTINA (Netherlands), Maija 
DEMITERE (Latvia), Violetta DESAGA (Germany), Pablo DESOTO (Sweden), 
Lilly DIAZ (Finland), Steve DIPAOLA (Canada), Michael DOTOLO (India), 
Hannah DRAYSON (United Kingdom), Tomi DUFVA (Finland), Mikko DUFVA 
(Finland), Natalia EGOROVA (Russia), Caitlin FOLEY (USA), Elena FUERTES 
(Spain), Gabriela GALATI (Italy), Jānis GARANČS (Latvia), Mitch GOODWIN 
(Australia), Yvette GRANATA (USA), Vanessa GRAVENOR (Germany), Paola 
GUIMERANS (Spain), Varvara GULJAJEVA (Estonia), Hanna HAASLAHTI 
(Finland), Adnan HADZI (United Kingdom), Chris HALES (Latvia), Asim 
HAMEED (Pakistan), Greta HAUER (United Kingdom), Jukka HAUTAMAKI 
(Finland), Jane HAWLEY (USA), Brandon HEARTY (Canada), Ben HIPPEN (USA), 
Janina HOTH (Austria), Martin HOWSE (Germany), Camilla JALLER (Denmark), 
Mine KAPLANGI (Turkey), Katerina KAROUSSOS (Greece), Raivo KELOMEES 
(Estonia), Anna KENNEDY (Australia), Raphael KIM (United Kingdom), 
Philipp KOHL (Germany), Jacob KOK (Netherlands), Jaana KOKKO (Finland), 
Aleksander KOMAROV (Belarus), Korsten & DeJong (Netherlands), Andrea 
KOVACS (Hungary), Normunds KOZLOVS (Latvia), Ron KUIVILA (USA), Karen 
LANCEL  (Netherlands), Daniel LANDAU (USA), Mikko LIPIAINEN (Latvia), 
Maryna MAKARENKO (Germany), Srinivas MANGIPUDI (India), Ramon MARTINEZ 
(Spain), Orr MENIROM (United States), Nicolò MERENDINO (Netherlands), 
Richard MERRITT (USA), Lina  MICHELKEVIČE (Lithuania), Vytautas 
MICHELKEVIČIUS (Lithuania), Christopher MILLER (USA), Alvaro MOLINS 
(Spain), Sean MONTGOMERY (USA), Reese MUNTEAN (Canada), Anna NACHER 
(Poland), Livia NOLASCO-ROZSA (Germany), Vygintas ORLOVAS (Lithuania), 
Andrew Gryf PATERSON (Finland), Ledo PEREZ (Spain), David PIRRO 
(Austria), Dijana PROTIC (Croatia), Misha RABINOVICH (USA), Stefanie RAU 
(Germany), Elke REINHUBER (Singapore), Morten ROCKFORD (Denmark), Jenny 
RODENHOUSE (USA), Giorgio RUGGERI (Italy), Martin RUMORI (Austria), 
Hanns Holger RUTZ (Austria), Vincenzo SANSONE (Italy), Vanessa Sonia 
SANTOS (Spain), Thecla SCHIPHORST (Canada), Johanna SCHMEER (Germany), 
David SCHMUDDE (USA), Sarah SCHORR (Denmark), Vygandas SIMBELIS 
(Sweden), Sergey SIMONOV (Russia), Eva SJUVE (United Kingdom), Ilva 
SKULTE (Latvia), Jorge SOBEJANO (Spain), Winnie SOON (Denmark), David 
STRANG (United Kingdom), Prophecy SUN (Canada), Maxim TYMINKO (Belarus), 
Anna TOKAREVA (New Zealand), Sender VEENHOF (Netherlands), Paula VĪTOLA 
(Latvia), Zil Julie VOSTALOVA (Czech Republic), Florian WIENCEK 
(Austria), Ludwig ZELLER (Switzerland).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

EXHIBITION
October 19 -- November 28, 2017
Venue: kim? Contemporary Art Center, Sporta iela 2, Riga

The main festival exhibition will feature the most innovative artworks 
that experiment with augmented and virtual reality, create immersive 
environments, and explore complex relations between the “virtualities” 
and “realities” of our post-media society with its networked communities 
and migrating cultures.

VIRTUALITIES AND REALITIES exhibition artists: Marc LEE (Switzerland), 
Jacques PERCONTE (France), Juuke SCHOORL (the Netherlands), Brenna 
MURPHY (USA), Hans BREDER (USA), Clement VALLA (USA), Matteo ZAMAGNI 
(United Kingdom), Zane ZELMENE (Latvia), The Swan Collective (Germany), 
Annie BERMAN (USA), Felipe CUCKER and Hector RODRIGUEZ (Hong Kong), 
Gunta DOMBROVSKA (Latvia), Martin John CALLANAN (United Kingdom), Nina 
FISCHER and Maroan EL SANI (Germany), Santa FRANCE (Latvia), Greta HAUER 
(United Kingdom), Martin HESSELMEIER and Andreas MUXEL (Germany), 
Raphael KIM (United Kingdom), Michal KINDERNAY (Czech Republic), 
Christopher MANZIONE and Seth CLUETT (USA), Andrew MCWILLIAMS (USA), 
Melodie MOUSSET and Naem BARON (Switzerland), Martin REICHE (Germany), 
Hanns Holger RUTZ (Austria), Julia SOKOLNICKA (Poland/the Netherlands), 
Danielle ZORBAS (Australia).

Curator: Raitis SMITS / RIXC

Parallel Exhibitions:
Parallel exhibitions related to the festival theme on Virtualities and 
Realities, will be also on view in both RIXC gallery spaces: 
FLUCTUATIONS OF MICROWORLDS by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits will be on 
show in Lencu iela 2, and DATA.LOGS by artist  collective Trihars -- in 
11. novembra krastmala 35. More information available at http://rixc.org

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS AND BOOK PRESENTATIONS

The papers by conference participants will be published in conference 
proceeding, which will come out in the Acoustic Space, (double blind) 
peer-reviewed journal & book series. The call for full paper submissions 
will be announced shortly after the conference on the Acoustic Space 
journal website, in November 2017.
http://acousticspacejournal.com

The new issue of Acoustic Space (Vol. 16) – RENEWABLE FUTURES. Art, 
Science and Society in the Post-Media Age , edited by Rasa Smite and 
Raitis Smits in tribute to Armin Medosch (1962-2017) has been published 
recently, and it will be presented at the closing day of the conference 
- during the OPEN FIELDS BOOK-REVIEW session.

The Open Fields Book-Review is a dynamic open participation session in 
Pecha Kucha format (20x20), during which conference speakers and 
exhibition artists have an opportunity to present their recent or 
upcoming books. The Book-Review by authors will take place on October 
21, 2017 at 17.00 at the Art Academy of Latvia.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

The Festival is produced by RIXC / Riga, Latvia in collaboration with 
Risk Change / Creative Europe's project partners.

The Conference is organized by RIXC / Riga in collaboration with the 
Renewable Futures network, and Art-A-Hack / New York, and Hybrid Lab 
Nordplus project academic partners: Liepaja University, Aalto University 
and HiOA, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences.

Support:  The State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga City 
Council, Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, the Ministry 
of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, EU Programme Creative Europe's 
Risk Change project, Nordplus, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, 
Goethe-Institut Riga
, the Fulbright Specialist Program, kim? 
Contemporary Art Centre, Latvian National Museum of Art, Art Academy of 
Latvia, University of Liepaja, Liepaja University Art Research Lab, 
Studija, ESSE, PK Riga Hotel.

Contact: rixc at rixc.org, +371 67228478 (RIXC office), +371 26546776 (Rasa 
Smite)

http://rixc.org


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

http://festival2017.rixc.org/

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - -

-- 
Dr Rasa Smite
Artist and Founding Director of RIXC, The Center for New Media Culture in Riga,
Prof. in New Media Art at Liepaja University,
Chief Editor of Acoustic Space, peer-reviewed book & journal series
Contact: rasa at rixc.org
Phone: +371-26546776
http://smitesmits.com
http://rixc.org
http://renewablefutures.net
http://acousticspacejournal.com