[spectre] ECODATA: RIXC Art Science Festival - Online Program, Oct 8-10, from Riga, Latvia

[Rasa Smite]

Hello on Spectre list

We are happy to announce that the RIXC festival ECODATA begins tomorrow, 
Thursday, October 8th, 2020, at 14.00 Riga time (which is EEST, UCT +3) 
with the online program: ECODATA-ECOMEDIA-ECOAESTHETICS featured panel, 
followed by the Artist Talks, and ECODATA Exhibition opening at the 
National Library of Latvia in Riga.

Join us through the Youtube stream, which will be available on the 
festival website (I am sorry, registration for Zoom conference is almost 
full already):

https://festival2020.rixc.org/

The following days - on Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10, we 
will continue streaming Live on Youtube the (online / zoom) conference 
panel sessions from 10.00-17.00 (Riga time, UCT +3) and keynote talks 
from 17.00-18.00 (Riga time, UCT +3), as well as evening program with 
"Atmospheric Forest" screening and young artist video/sound/immersive 
arts program.

Looking forward,

Best,

Rasa

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ECODATA


RIXC Art Science Festival and Open Fields 2020 Conference

October 8 - 10, 2020, 
Riga, Latvia and Online

http://festival2020.rixc.org (festival and conference)


http://ecodata.rixc.org (exhibition)

The RIXC Art-Science Festival: ECODATA and the Open Fields 2020 
conference takes place from October 8–10, 2020, in Riga, Latvia and 
online, exploring the 'ecosystematic perspective'. More than just rising 
awareness that living organisms are highly interdependent on each other 
and their environments, this year's festival edition aims to reveal a 
web of connections that interweaves biological, social and 
techno-scientific systems, living and digital data, artistic and 
scientific approaches.

This year's festival is a collaboration with 
"Ecodata–Ecomedia–Ecoaesthetics" research group of The Institute of 
Aesthetic Practice and Theory at HGK FHNW in Basel, Switzerland. 
“Ecodata–Ecomedia–Ecoaesthetics” is the Swiss National Science 
Foundation (SNSF) funded project that explores the role and significance 
of new media, technologies and technoscientific methods in the arts for 
the perception and awareness of the ecological.

The ECODATA festival also takes place in the framework of Creative 
Europe's project “GREEN Revisited” that facilitates a space for 
art-science collaborations, artistic interventions and critical 
discussions on 'encountering emerging naturecultures'. The broad 
festival program aims to gather together international scholars, artists 
and scientists who are engaged with ecosystematic approach, use 
techno-scientific tools and create new aesthetics to deal with the 
challenges of our time and envision the future for 'terrestrial 
coexistence'.

The festival program features the Ecodata EXHIBITION opening taking 
place in the The National Library of Latvia and RIXC Gallery in Riga. It 
is followed by two-day Open Fields 2020 Online CONFERENCE, and 
complemented by a 'hybrid' program of online and onsite activities 
– artistic interventions, keynote sessions, screenings, immersive 
screening programme by young artists and live concerts.

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CONFERENCE 
Open Fields 2020: Ecodata
October 9–10, 2020,
Online / The National Library of Latvia

Open Fields conference is the RIXC's festival-based annual gathering 
bringing together international scholars and artists to discuss topics 
related to artistic research, the changing role of art in societies, and 
art and science collaboration. The conference will be thematically 
related with the exhibition and onsite program of the RIXC festival, 
thus extending a space for discussions on ecological, socio-cultural and 
techno-scientific challenges of our time and the role of art in dealing 
with them.

The ECODATA exhibition and RIXC Festival Opening program on October 8th 
will be followed by the two-day Open Fields conference taking place on 
October 9-10 with participation of 60 speakers from all over the world, 
and an online audience of over 200 of attendees. The conference will be 
held via Zoom, and all festival events will be streamed live 
simultaneously on Youtube.

Topics:

Technologies of the Ecological

BioPolitics / BioDigital Poetics

BioSensing / Ecosystematic Perspective
EcoAesthetics / Data Visualization

Green Revisited / Encountering Emerging Naturecultures

Living Data / AI

Keynotes: Jacopo RASMI (FR), Marko PELJHAN (SI/US), Yvonne VOLKART (CH), 
Marcus MAEDER (CH)
, Rasa SMITE (LV), Kaisa RISSANEN (FI/CA), Jens 
HAUSER (FR/DE), Kristin BERGAUST (NO)



Artist Talks: 
Ursula BIEMANN (CH), Sarah BURGER (CH), Susana SOARES 
(PT),  Leena and Oula A. VALKEAPÄÄ (FI).

Conference Speakers:
Adesola AKINLEYE, Sandra ALVARO, Laura BELOFF, Karla BRUNET, Felipe 
CASTELBLANCO, Fernando CAVALCANTE, Oksana CHEPELYK, Maija DEMITERE, 
Tiziano DERME, Juan Carlos DUARTE REGINO, Desiree FOERSTER, Stelios 
GIANNOULAKIS, José GARCIA, Kyriaki GONI, Adnan HADZISELIMOVIC, John 
KAZIOR, Raivo KELOMEES, Michal KINDERNAY, Diana KNĚŽÍNKOVÁ, Martin 
KRUPA, Carlos LENTINI, Amanda LEWIS, Eva-Maria LOPEZ, Mia MAKELA, Sally 
MCINTYRE, Margarida MENDES, Lina MICHELKEVICE, Vytautas MICHELKEVIČIUS, 
Michal MITRO, Toni OLIVEIRA, Jakub ‘Preppikoma’ PALM, Ji Yun PARK, 
Matteo PIZZOLANTE, Gonzalo PRECIADO-AZANZA, Anna PRIEDOLA, Daina 
PUPKEVIČIŪTĖ, Tivon RICE, Byron RICH, Paul ROSERO CONTRERAS, Ellen RØED, 
Vincenzo SANSONE, André SIER, Eva SJUVE, Karolina SOBECKA, Christina 
STADLBAUER.

This year the RIXC Riga-Online conference and festival will provide the 
Youtube stream (from the Zoom conference) which will be available via 
the festival website: http://festival2020.rixc.org

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EXHIBITION

Ecodata
October 9 – November 17, 2020, 

The National Library of Latvia and RIXC Gallery, Riga, Latvia

The festival's featured event is the ECODATA Exhibition, taking place 
from October 9 – November 17, 2020,  in the Exhibition Hall of The 
National Library of Latvia and RIXC Gallery in Riga, Latvia. The ECODATA 
exhibition is a celebration and the closing phase of SNSF-research 
project Ecodata–Ecomedia–Ecoaesthetics, taking place in Riga and 
organized by the project partner – RIXC Art Science Center, who 
dedicates its annual festival to Ecodata.

The RIXC festival and ECODATA exhibition Opening Program begins with a 
keynote address by Yvonne Volkart and presentations by 
artist-researchers Marcus Maeder and Rasa Smite. It is continued by an 
in-depth discussion on art and science collaboration involving the 
project partners and scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute for 
Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, WSL. This cooperation and 
discussion aims to reveal a web of connections that interweaves 
biological, social and techno-scientific systems, living and digital 
data, artistic and scientific approaches.

The Ecodata exhibition features the project’s output as well as 14 works 
of art by international artists, who are engaged with exploring the 
'ecosystematic' perspective and use techno-scientific tools, methods and 
data, to create new aesthetics.

Curators: 
Yvonne VOLKART, Rasa SMITE, Raitis SMITS

Artists:

ECODATA Exhibition (The National Library of Latvia)

Ursula BIEMANN, Sarah BURGER, Marcus MAEDER, Francois KNOETZE, Diana 
SCHERER, Maayke SCHURER, SEMICONDUCTOR, Susana SOARES, Tamiko THIEL and 
/P, Leena and Oula A. VALKEAPÄÄ, VARVARA & MAR, Elaine WHITTAKER.

ECODATA – Atmospheric Forest, immersive installation (RIXC Gallery): 
Rasa SMITE and Raitis SMITS.

Ecodata-Ecomedia-Ecoaesthetics SNSF-reserch project team:
Yvonne VOLKART 
(lead), Marcus Maeder, Rasa Smite and Aline Veillat, Institute of 
Aesthetic Practice and Theory IAeP, HGK FHNW, Basel, Switzerland

https://www.fhnw.ch/de/die-fhnw/hochschulen/hgk/institute/institut-asthetische-praxis-und-theorie/forschung/ecodata-ecomedia-ecoaesthetics

http://ecodata.rixc.org

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Programme (short summary)

NB! All times below - are Riga time = UCT+3, EEST


Thursday / October 8, 2020

10.00 – 11.30 Press conference (in Latvian, subtitles in English) 

Location: The National Library of Latvia + Zoom + Live Stream: Youtube
14.00 – 15.20 ECODATA Opening Keynote Session: Art and Science Discussion
Ecodata–Ecomedia–Ecoaesthetics research project team
15.30 – 16.45 ECODATA Artist Talks
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube
17.00 – 17.50 ECODATA and A/I (artistic intelligence): Opening 
Performance by the Digital Dramaturgy Labsquared (Toronto)
Live Stream: 
Youtube
18.00 – 20.00 ECODATA Exhibition Opening
Location: The National Library 
of Latvia + Live Stream: Youtube

Friday / October 9, 2020

10.00 – 17.00 Day 1 Panel Sessions (1–4): 
Session 1: Technologies of 
the Ecological / Session 2: BioPolitics and BioDigital Poetics (1) / 
Session 3: BioSensing and Ecosystematic Perspective (1) / Session 4: 
EcoAesthetics / Thematic Session 5.: Atmospheric Experience
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube
17.00 – 18.00 ECODATA Thematic Keynote: Jacopo RASMI. All That is Solid 
Melts into Air. Atmosphere As a Living Space and Visual Field.
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube
19.00 – ECODATA Exhibition Opening: ATMOSPHERIC FOREST
Location:  RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2, Riga + Live Stream: Youtube
20.00 – ATMOSPHERIC FOREST online video screening program

Saturday / October 10

10.00 –17.00 Panel Sessions  (6-10): Sessions 6: BioPolitics and 
BioDigital Poetics (2) / Session 7: BioSensing and Ecosystematic 
Perspective (2) / Session 8: EcoAesthetics (2) /  Session 9: Living Data 
and AI / Closing Session 10: GREEN Revisited: Encountering Emerging 
Naturecultures
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube
17.00 – 18.00 ECODATA Closing Keynote: Marko PELJHAN. Sensing Remotely - 
A Systemics Arsenal
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube
20.00 – 22.00 Closing Program: PLA(N)Tform, screening of immersive 
artworks  and concert
Live Stream: Youtube

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Conference Programme (detailed)

Opening day / Thursday, October 8

10.00 – 11.30 Press conference (in Latvian)
Location: The National Library of Latvia + Zoom + Live Stream: Youtube
Guided tour through the exhibition by RIXC curatorial and producer's 
team – Agnese BARANOVA, Rasa SMITE, Raitis SMITS.

14.00 – 15.20 ECODATA Opening Keynote Session: Art and Science Discussion
Moderators: Felipe CASTELBLANCO, Ojars BALCERS
Ecodata–Ecomedia–Ecoaesthetics research project team: Yvonne VOLKART, 
Marcus MAEDER, Rasa SMITE, and discussions with the scientist Kaisa 
RISSANEN.
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube

15.30 – 16.45 ECODATA Artist Talks
Moderator: Yvonne VOLKART
Ursula 
BIEMANN, Sarah BURGER, Susana SOARES,  Leena and Oula A. VALKEAPÄÄ
Zoom  + Live Stream: Youtube

17.00 – 17.50 ECODATA and A/I (artistic intelligence): Opening 
Performance by the Digital Dramaturgy Labsquared (Toronto)
Live Stream: Youtube

18.00 – 20.00 ECODATA Exhibition Opening
18.00 - Guided tour by curators (English) / 19.00 - Guided tour (Latvian)
Participating Artists: Ursula BIEMANN (CH), Sarah BURGER (CH), Marcus 
MAEDER (CH), Francois KNOETZE (ZA), Diana SCHERER (NL/DE), Maayke 
SCHURER (CA), SEMICONDUCTOR (UK), Susana SOARES (PT), Tamiko THIEL and 
/P (US/DE), Leena and Oula A. VALKEAPÄÄ (FI), VARVARA & MAR (EE/ES), 
Elaine WHITTAKER (CA).
Location: The National Library of Latvia + Live Stream: Youtube

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Day 1 / Friday, October 9

10.00 – 11.20 Session 1: Technologies of Ecological
Moderator: Solvita ZARINA
Tiziano DERME. Autonomous Landscapes – Biosensing and the New Wilderness
Kyriaki GONI. Data Garden. Investigating Data Storage In The DNA Of 
Plants Through An Art Installation
Raivo KELOMEES. Redesigning Paleolithic Forms: From Imagination To 
Tangible Reality
Vincenzo SANSONE. The Use Of Digital Technologies In 
Theatre Performances And Installations To Put The Viewer In Contact With 
Nature

11.30 – 13.00 Session 2: BioPolitics and BioDigital Poetics (1)
Moderator: Solvita ZARINA
Ji Yun PARK. Eco-Culture of Multispecies: Symbiotic Bio-Social 
Relationship of Epiphytic Plants
Michal MITRO. Planetary Thermodynamics: Energy Justice
Byron RICH. Alter, 2019
Sally MCINTYRE. A Small Radius Of Listening Within The Dead Silence Of 
The Static Archive: Re:Collecting Andreas Reischek
Gonzalo PRECIADO-AZANZA, Adesola AKINLEYE. Dancing The Digital 
Beyond-body And The Ecological Connected-body

13.05 – 14.35 Session 3: BioSensing and Ecosystematic Perspective (1)
Moderator: Maija DEMITERE
Juan Carlos DUARTE REGINO. "I" : Environmental Media Interface For Sonic 
Interaction
Mia MAKELA. History Of An Impossible Destiny - Honeybee´s Journey To The 
Heart Of Anthropocene
Christina STADLBAUER. Relocation Training Program For Pinna Nobilis - A 
Video Tutorial For Mollusks
Eva-Maria LOPEZ. We Resist. The Adaptation Of Plants In The Anthropocene
Paul ROSERO CONTRERAS. The Revolution Will Start In The Garden



14.45 – 16.00 Session 4: EcoAesthetics
Moderator: Anna PRIEDOLA
Sandra ALVARO. Art, Eco-aesthetics And Cosmopolitics
Ellen RØED. Image As Site: The Forest
Laura BELOFF. Green Kitsch
John KAZIOR. Filthy Germinators

16.10 – 17.00 Thematic Session 5: Atmospheric Experience
Moderator: Rasa SMITE
Desiree FOERSTER. Aesthetic Experience Of Atmospheres
Felipe CASTELBLANCO. The Cloud, The Tree and the Clouds
Karolina SOBECKA. Cloud Machine

17.00-18.00 – ECODATA Thematic Keynote Talk
Moderator: Karolina SOBECKA
Jacopo RASMI. All That is Solid Melts into Air. Atmosphere As a Living 
Space and Visual Field

19.00 ECODATA Exhibition Opening (2): ATMOSPHERIC FOREST
Location:  RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2, Riga + Live Stream: Youtube
19:00 Reception and Exhibition Opening

20.00-21.00 Online Screening Program: ATMOSPHERIC FOREST
The Interviews with the WSL Scientists (11 min)
The Resin Experiment - performance (3 min)
The Atmospheric Forest (full length film, 17 min)

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Day 2 / Saturday, October 10

10.00-11.20 Session 6: BioPolitics and BioDigital Poetics
Moderator: Raivo KELOMEES
Daina PUPKEVIČIŪTĖ. GREEN Is Not A Color: Conceptual Instrumentalisation 
V/S Affective Entanglements
Anna PRIEDOLA. UnGreening Food [Art]
Vytautas MICHELKEVICIUS, Lina MICHELKEVICE. Postdigital Ecologies Of 
Representation In The „Atlas Of Diagrammatic Imagination“
Martin KRUPA, Diana KNĚŽÍNKOVÁ. Regional Reflection

11.30-13.00 Session 7: BioSensing and Ecosystematic Perspective
Moderator: Solvita ZARINA
Margarida MENDES. The Aquatic Sensorium
Maija DEMITERE. Freeze Fast, Cook Slow
André SIER. Wolfspace: Interactive Century Deep Cartography 
Visualization And Sculpture Making Tool By Wolves In Portugal
Matteo PIZZOLANTE. Oscillum Project
Stelios GIANNOULAKIS. Noise Poetics – Composing With Urban Soundscapes

13.05-14.35 Session 8: EcoAesthetics and Data
Moderator: Kristin BERGAUST
Amanda LEWIS. A Study Of Scarred Landscapes
Michal KINDERNAY. Data Carpets (Across Critical History)
Oksana CHEPELYK. Exploring Ecodata Within Art, Science And Society 
Program At Iméra.
Fernando Nobre CAVALCANTE. Who Is Afraid Of Ayahuasca?
Karla BRUNET, Toni OLIVEIRA, Carlos Alessandre DOMINGOS LENTINI, José 
Garcia VIVAS MIRANDA. Antarctica Convergence

14.45-16.00 Session 9: Living Data and AI
Moderator: Solvita ZARINA
Tivon RICE. Models For Environmental Literacy
Eva SJUVE. The New Metopia: Operations On Xenotemporalities In 
Environmental Data As Sonorous Phenomena
Adnan HADZISELIMOVIC. Machine Learning And Environmental Justice
Jakub ‘Preppikoma’ PALM. Sandboxing The Ecosphere: On Meeting The 
Forecasting Needs Of A Superlect

16.10 – 17.00 Closing Session 10: GREEN REVISITED – Encountering 
Emerging Naturecultures
Moderator: Rasa SMITE
Jens HAUSER. UN/GREEN & (OU \ / ERT) – Inverting 
and Opening in Curatorial Strategy
Kristin BERGAUST. Oslofjord Ecologies – What Can Art Do? About Artistic 
Research On Environmental And Social Sustainability

17.00 – 18.00 Closing Keynote Talk
Moderator: Jens HAUSER
Marko PELJHAN (SI/US). Sensing Remotely – A Systemics Arsenal

20.00 – 22.00 Closing (Online Video Screening): GREEN Revisited
Online Screenings and artistic interventions by young artists from Riga, 
Liepaja, Basel, Karlsruhe and Boston.
PLA(N)Tform (27 min video): Virtual BioSensing exhibition artists:
Julia 
IHLS, Kira Ellen ADAMS, Alejandra Miranda JANUS, Margrethe Emilie 
KÜHLE,  Jung Eun LEE, Isabella MÜNNICH, Eleonora PFANZ, Christina VINKE, 
Carmen WESTERMEIER / Curated by Rasa SMITE / HfG Karlsruhe, Summer 
2020.
Forest Garden Greenhouse concert (45 min video) 
participants:
Platons BURAVICKIS, Daniel HENGST, Rasa SMITE and Raitis 
SMITS in collaboration with Kristaps BITERS, Lauris ŠMITS, Ivo TAURIŅŠ, 
Andris VĒTRA and Artis KUPRIŠS. 
Produced by RIXC Fields Residency, Fall 
2020.


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ECODATA: OPEN FIELDS 2020 Conference Chairs and Curators: 

Yvonne 
VOLKART (Switzerland), Rasa SMITE, Raitis SMITS (Latvia)

OPEN FIELDS 2020 Conference Organizational Board:

Dr. Jens HAUSER, media studies scholar and art curator, Paris, France
Prof. Helena SEDERHOLM, Biofilia, Aalto University, Helsinki Finland
Prof. Kristin BERGAUST, OsloMET – Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
Prof. Marko PELJHAN, University of California Santa Barbara Media Arts 
and Technology Program
Dr. Ellen PEARLMAN, Parsons / New School / Art-A-Hack / ThoughtWorks / 
New York, USA / Docent, RISEBA University for Business, Art and 
Technologies, Riga, Latvia
Assoc. Prof., Dr.philol. Ilva SKULTE, Riga Stradins University, Latvia
Dr. Piibe PIIRMA, Tallinn University, Estonia
Dr. Raivo KELOMEES, Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
Assoc. Prof, Dr. Vytautas MICHELKEVICIUS, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania
Mg. Art Maija DEMITERE, Lecturer and Assistant of Program Director of 
New Media and Audiovisual Art MA Program at RISEBA and Liepaja 
University, Latvia
Mg. Art  Anna PRIEDOLA, Head of Art Research Lab, Program Director of 
New Media Art BA program, Liepaja University, Latvia
Dr. Oksana CHEPELYK, leading researcher of The New Technologies 
Department at The Modern Art Research Institute of Ukraine
Dr.art. Solvita ZARINA, Assoc. Prof., the Faculty of Computing, 
University of Latvia, lead researcher at the Laboratory of Innovative 
Information Technologies FC UL

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Festival Partner: “Ecodata-Ecomedia-Ecoaesthetics” Research Project, 
funded by The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), hosted by The 
Institute of Aesthetic Practice and Theory IAeP at FHNW Academy of Art 
and Design, Basel (Switzerland), in cooperation with Swiss Federal 
Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL (Switzerland).

Producers and Contacts:

The RIXC Festival is produced by The RIXC Centre for New Media Culture. 
The Open Fields 2020 Conference is co-organized by RIXC and The Art 
Research Lab (MPLab) of Liepaja University (Liepaja, Latvia).
Raitis Smits (raitis at rixc.org), +371 29401004, Festival Director and 
Co-Curator
Rasa Smite (rasa at rixc.org) +371 26546776, Festival Co-Curator 
and Conference Co-Chair
Agnese Baranova (agnese at rixc.org), +371 
29635167, Exhibition producer
Liva Silina (rixc at rixc.org), +371 
25358541, PR and information coordinator:

Contact e-mail: rixc at rixc.org



Address: RIXC the Centre for New Media Culture, Lenču iela 2, Riga, 
LV-1010, Latvia

Support:

“Green Revisited” project supported by EU program Creative Europe, 
State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia (http://green.rixc.org),  
Riga City Council, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia,  
Goethe Institute in Riga, Pro Helvetia, Swiss Embassy in Latvia, LG, 
EMAP, REVERIE|TG™, The National Library of Latvia, Liepaja University, 
Art Research Laboratory MPLab of Liepaja University,, Mondriaan Fund, 
Canon, Arterritory, Echo Gone Wrong, KDi, JCDecaux.

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http://rixc.org

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Dr. Rasa Smite

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Artist and Founding Director of RIXC Art Science Center and Festival, Riga, Latvia - http://rixc.org
Professor of New Media Art at Liepaja University, and Senior Researcher at Art Research Lab (MPLab), Latvia
Researcher at The Institute of Aesthetic Practice and Theory, HGK FHNW, Basel
Visiting Lecturer at MIT Art, Culture and Technology Program, Boston
+371-26546776, rasa at rixc.org
http://smitesmits.com