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Projects

When becoming European Capital of Culture, the city undertakes the role and duty of an envoybringing up the foreground of it's own and herald it to reach other cities and countries at the same time. This is the case of Café Europa Riga project – RIXC undertook it in a close collaboration between Riga 2014 and Mons 2015. The concept of Café Europaimplies networking among the European cities especially. It had to be marked out that Riga is the very first European city outside Belgium where Café Europa isinstalled, but the next year Café Europa hybrid structures will pop up in many other European cities – such us Linz, Pilsen, Karlsruhe, Sarajevo and others.

Café Europais a project initiated by Mons 2015 – European Capital of Culture. The main theme of Mons 2015 is “where culture meets technology”, and Café Europais an example of this. It's intention is to bring new technologies closer to people, making them more familiar and accessible for everybody.

Café Europa was multi-functional, architecturally flexible, mobile space, that can be adapted to the needs of the local context while maintaining connection to other places in Europa with similar nature at the same time.

Café Europa Rigadeal with 3D printing and renewable energy technologies especially, invited to rethink the future of urban ecosystems, human evolution and psychology of visual perception together with artists and scientists from Latvia and abroad.

 

Café Europa Riga programme:

August 19–31 (Week I and II)

August 15

Public opening – Talk to me exhibition opening and performances by Martins Engelis and Trihars.

August 21

Reception for partners and official guests. Speaches given by Latvian Minister of culture – Dace Melbarde, head of foundation Riga 2014 – Diana Civle, Atache of Valonie AWEX Andre Villers.

August 15 – 17

“Talk to me” - exploring human-plant communication, project by RIXC, exhibition and presentation of the new book.

3D creative randomness printing lab. Exhibition, workshops and JMM Showcase by young Latvian artists in residence - Rihards Vitols, Peteris Riekstins, Martins Engelis, as well as speed-dating between LV and BE creative industries and Europa Wall – workshop on digital interfaces.

September 2–7 (Week III)

Urban Ecosystems bee keeping and mapping the foraging fields in the city. “Foraging fields” - exhibition and workshop by Annemie Maes (BE) is dedicated to relationships between bees and ecosystem in cities, as well as mapping population of bees and plants in cities. At creative workshops artist showed how to create honey battery and design hives for city bees.

WHITE NIGHT 2014 (September 6)

Fog – art and science workshops and performance by Edwin van der Heide (NL) in Spikeri creative quarter, as well as small workshops, dedicated to different ways of creating fog.

September 9–14 (Week IV)

3D BioLAB: Future of water, dedicated to future of water and renewable energy. Pond-Battery by Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Voldemars Johansons, Arturs Gruduls live translation from Latvian Botanical garden and workshop “Virtuosos” (the 17th century play on science experiments) by Ainars Kamolins and Rudolf Bekic. At workshops, all who were interested was able to see, how hydrogen is created and take a ride with hydrogen cars.

September 16–21 (Week V)

FOOOD. War and peace.Exhibition, art and science creative labs of artist Gints Gabrans. Artist, together with biologist, Janis Liepins, is trying to crete enzyme, which would allow us to use cellulose as part of our nutrition. This evolution is inspired by changes in people body, which happened about 7000 years ago and which allowed humans to use milk as food. Visitors of Café Europa Riga could check, if their body have this enzym.

September 23–28 (Week VI)

September 26 - Researchers night and closing of Café Europa Riga

Habitus - Hanna Haaslahti (FI) exhibition and workshop on visual perception, real-time mapping and “shadow” projections. In art container artist had settled in interactive exhibition about visual perception, based on which she has created social games and “shadow projection” wokshop.

Hanna Haaslahti (1969) is a media and installation artist working and living in Helsinki. She explores structures and methods which connect individuals to communities. In her work, the balance between individual freedom and communal rules takes shape as interactive installations or photographic experiments. The basic elements of her minimalistic installations are light, shadow and interaction.

CONTACTS

rixc@rixc.org

+371 67228478 (office)

+371 26546776 (Rasa Smite)