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Festival

TRANSFORMATIVE ECOLOGIES
October 8 – November 22, 2015
RIXC gallery, 11. novembra krastmala 35, entrance from Minsterejas iela.

Photos from the Exhibition: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rixcriga/albums/72157659669905344
Photos from the Opening: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rixcriga/albums/72157659729152179 

NORTH. TRANSFORMATIVE ECOLOGIES exhibition is an investigation into the changing patterns of contemporary ecologies, art and science. The exhibition showcases art science installations by artists who interpret environmental, biological and technological data into sonic, visual and 3D representations. Artists in this exhibition explore transformative potential of art and use data as artistic medium to envision more sustainable futures from the perspective of North.

Artists: Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits / RIXC (LV), Gints Gabrans (LV), Rihards Vitols (LV), Gisle Froysland (NO), Maite Cajaraville (ES), Dani Ploeger (NL/UK), Hege Tapio (NO).

Curators: Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits / RIXC (LV)

Opening on October 7 at 19.00
Opening hours: Mon – closed, Tue – Sun 12:00–18:00.

Contacts: rixc (at) rixc.org, +371 67228478 (RIXC office), rasa (at) rixc.org, +371 26546776 (Rasa Smite, RIXC festival and NORTH. TRANSFORMATIVE ECOLOGIES exhibition co-curator)

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NORTH. TRANSFORMATIVE ECOLOGIES Exhibition Artists and Artworks

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POND BATTERY. A POETICS OF GREEN ENERGY (2014–2015)

Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits / RIXC (Latvia)

Pond Battery is a continuation of Biotricity art-science research project carried out by RIXC – Riga based artist collective. To monitor the bacterial electricity generation process in out-door conditions, RIXC artists use contemporary language and tools of science and innovative technologies. Last summer six “bacteria cells” were installed in the pond of Botanical Garden of University of Latvia in Riga. Live web-cam images and continues measurements of bacteria electricity fluctuations, were delivered live on the Internet, thus making audible and visible the invisible activity of nature – such as was is happening at the bottom of a pond, and which otherwise we can neither see nor hear. Collected data from the seven month long observation of the Pond Battery – from summer to winter, are now transformed into visualized data landscapes, video and sound composition, creating sensual and emotional experiences – a poetics of green energy.

Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits are artists, curators and cultural innovators, working with science and emerging media technologies since mid-90s. They are key founders of RIXC, Riga based center for new media culture and artist collective, who collaborate with video artist and graphic designer Martins Ratniks.

http://rixc.org

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METABOLIC DOMINANCE (2014–2015)

Gints Gabrans (Latvia)

In 2004, the US Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced a competition with the aim of providing soldiers with the means of carrying out battle operations and relocating without food stores. Under the project Metabolic Dominance we offer genetically modified human ingestion system bacteria, which synthesize cellulose disintegrating enzymes, thereby allowing to obtain nutrients from every material around that contains cellulose, for example, grass, wood, or else, in circumstances of urban warfare, from paper. Cellulose is a sugar glucose polymer that is indigestible for an ordinary human metabolism.

Developed in collaboration with microbiologist Janis Liepins and the company GenScript (www.genscript.com).

Gints Gabrans is a well-known contemporary Latvian artist. He mainly works with installations and new media art. He won the Hansabank Art Award in 2005, and in 2007 represented Latvia at the Venice Biennale with the project Paramirrors.

http://gabrans.com

 

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akA (Well) (2014–2015)

Rihards Vitols (Latvia)

In the near future ground waters will be overly polluted because of industrial activities. The question is brought up – how to get clean water?

The artist sees a possibility within to start a new agronomy type “cloud-farming”. People will fill their land with thousands of balloons to collect water. And those who will not be able to afford it will rent their land. The artist has started collecting moist and temperature data about sky over his land.

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From DNA to NSA (2015)

Gisle Frøysland (Norway) and Maite Cajaraville (Spain)

Privacy and inner biological information: “The US government, with assistance from major telecommunications carriers including AT&T, has engaged in massive, illegal dragnet surveillance of the domestic communications and communications records of millions of ordinary Americans since at least 2001.”

From Snowden we all know what the NSA, the american intelligence Agency, has been recruiting information from citizens without a real purpose. Google, Facebook and other social media act like information providers to NSA informants. Nowadays, privacy is under question whilst is becoming a vague and complex concept. Emails, chats, pictures, facial recognition, friends relationships, emotional moods, all surveillance material we give out with joy is going to be mapped in a worldwide consumer's orientation.

Alike we share our information at social media, we spread our genetic data without noticing. "The project 'From DNA to NSA' will work with these issues, linking, modulating and distorting variables, displaying data in multiple ways, making statelessments and issuing manifaustos. We do not provide solutions but headaches."

From DNA to NSA action intervention consists on setting up a DIY laboratory to extract DNA strings from the visitors. Using common, domestic products, audience can follow an easy DIY process and experience how their DNA strings looks like.

Visitors, once they finalize the 5 steps can choose to blend their genetic material with the others visitors forming a new common DNA. A blender is set up at the exhibition space.

As part of the piece, 5 raspberry pi are streaming public DNA records from an internet database and the data is sonified and visualized in different monitors.

With a focus on interdisciplinary art, video creation and digital art, Maite Cajaraville (Spain) combines her artistic production with curatorial commissions. She is one of the founder member of LaptopsRus/CrisisRus, a women performers network, together with Shu Lea Cheang and Lucía Egaña. Cajaraville has been exhibited wildly internationally. Selected exhibitions include “NSA” at the French Institute, Cameroon, “NETSCOPIO” at Laboratory Arte Alameda, Mexico DF, “A Vladi Tale”, at Vladicáucaso, Russian Federation, “G.O.D, Garden of Delights”, at Media Facades European Festival, “MEETING|REUNION” at Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía, Medialab-Prado and Matadero Madrid in 2010. Her video works has been shown at the Venice Biennale, Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, MACBA and Fundación Telefónica. She teachs Media Art at the Camilo Jose Cela University.

http://maitecajaraville.org

Gisle Frøysland (Norway) studied computer science, information science, TV production and arts in Bergen, Norway. He is a founding member of BEK - the Bergen Centre for Electronic Art and initiator/director of the Piksel festival for free technologies in artistic practice.

Frøysland's work is an inquiry into the "hype traps that the computer and media industry wants us to believe in". He turns these traps into dialogic scenes, revealing hidden power structures. He forms a media critique, not digital interpretation can free itself from contextual references.

Gisle Frøysland has been the receiver of grants and has held numerous exhibitions, in Norway and abroad. His work has been presented at several international festivals like Electrohype, Dissonanze, Transmediale, Borealis, Ultima, MakeArt, Pixelache, Mal au Pixel and Electropixel. His past collaborators include KKNull, Emi Maeda, VuNhatTan, John Hegre, Lasse Marhaug, BAKtruppen and Motherboard.

http://gislefroysland.com

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RECYCLED COIL (2014)

Dani Ploeger (UK / NL)

Parts of a deflection coil from a discarded CRT television were installed on my abdomen. A body piercer sewed magnetic wire from the coil through my skin and attached the coil’s connector above my belly button. An electric current was run through the coil on my abdomen for one second every three-second interval. Thus, an electromagnetic pulse signal was generated. For several hours a day, I presented myself in the exhibition space, accompanied by a magnetometer detecting my magnetic field.

Body piercing by Dirk Hückler, Naked Steel Piercing and Body Modification, Berlin

Video: courtesy of ARTE Television (Martin Dunkelmann, Stephan Walsch, Steffen Hammerich, Julia Freyhoff)

Dani Ploeger's work involves consumer technologies and readily available medical devices, and engages with the technologization of the body, ecology, sexuality and vanity. His work has been featured at transmediale, WRO Media Art Biennale, and Arse Elektronika – a festival of sex and technology, among others.

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HUMANFUEL (2009 – ongoing)

Hege Tapio (Norway)

GET Thin – GO FAST

Forget the Middle East. Forget Exxon Mobile and their crude oil. If all goes as planned for the company Lipotechnica and their development, a part of the city's vehicles get their fuel from a greasy, yellowish liquid distilled from the remnants of liposuction.

HUMAN FUEL represents the latest in environmentally friendly and human ethical direction of the alternative energy.

We humans spend a lot of our energies and creativity to devise new solutions such as biofuels. In this process it is easy to forget the invaluable resource that we can represent, it is time to direct the focus at ourselves.

As an alternative to the ever-increasing gas and oil prices we present HUMAN FUEL as a step towards improving existing commercial actors their management of environmental actions and community relations.

http://lipotechnica.com

Hege Tapio was born 1973 in Norway. Lives and works in Stavanger – the oil capitol of Norway. She holds an MA in photography from Art College in Bergen. Her artistic works ranging from photography to video and electronic, interactive installations – over the past years she has worked with special interest in bioart. Tapio is one of the founders of i/o/lab – Rogalands Center for Future Arts, acting as i/o/lab's managing director and curator.

CONTACTS

rixc@rixc.org

+371 67228478 (office)

+371 26546776 (Rasa Smite)