We are happy to announce that the Taiwanese artist Chia-Yi Chen has arrived at the RIXC residency in Riga! The residency takes place in collaboration with Zone Sound Creative (Taiwan).

This year marks the second year that RIXC hosts Taiwanese artists as part of its residency programs. This initiative is part of the Subterranea project, a collaboration between Zone Sound Creative and RIXC, which brings several Taiwanese creatives to Latvia from 2025 to 2026.

At the RIXC residency, the artist will create an AR artwork that focuses on the "marginal landscapes" found within the Latvian woodlands, such as decaying wood, lichens, and marshland debris. In ancient Latvian perspectives on nature, decay is not an end, but a transition of life energy into its next stage. By translating these vanishing organic materials into "digital souls," this work explores the blurred boundaries between growth and stagnation within man-made spaces.

Chia-Yi Chen is a contemporary new media artist. She received her MFA in New Media Art from the National Taiwan University of Arts. Her work primarily explores the relationship between humans, the environment, and the subtle changes of time. She specializes in reshaping space through environmental research and integrating multimedia readymades, transforming images into alternative narratives that present new ways of viewing the world. Her creative approach extends into reflective thinking, capturing inner emotions and the latent flow of consciousness.

Chen has participated in numerous residency programs, including the Soulangh Cultural Park Artist Residency and the prestigious Künstlerhaus Bethanien Residency in Berlin, Germany, in 2024. She has an extensive portfolio of solo and group exhibitions and has received numerous accolades, including the "National Art Exhibition - Silver Medal in New Media Art" and the "ART FUTURE PRIZE Asian New Star Award - First Prize". Her works are also part of the collection at the Taiwan Museum of Art. 

More about the artist:
https://chenchiayi.com/