Spatial Soundscape: Visualization of Data Collected Along “Green” Routes in the Baltic and the Nordic Countries on the Sensus AR Platform

RIXC is implementing the new collaborative project "SensUs", developing a new Baltic–Nordic immersive ecological art platform while promoting the practice of slow travel in artistic research. From 6 to 25 July, artists from the Baltic and Nordic countries will embark on a series of slow travel green mobilities across the region, exploring ecosystems through immersive media technologies. The Baltic mobility will conclude with a symposium at the RIXC Fields Residency (near Talsi, Latvia) from 8–9 July, where artists from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will exchange experiences of slow travel. This will be followed by Nordic mobility, during which artists from Denmark, Norway and Iceland (participating remotely) will travel along a green route in the Nordic region from 20–25 July, meeting for collaborative creative sessions in Onsala, on Sweden's west coast.

Artists from the Baltic and Nordic partner organisations Institutio Media (Lithuania), Maajaam (Estonia), Isop (Denmark), SENT (Norway) and Lorna (Iceland) will participate in two Baltic–Nordic slow travel green mobilities, sustainably exploring terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems while documenting them through field recordings and other immersive media technologies. The outcome will be the creation of the SensUs platform—a collaboratively developed augmented reality environment for presenting and experiencing Baltic and Nordic ecological artworks.

From 6–9 July, the Baltic route will focus on terrestrial ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, meadows and coastal landscapes. Participants, like their Nordic counterparts, will travel using the greenest and slowest forms of transport possible. Artists from Estonia and Lithuania will journey across land, meeting in Latvia, where the project will continue with a two-day co-creation symposium on 8–9 July at the RIXC Fields Residency ("Saliņas" farm, Talsi Municipality).

The Nordic route will take place from 20–25 July, focusing on aquatic ecosystems through slow travel along coastlines and fjords from Denmark, Iceland and Norway towards the meeting point in Onsala, Sweden, where participants will continue exchanging experiences and working together in creative sessions to curate the collected sound and visual materials.

Participants: Mari-Liis Rebane & Timo Toots (Maajaam / Estonia), Kristina Zakutauskaitė & Ruta Gruma (Institutio Media / Lithuania), Line Thastum & Sissel Thastum (Isop / Denmark), Kristin Bergaust (SENT / Norway), and Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir (Lorna / Iceland).

The project is a new RIXC initiative that fosters collaboration among Baltic and Nordic artists, aiming to advance immersive ecological art in the Baltic and Nordic region. It brings together artists who experiment with immersive media technologies—including extended reality (XR/AR/VR), environmental data visualisation, and artificial intelligence (AI/ML)—through methods grounded in the symbiosis of art and environmental science, as well as approaches based on climate imagination. The project seeks to promote greener and more sustainable forms of artistic collaboration and exchange by adapting co-creation strategies and testing sustainability guidelines while taking into account the specific geographical conditions of the Baltic Sea region and Iceland.

Throughout both mobility routes, participants will apply a slow travel methodology, documenting their journeys through audio field notes, using sound—particularly field recordings—as the primary medium for mapping and interpreting environmental experience.

The interregional exchange will culminate in a hybrid event at the end of July, when the sound data collected during the green mobility routes will be integrated into the SensUs augmented reality platform. Together, these recordings will create an immersive soundscape of Baltic and Nordic forests and aquatic ecosystems, offering an artistic reflection on slow travel in a time of emerging environmental and energy challenges.

The mobilities are organised within the Nordic Culture Point co-funded project "SensUs Art Platform: Shaping Symbiotic Futures through Baltic–Nordic Cooperation."