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Robot NaoMi with Laima Grazdanovica and Jurgis Peters at the “Connected/Nest” residence, in RIXC Gallery. Photo: Juris Rozenbergs

The closing of the "Connected/Nest" residence will take place at the RIXC Gallery this Saturday, June 19, at 14:00. The residence is organized by the RIXC Center for New Media Culture in collaboration with the Goethe Institute in Riga and this time the guest of the residence is not an artist, but a robot who arrived to learn how to take care of living beings and to hatch bird eggs. The “parents” of the robot in residence are the artists Laima Grazdanovica and Jurgis Peters who taught the necessary skills to the robot during its stay in Riga. The artists will introduce the results of the project and will try to answer whether artificial intelligence succeeded in becoming a co-creator of new life.

Follow the closing of the residence also online on Zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/95839817635?pwd=ZER2enVXNzVoRmFWRlRxNGtvVi9Pdz09

The focus of the closing event is answering a question presented at the start of the residency  – whether AI is capable of fostering a new life. After 21 days that NaoMi has spent observing and assisting the processes in the egg incubator, it will present the things that it has learned and the conclusions that it has drawn. In order to further discuss the implications of what is natural, the "teachers" of the robot Jurgis Peters and Laima Grazdanovica will present an augmented reality (AR) environment that shows alternative life creation scenarios.

Both artists that are taking care of the robot in residence created this idea while reflecting on the ambiguous relationships of humans between artificial intelligence and robotization. On the one hand, there is fear from the future, where robotization will take away human occupations. On the other hand, we can envision a futuristic society, in which, as a result of the robot workforce, man is finally free.

NAO robots GAIA and NaoMi are traveling through Europe to learn various new skills, thereby, also strengthening and improving the communication and the cooperation network between European programmers and artists. Since the summer of 2020, robots have been touring European cities on behalf of the Goethe Institute; this year, between May and June, the robots are visiting Riga, which is the place for the final residence of the project.

In times of the pandemic, when the traveling opportunities for Europeans are limited, the journey of robots is taking place without a hitch. The programmers and artists are joining forces in each new stop – in Bratislava, Groningen and all other cities – to teach new skills through new programs. The robots went in separate directions at the beginning of their journey, thus, at the end of the project, they will return to the starting point with different skills. While GAIA was learning to box and play football in Western Europe, NaoMi was being programmed to create artworks with typewriter in Eastern Europe.

The cooperation partner of the Goethe Institute in Riga in this project is RIXC Center for New Media Culture.  The focus of this residence is if artificial intelligence is capable of taking care of humans and other living beings. NaoMi in Riga is being taught how to hatch birds’ eggs in a controlled environment and become a co-creator of new life. 

Robot NaoMi at the “Connected/Nest” residence, in RIXC Gallery. Photo: Juris Rozenbergs

Nowadays, when environment protection and the promotion of sustainable living are essential strategies for human survival, it seems natural to have a vision of the future in which robots are the ones who deal with the human-created consequences. Imagine a future in which the NAO helps to continue life and let’s ask a question: does the word 'naturally' have limits?

Laima Grazdanovica combines theory and practice in her artworks. She is studying at the Art Academy of Latvia and has graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture with a degree in audiovisual and performing arts theory. She has participated in international photography and performance masterclasses and also works as a short film curator at the Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS.

Jurgis Peters has studied digital media technologies and cybersecurity at the University of Birmingham and is currently studying for a 2nd-year master's degree in the Department of Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia. He works as a programmer and works as a cybersecurity expert at the Information Technology Security Incident Prevention Institution CERT.LV.

Before going home, the skills that NaoMi learned in his journey, will be presented remotely or (if possible) at the closing event on-site in the Goethe Institute in Riga. Follow the updates in the calendar of the Goethe Institute. If possible (regarding the Covid-19 restrictions), the final result of the project, which took place for more than a year, will be presented at the closing festival of the "Generation A = Algorithms" project at the Dresden Hygiene Museum in November 2021, in the presence of all project participants and RoboticLab of the Technical University of Wildau.


Robot NaoMi with Laima Grazdanovica and Jurgis Peters at the “Connected/Nest” residence, in RIXC Gallery. Photo: Juris Rozenbergs

 

Visit the robot NaoMi at the "Connected/Nest" residence at the RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2, by June 19, from Wednesday to Saturday, 12:00-18:00.

Further information and updates:
RIXC Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/rixcriga
Goethe Institut in Riga Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/goetheinstitut.riga

Follow robot’s progress on Instagram:
Robot’s Instagram account @naomi_in_riga
RIXC Instagram account @rixcriga

Contacts: rixc@rixc.org, +371 29635167 (Agnese Baranova)

 

The “Connected/Nest” residence is organized by the Goethe Institute in Riga in cooperation with the RIXC Center for New Media Culture.

Supported by  Goethe Institute in Riga, State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.

CONTACTS

rixc@rixc.org

+371 67228478 (office)

+371 26546776 (Rasa Smite)