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Publicity image Liepaja University "Mentalities".

On Thursday, 8 June, at 17:00, the exhibition "RETROSPECTOPIA" will open in the Liepaja Museum Annex, Kūrmājas prospekts 16/18. The exhibition is organized by the association "ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education" in collaboration with the Art Research Laboratory MPLab of the University of Liepaja.

Spectropia, or "astonishing spectral illusions, in which ghosts and every colour are everywhere visible", is a book of optical illusions by J.H. Brown, first published in 1864. In the book, the author used various optical illusions and the after-image technique, whereby a vivid image remains in the viewer's perception even after turning away from the object.

The RIXC Centr for New Media Culture published a book with a similar title (2018), which highlights that the vast spaces of the electromagnetic spectrum that science cannot reach are overtaken by the myths of modern society.

The exhibition "RETROSPECTROPIA" gives an insight into the ghosts, myths, assumptions and surprising turns of human imagination and emotions created by the new communicative spaces created by various technologies, bringing together the works of 15 artists belonging to the Liepāja new media artists' community - remotely united.

In their works, the artists in the exhibition look back at the records of the past, capture and reveal to the viewer the myths and fascinating phantasmagorical images that emerge from them, drawing attention to how and why these existing records - especially with the machine learning features of our times - shape our futures, locally, globally, individually, as a family, as a community.

A strong, sustained interest in media art in the Baltic context is a unique feature of Latvian art. 15 years have passed since 2007, when the 1st year students started their studies in New Media Art in Liepāja, and the community of new media artists has grown quite large, and the range of their technical specialisations and thematic interests is equally wide - from video to sound art and experiments in augmented and virtual reality, challenging both the perceptual mechanism of the audience and the performance of technology.


The exhibition is curated by Anna Priedola, Head of the MPLab and Head of the BA New Media Art programme. The exhibition is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation.

The exhibition "RETROSPECTROPIA" will be on view at Liepāja Museum, Kūrmājas Prospekts 16/18 until 30 July 2023.

More information:
https://mplab.lv/

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