Raitis Smits is a Riga based artist and curator. He is founder and artistic director of RIXC. He also works as assistant professor at the Latvian Academy of Arts (Visual Communication Dept.). He has received PhD degree from the Latvian Academy of Arts (March, 2015); the theme of his doctoral thesis was "New Media Art. Preserving and Representation Problematics". 

Since the mid-90s Raitis is working with emerging media technologies together with artist Rasa Smite. They are key founders of RIXC - Riga based artist collective and the center for new media culture, co-curators of Art+Communication festivals, and chief editors of Acoustic Space - peer-reviewed journal series.

Their art works are long-lasting ('slow'), process-based, experimental, often collaborations with other artists, networked, visionary and contextualized - as created in context with their regular festivals and reflected in the Acoustic Space publications. Through artworks, projects and events they together with RIXC  have been introducing novelty themes such as 'internet radio' (1997 / 1998 - their pioneering internet radio network project Xchange was awarded with PRIX Ars Electronica in), 'acoustic space lab' (since 2001 - collaboration with radio astronomers at Irbene Radiotelescope), 'locative media' (2003 - coined this term together with Marc Tuters), 'waves' (2006 and 2008 - co-curated large-scale exhibitions in Riga and Dortmund together with Armin Medosch), spectral ecology (2007). Since 2009 they are engaged in sustainability quests, building Renewable Network - North-European cooperation platform for art and science, and focusing on themes such as 'renewable energy' (2009), 'transbiotics' (2010), 'techno-ecologies' (2011), 'art of resilience' (2012).

More recently, Raitis and Rasa have organized the 5th Media Art Histories: ReNew conference in Riga, 2013, and co-curated large-scale exhibition FIELDS in Riga, May-August, 2014 together with Armin Medosch. Now out is also their book "Talk to Me" (2014) that introduces their artistic research project on human-plant communication. Their extensive art and science research project and networked sound installation "Biotricity" (created together with sound artist Voldemars Johansons) was recently exhibited in "Project Genesis" exhibition in the Ars Electronica Center (2013-2014), and new, the updated version - in the FIELDS exhibition in Riga (2014).

Currently, online is available also live stream from Pond Battery - RIXC's ongoing art and science experiment with 'bacteria battery' technology in outdoor environment:

http://rixc.org/camera.html

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General Data

Raitis Smits

16.11.1966, Riga, Latvia

Latvian

11. Novembra krastmala 35 – 94, LV 1050, Riga, Latvia, phone: 371-7210297

 

Education (institution, graduation time, level of education (degree)).

2015 – Dr.Arts, Art Academy of Latvia. Doctoral thesis – New Media Art. Preservation and representations problematics. 

2009 – 2012 Doctoral studies at the Art Academy of Latvia

2000 – MA, the Art Academy of Latvia

1993 – 1994 Visual and Performing Arts School in Kampen, the Netherlands

1986 – 1993 Art Academy of Latvia

1982 – 1986 Riga Applied Arts College

 

History of Employment

Currently: Assistant professor at the Art Academy of Latvia, Visual communication dept., where he has worked as lecturer since 1999

Since 2012 lecturer in Riga Stradins University (Multimedia communication programme)

Since 2009 lecturer at the University of Liepaja, (New media arts program)

2003 – 2005 professor at Estonian Academy of Arts (MA program at E-Media center)

2000 – 2001 lecturer at the J.Rozentala Riga Arts College.

Since 2000 co-founder and aristic director in RIXC center for new media culture

1998 – 1999 lecturer at the Art Academy of Latvia (New media history course for MA students)

Since 1999 tutor in the Visual Communication Department at the Art Academy of Latvia

1996 – 2000 co-founder and director of E-Lab, electronic arts and media center

 

Artworks and Exhbitions 

2015, Novembr 5 - 7 – “Talk to Me” installation (together with Rasa Smite), exhibition “Superconduction”, curator Daria Parkhomenko / LABORATORIA Art&Science Space / Moscow, Doma Square 2, Riga, Latvia

2015, October 9 - November 22 - “Talk to Me” installation, “Data Drift” exhibition, as a part of RIXC Art and Science Festival, kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga, Latvia

2015, October 7 – November 22 – “Pond Battery. Poetics of Green Energy” installation, exhibition “North. Transformative Ecologies”, RIXC Gallery, Riga, Latvia

2015, september 24 - October 24 - “Pond Battery” video installation, exhibition “Poetique de Flux”, Toulouse, France

2015, August 19 – 30  “Biotricity – bacteria battery”, “Pond Battery. Poetics of Green Energy” and “Talk to Me. Human-plant communication”, exhibition “Transformative Ecologies”, Maison du Design, Mons, Belgium

2015, March-July – “Biotricity – Bacteria Battery” art-science installation, “Green Room” exposition, Stockholm Technical Museum, Sweden

2014, May-August – “Biotricity 1.46 V” art-science installation, FIELDS exhibition, Arsenals Exhibition Hall of National Art Museum, Riga, Latvia

2013, July – 2014, July – “Biotricity” art-science installation, “Project Genesis. Synthetic Biology” exhibition, Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria

2013, May-June __ “Bacteria Battery No 8”, networked sound installation, in collaboration with Rasa Smite, Voldemars Johansons and Martins Ratniks. WRO 2013 biennale, Wroclow, Poland

2013, June – “Bacteria Battery No. 9” networked sound installation, Dutch Technology Week, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

2013, May–July – “Bacteria Battery No. 8” networked sound installation, WRO biennale, Wroclaw, Poland

2012, October – “Bacteria Battery #5” networked sound installation, Art of Resilience exhibition, RIXC Media Space, Riga, Latvia

2012, June–August – “Talk To Me” human-plant communication project, Riga Botanical Garden, Riga, Latvia

2012, May–August Installation “Talk To Me” exhibition “Gateways”, Curated by Sabine Himmelsbach, House of Electronics Arts Basel, Basel, Switzerland

2011, November Electronic light object “Burtnieks” Latvian national library fasade, festival “Staro Rīga”, Riga, Latvia

2011, May–September Project “Renew-ability” exhibition “Gateways”, Curated by Sabine Himmelsbach, KUMU museum, Tallinn, Estonia

2011, April–May Installation “Talk To Me” exhibition “Grow_ability”, kim?, Riga, Latvia

2011, March Installation “Talk To Me”, festival “Pixelache”, Helsinki, Finland

2010, November–December Net art project Ozone, exhibition “We are on the net. net.art.lv”, kim?, Riga, Latvia

2010, May–September Project and installatio “Long Bean”, RIXC media Space, Riga, Latvia

2009, January Internet art project "Xchange" preservation and development of archived version for collection of Latvian Contemporary Arts museum.

2008, October Video “ Skrunda signal” exhibition “Spectropia”, Riga, Latvia

2008, August Internet streaming performance “Universe Listening Station” White night festival, Riga, Latvia
2008, May–June Video “Skrunda signal” exhibition “Waves”, Dortmund, Germany
2008, February Presentation “Skrunda Signal”, media arts festival Transmediale, Berlin, Germany
2007, September Presentation at IASA-BAAC conference “Building an Archive for the Future”. Rīga, Latvia
2007, May-June Exposition-installation “Spectral ecology”, festival “Art+Communication”, Riga, Latvia

2007, March Video-installation “RT-32 Acoustic Space Lab”, 2^nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, exposition “Monuments of our Discontent: Expiration of Place”, Moscow, Russia

2006, October Video screening “RT-32 Acoustic Space Lab”, Tesla gallery, Berlin, Germany

2006, May Installation “Solar Radio Station”, HMKV, Dortmund, Germany

2005, October Exhibition and workshops “Spectrography”, Point Ephemere gallery, Paris, France

2005, September Ars Electronica festival, PRIX Ars Electronica Golden Nica award for project MILK (Ieva Auzina, Esther Polak, RIXC), website design and development for project MILK, Linz, Austria

2005, June Realtime streaming project “Radioastronomy” (in collaboration with radioqualia/NZ), Sonar festival, Barcelona, Spain

2004, August Presentation at ISEA2004, panel The Esthetics of Collaboration, Tallin, Estonia

2004, April Lecture at festival EMAF about media art in Latvia, Germany

2004, February Participation in media arts festival Transmediale, net radio panel, Berlin, Germany

2003, October Installation "Open Sky" in collaboration with Ewen Chardronnet and Radioqualia, Paris, France

2003, September Participation in RAM3 panel on new media education, Tallinn, Estonia

2002, November Installation "RT32: Acoustic Space Lab" in World Information exhibition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2002, October Presentation in conference "BridgesII" - Cultural scientists of Acoustic Space Lab in Banff Center, Canada

2001, October Presentation in media conference "Futurescreen01:TILT", Australia

2001, August Participant of international symposium and streaming session "Acoustic Space Lab" at RT32, Irbene, Latvia

2001, June Presentation at symposium "Interactive Screen" in Banff center, Canada

2001, May Giving lecture and workshop at Kulturverkstan media education course, Goethenburg, Sweden

2000, November "E-Culture Fair" presentation of "Acoustic Space-3" and project "Xchange", Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2000, October "Net.Congestion", coordination of net.radio.web.tv night, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2000, November "DEAF 2000", premier presentation of "Acosutic.Space-3", Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2000, November Presentation at festival "Medi@Terra", Athens, Greece

2000, August Festival "Art+Communication 4", presentation at festival conference, Riga, Latvia

 

Curatorial work, lectures and presentations (last 10 years)

2013, May Paper “Art as Research” PHD confernce in Latvian Academy of Art, Riga, Latvia
2013, March Paper “New Media Art with and without a Canon” PHD confernce in Latvian Academy of Art, Riga, Latvia

2013, March Presentation and workshop leader “Building Bacteria Battery”, Basel Art Academy, Basel, Switzeland

2013, February Moderator of the discussion about archiving of new media art, AV Arkki, Helsinki, Finland

2013, January Presentation “Bacteria Battery”, festival “Transmediale”, Berlin, Germany

2012, December Presentation in conference “Collecting and Presenting Born-Digital Art”, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhovena/NL

2012, October Festival “Art+Communication: Art od Resilience” curator and organizer, RIXC, Riga, Latvia

2012, March Paper at PHD confernce in Latvian Academy of Art, Riga, Latvia

2012, June Lecture at University of Lineburg, Lineburg, Germany

2011, December Lectures at UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA

2011, November Festival “Art+Communication: Techno Ecologies”, curator and organizer, RIXC, Riga, Latvia

2011, March Presentation “Renewable Network”, festival “Pixelache”, Helsinki, Finland
2010, September Moderator of the conference of the “Article” biennale, Stavanger, Norway

2010, March Presentation in conference “Art and Technoscience”, festival “Pixelache”, Helsinki, Finland

2009, December Training program "Organized networks" organizer and participant, Riga, Latvia

2009, October Festival "Art+Communication: Energy" organizer and exhibition "Energy" curator, Riga, Latvia

2009, August Symposium "Art and renewable technologies", organizer and participant, Aizpute, Latvia

2009, May Curator of the film program "Beautiful world" at RIXC Media Space, Riga, Latvia

2008, November Curator and organizer of the solo exhibition of Girts Korps, Riga, Latvia
2008, October Festival "Art+Communication: Spectropia" organizer, curator of the exhibition “Spectropia” Riga art space, Riga, Latvia
2008, August Co-author of the RIXC program for White night festival, Riga, Latvia
2008, May-June Curator of the exhibition “Waves”, Dortmund, Germany
2008, March Audio and radio workshop conductor at AV festival, Newcastle, United Kingdom
2008, February Festival "Transmediale", presentation "Skrunda Signal", Berlin, Germany

2007, October "Art+Communication: Spectral Ecology” festival, curator and organiser, Riga, Latvia

2006, November "Mobile Home” festival, presentation, Marseile, France
2006, August Festival "Art+Communication:Waves" organizer, curator of the exhibition “Waves”, exhibition hall Arsenals of the LNMA, Riga, Latvia

2006, April "Mal au pixel” festival, presentation, Paris, France

2005, May "Space and perception” symposium, presentation, Riga, Latvia

2004, September Festival "Art+Communication: TCM”, curator and organizer, Riga, Latvia

2004, May "RAM5: Open source architecture” workshops, curator and organiser, Riga, Latvia

2004, February "Transmediale” festival, presentation in panel Radio art, Berlin, Germany

2003, August Organization and concept of Locative Media workshop in Karosta/Liepaja , Latvia

2003, May “Art+Communication : Media Architecture” festival organizer and exhibiton curator, Riga, Latvia

2002, November "World-information.org", exhibition and conference, lecture-presentation in Amsterdam, NL

2002, October "BridgesII", international conference, lecture-presentation, Banff, Canada

2001, October "TILT", international conference, lecture, Sydney, Canada

2001, September Festival "Art+Communication" curator and organizer, Riga, Latvia

2001, August "Acoustic Space Lab" symposium idea author and organizer at RT32, Irbene, Latvia

2001, August "Interactive screen", international conference, presentation, Banff, Canada

2000, November "E-Culture fair", lecture about "Acosutic.Space" and Xchange projects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2000, November "Medi@terra", lecture in media arts festival in Athens, Greece

2000, February "Transmediale", conference, lecture in streaming media panel, Berlin, Germany

 

Publications

Šmits Raitis. "Xchange Open Channel: Co-broadcast Experiments in the Net.", raksts grāmatā "Readme!", Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 1999, p. 349-350. (angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis. "Jo dati var atrasties jebkur", raksts raksts festivāla "Māksla + komunikācijas" katalogā "Akustiskā telpa" nr. 1, Rīga: E-LAB, 1998 43.-44. lpp. (latviešu un angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis, Šmite Rasa. "Māksla+komunikācijas: Viļņi" raksts festivāla "Māksla + komunikācijas" katalogā "Akustiskā telpa" nr. 6, Rīga: RIXC, 2006. 10.–13.lpp. (latviešu un angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis, Šmite Rasa. "Acoustic Space Laboratory", raksts grāmatā–rakstu krājumā "Re-Inventing Radio. Aspects of Radio as Art" (Ed. Grundmann, Heidi, etc.), Frankfurt am Main, Revolver: 2008. 493.–506. lpp. (angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis, Šmite Rasa. "Mēs esam tīklā – mēs esam tīkls", raksts grāmatā "Deviņdesmitie, Laikmetīgā māksla Latvijā", Rīga, LLMC 2010. 316. - 331. (latviešu un angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis, Šmite Rasa. "0,36 volti biešu sulas", raksts vizuālo mākslu žurnālā "Studija", Rīga, Neputns, 2009. 20. - 27. lpp. (latviešu un angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis, "In Responce" Article biennāles konferences publikācija internetā. http://www.article.no/en/content/news/2010/read-reflections-conference-moderators (skatīta 07.12.2010)

Šmits Raitis, Vēbere Linda. "net.art", raksts izstādes "Mēs esam tīklā. net.art.lv" katalogā, Rīga, Rixc, 2010. 5. - 11. lpp. (latviešu un angļu val.)

Šmits Raitis, Rasa Šmite "Renewable tīkla mākslinieki - ilgtspējīgas nākotnes meklējumos". Akustiskā telpa #8. Enerģija. Rīga: RIXC; Liepāja: LiepU, MPLab, 2011.g. (latviešu valodā 209 - 223 lpp. un angļu valodā 174 - 190 lpp.)

Šmits Raitis "Jauno mediju māksla un tās sākotnējā vide". Akustiskā telpa #9. Māksla kā pētniecība. Rīga: RIXC; Liepāja: LiepU, MPLab, 2011.g. (latviešu valodā 159 - 165 lpp. un angļu valodā 147 - 158 lpp.)

Šmits Raitis, Šmite Rasa “Jaunas tehno-ekoloģiju mākslas prakses” - Akustiskā telpa. Recenzēts žurnāls par mākslu, zinātni, tehnoloģijām un sabiedrību. (latviešu valodas izdevums) 2013

Smite Rasa, Smits Raitis “Liberatory” – the Future of Laboratories and Libraries in the Knowledge Society. In: A New Form of Library or Laboratory. Stockholm: The Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, 2013

publicēts: http://www.stdh.se/aktuellt/nyhetslista-1/labbtanken

 

Awards, grants

2005 Fellowship of the Latvian Cultural Foundation

2003 The Leonardo award for installation Open Sky exhibited in Paris in festival Art Outsiders in collaboration with Ewen Shardone and Radioqualia

2002 Nomination for "World Technology Awards" (USA)

2000 The award of the year in visual arts in Latvia in multimedia category for new media festival "Arts + Communicarion: Media Architecture"

1999 Fellowship of the Latvian Cultural Foundation

1998 Together with Rasa Smite, Jaanis Garancs & E-LAB received the 2nd prize of PRIX Ars Electronica 98 for "Xchange" project.