RIXC Center for New Media Culture – 25 Years! All events · Free admission

Registration for the Symposium via Eventbrite (onsite seats limited). Zoom link sent after registration.
Registration for the Workshop – HERE.

“Plants are our fellow travelers: humans completely live on them. Before the background of the current wasting of the world, we need to rethink other ways – vegetal ways – of worlding: ways that do not consume the world, but (re)produce it.”

 –Yvonne Volkart

This year, Riga-based RIXC Center for New Media Culture celebrates its 25th anniversary. Since its founding, local collaboration and international networking have been at the heart of RIXC’s development. In this spirit, the 2025 festival is created together with key partners from Latvia, the Baltic-Nordic region, Europe, and world-wide. 

Over the years, RIXC has gradually developed a discourse of techno-ecologies at the intersection of art, science, and technology, exploring topics such as renewable futures, ungreening greenness, ecodata, post-sensorium, crypto art and climate, and symbiotic realities. This year’s leading theme, Plants Intelligence, is shaped in close collaboration with RIXC’s distinguished partners — the Basel-based research team of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)-funded project Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant of the Institute Art Gender Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, which over the past four years has investigated how plant evolution and vegetal intelligence can inspire new methods, knowledge, and aesthetic approaches in both lifestyle change and the arts. Their research findings — spanning Indigenous knowledge and ethnobotany, critiques of extractive agriculture, experiments in organic breeding, and explorations of how plants sense, adapt, and relate to light and atmosphere — provide the theoretical basis for RIXC’s anniversary festival edition.

This year’s public keynotes will be delivered by Argentinian philosopher and researcher Noelia Billi, Latvian eco-feminist and art theorist Jana Kukaine, and Swiss art and media theorist Yvonne Volkart — proponent of vegetal theory and principal investigator of the Plants_Intelligence research project. Together, their voices trace South–North and East–West tangents of vegetal mutual learning, opening spaces for shared thought.

The main festival program will take place October 16–18, 2025, in Riga, featuring the opening of the Plants Intelligence exhibition at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre and a symposium at the Art Academy of Latvia, with artist talks, research presentations, film screenings, and live performances. It will also present the Resonances of Nature project with a workshop, an interactive sound installation and performance, created through French, German, and Latvian collaborations. Further highlights include XR showcases by artists from the RIXC Field Residency, Taiwan-based Zone Sound, and Karlsruhe’s NAIA, along with the Symbiotic Futures Baltic–Nordic meeting.

The program is developed together with RIXC’s local, institutional, and international partners, each contributing unique perspectives to this anniversary edition.

Symposium

Day 1: October 17, 10:00–17:00. Plants Intelligence / Research Presentations and Artist Talks
Day 2: October 18, 10:00–15:00. Resonances of Nature / Symbiotic Cities  / SensUs Art XR Tour
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2

The symposium will feature presentations and discussion panels with artists from Plants_Intelligence and Resonances of Nature, alongside a diverse lineup of international contributors from Europe and beyond — from the Nordic countries and Canada to South America and Asia — who bring fresh global perspectives to the dialogue between art, science, and nature. 

It will also include presentations by this year’s RIXC Field Residency artists and a guided tour of their new works in the Symbiotic Cities AR exhibition on the SensUs platform, co-curated and co-produced by RIXC in partnership with NAIA (Karlsruhe) and Zone Sound Creative (Taipei).

In addition, a Baltic–Nordic extended meeting will take place, contributing to the launch of the new Symbiotic Futures network by RIXC and its partners — Maajaam (Estonia), Isop (Denmark), SENT (Norway), Lorna (Iceland), and Institutio Media (Lithuania). This initiative will further develop the extended SensUs Art XR platform, now joined by SLOlab (Toronto), KUBU (Finland), and other new partners, culminating next year in a joint XR exhibition.

Film Screenings and Performances

Date: Saturday, October 18, 20:00
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga

“Kiwicha” (performance-lecture, 18 min, video-song, 5 min) by Julia Mensch (AR/CH)
“Borrachero Dreams” (2025, 12 min), “Inverted Oasis Part 1” (2025, 13 min), “Rio Arriba” (2021, 14 min) by Felipe Castelblanco (CO/CH)
“Quemas de Páramo en el Pueblo Quillacinga” (2022, 11 min), Video Reporte por Ñambi Rimai Colectivo de Medios (CO)

We thank you all – at RIXC’s 25th Anniversary

This year marks the 25th anniversary of RIXC. Since its founding, local collaboration and international networking have been at the heart of our mission. Over 28 festival editions, RIXC has collaborated with more than 2000 artists, researchers, theorists, activists, and other lateral thinkers and practitioners.

We extend heartfelt thanks to all those who have shaped RIXC along the way: the many artists, researchers, theorists, activists, curators, editors, and collaborators of our gallery, festival, and residency programs; the contributors to the Acoustic Space journal and Renewable Futures book series; and our partners in a wide range of networked collaborations. These include pioneering initiatives such as Xchange Internet Radio and the NICE Baltic–Nordic Network in the 1990s; groundbreaking projects of the early 2000s such as Acoustic Space Lab, Locative Media, and Waves; and, in the last decade, techno-ecological perspectives developed through European and Baltic–Nordic collaborations such as Techno-Ecologies, Renewable Futures, and Green Revisited. We also thank our colleagues in academic networks like SLSA-EU and Media Art Histories, along with more recent European partnerships such as EMAP and AUGE, and extend our gratitude to new global partners from Taiwan, Canada, and beyond who will join us in the future.

RIXC would not be what it is without its community — the local and international partners across the Baltic and Nordic region, Europe, and worldwide — whose creativity and commitment continue to inspire us. We thank you.

More info: http://festival2025.rixc.org

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Registration

On the occasion of RIXC’s 25th anniversary, we warmly invite you to join us:
All events are hybrid (onsite and online) and free of charge!
Onsite seats for keynotes and symposium are limited, registration is required.
Online participants will receive a Zoom link after registration.

For Keynotes (16.10.) and Symposium (17.–18.10.), please register via Eventbrite (hybrid events: online/onsite) HERE

For Workshop (on 18.10. Klimaton) please register via Google form (only onsite): HERE

For Film Screening and Performance Program (on 18.10.) please register via Eventbrite (onsite only) HERE

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

Program Highlights

Keynotes

Opening Keynotes: October 16, 15:30 - Noelia Billi (AR), Jana Kukaine (LV)
Symposium Keynotes: October 17, 15:00 - Yvonne Volkart (CH), with Zheng Bo (CN)
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2 building (entrance from the yard / park side)
Registration: via Eventbrite HERE

Symposium

Day 1: October 17, 10:00–17:00. Plants Intelligence / Research Presentations and Artist Talks
Day 2: October 18, 10:00–17:00. Resonances of Nature / Symbiotic Cities
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2
Registration: via Eventbrite HERE

Parallel Workshops

Resonances of Nature: Klimaton Workshop by Adnan Softić (DE)
Date: October 18, 15:00–18:00
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga (Onsite only)
Registration: Please fill out the Google form to confirm your participation HERE

Symbiotic Futures: SensUs Art Platform Workshop / Baltic Nordic Extended Network Meeting
Date: October 18, 15:00–18:00
Venue: RIXC Gallery, Lenču iela 2, Riga / Online (Hybrid event)

Performances And Film Screenings

Resonances of Nature: Klimaton performances by Adnan Softić, Nina Softić (DE), Normal Babyy (Elza Auguste Zīverte & Kristofers Knesis) (LV) and Thies Mynther (DE)
Date: Friday, October 17, 18:00
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga
Registration: via Eventbrite HERE (Onsite only)

Plants Intelligence: Film Screenings and Performances

Felipe Castelblanco “Borrachero Dreams” (2025, 12 min.), “Inverted Oasis Part 1” (2025, 13:00 min), “Rio Arriba” (2021, 14:00 min), Julia Mensch “Kiwicha” (performance-lecture, 18 min), Video Reporte por Ñambi Rimai Colectivo de Medios “Quemas de Páramo en el Pueblo Quillacinga” (2022, 11 min), and others
Date: Saturday, October 18, 20:00
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga
Registration: via Eventbrite HERE(Onsite only)

Exhibitions

Exhibition and guided tours – as all other events this year – are free of charge.
For group tours, please send a request to rixc@rixc.org

Plants Intelligence: Exhibition

Artists: Uģis Albiņš (LV), Ursula Biemann (CH), Felipe Castelblanco (CO/CH), Karine Bonneval (FR), Gints Gabrāns, Arnis Rītups (LV), Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick (FR/US), Julia Mensch (AR/CH), Marc Lee (CH), Ayënan Quinchoa Juajibioy (CO), Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits (LV), Zheng Bo (CN).
Curators: Yvonne Volkart (CH), Raitis Smits (LV)
Dates: October 17 – November 23, 2025
Venue: Kim? Contemporary Art Centre / Address: SPORTA 2 quartier, Riga, Latvia
Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 12:00–18:00

Transition Ecologies: Exhibition by Maija Demitere (LV)
Dates: September 5 – October 25, 2025
Venue: RIXC Gallery / Address: Lenču iela 2, Riga, Latvia
Working hours: Wednesday – Saturday: 12:00–18:00

Resonance of Nature: Installation Māja by Marylou Petot (FR)
Dates: October 16–18, 2025
Opening: October 16, 2025, at 14:00–15:30
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2 building, Riga, Latvia

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Organizers

RIXC Centre for New Media Culture
Festival Curators: Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits
Producer: Agnese Baranova (agnese@rixc.org)
PR and Information: Līva Siliņa (rixc@rixc.org, +371 25358541)
Symposium coordinator: Daina Siliņa (daina@rixc.org)
Producer assistant: Lelde Gūtmane 

Support and Partners

State Cultural Capital Foundation of Latvia, Riga City Council, Pro Helvetia, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Institute Art Gender Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, Goethe-Institut Riga, French Institute in Latvia, Franco-German Cultural Fund, Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture, LG Electronics, Sonic Sensory Lab, Department of Cultural Affairs – Taipei City Government, Zone Sound Creative (Taiwan), REVERIE Trading Group, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Art Academy of Latvia, NAIA – Naturally Artificial Intelligence Art Association (Germany), Maajaam (Estonia), Isop (Denmark), SENT (Norway), Lorna (Iceland), Institutio Media (Lithuania), Photinus Studio (Ukraine), SLOLab (Canada)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Contacts

RIXC Center for New Media Culture / RIXC Gallery / Festival Information Center
Address: Lenču iela 2, Riga, LV-1010, Latvia
E-mail: rixc@rixc.org
www.rixc.org | festival2025.rixc.org
Phones:
+371 29635167 (Agnese Baranova, Festival Producer )
+371 25358541 (Līva Siliņa, PR and information coordinator)
+371 26546776 (office)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Festival Programme (Detailed)
(EEST / UTC+3 / CEST+1 / time.is)

Thursday, October 16
Opening Programme

11:00 (EEST) Press Conference
Venue: Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, SPORTA 2 quartier / Zoom

14:00 (EEST) Symposium Registration
Resonances of Nature: Opening of sound installation Māja by Marylou PETOT (FR) 
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 building (entrance from courtyard)

15:30 (EEST) Opening Keynotes
Noelia BILLI (AR). Open-Air Laboratory - Argentina's Case. An Approach from the Perspective of Plant Aesthetics
Jana KUKAINE (LV). Plant Turn and Feral Feminisms
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 / Zoom

18:00 (EEST)  Festival Exhibition Public Opening 
Venue: Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, SPORTA 2 quartier

Artists: Uģis ALBIŅŠ (LV), Ursula BIEMANN (CH), Felipe CASTELBLANCO (CO/CH), Karine BONNEVAL (FR), Gints GABRĀNS, Arnis RĪTUPS (LV), Nicholas KAHN & Richard SELESNICK (FR/US), Julia MENSCH (AR/CH), Marc LEE (CH), Ayënan QUINCHOA JUAJIBIOY (CO), Rasa SMITE (LV), Raitis SMITS (LV), Bo ZHENG (CN).
Curators: Yvonne VOLKART (CH), Raitis SMITS (LV).

Friday, October 17
Day 1: Symposium

10:00 (EEST) Panel 1: Plants Intelligence (Research)
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 / Zoom
Felipe CASTELBLANCO (CO/CH), Julia MENSCH (AR/CH), Rasa SMITE (LV)

12:00 (EEST) Panel 2: Plants Intelligence (Exhibition)
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 / Zoom
Ursula BIEMANN (CH), Marc LEE (CH), Karine BONNEVAL (FR), Nicholas KAHN (US/FR)

15:00 (EEST) Keynote Panel
Yvonne VOLKART (CH). Plant Intelligence – Towards a Vegetal Aesthetics
In conversation with Bo ZHENG (CN) (joining online)
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 / Zoom

18:00 (EEST) Resonances of Nature: Klimaton Performances by Adnan SOFTIĆ, Nina SOFTIĆ (DE), Normal Babyy (Elza Auguste ZĪVERTE & Kristofers KNESIS) (LV) and Thies MYNTHER (DE)
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2

Saturday, October 18
Day 2: Symposium

10:00 (EEST) Panel 3: Resonances of Nature
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 / Zoom
Marylou PETOT (FR), Adnan SOFTIĆ (DE), Rasa SMITE (LV) Raitis SMITS (LV) and others

12:00 (EEST) Panel 4: Symbiotic Futures 
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2 / Zoom
Mari-Liis REBANE & Timo TOOTS (EE), Mindaugas GAPŠEVIČIUS (LT), Kristin BERGAUST (NO), Margrét ÓLAFSDÓTTIR (IS), Sissel THASTUM & Line THASTUM (DK) (online), and others.

13:30 (EEST) Symbiotic Cities: SensUs XR Guided Tour
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2
Presentations by Isabella MUNNICH (DE),  Jurģis PETERS (LV), Anna MANANKINA (UA/DE), Oleksandr SIROUS (UA) (online), Chiayi CHEN (TW) (online), followed byand XR/AR work and sound Installations by Krista DINTERE (LV), Ivo TAURIŅŠ (LV), Yuchin CHEN (TW), Mu TUAN (TW), and others.

15:00 (EEST) Parallel Workshops
(1) Resonances of Nature: Klimaton Workshop by Adnan SOFTIĆ (DE)
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2

Please register here (places are limited):
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDnql3_BsYgllsP9irdtkJba_WBzc41IfU4IePIrDJriQ_ZA/viewform

(2) Symbiotic Futures: SensUs Art Platform Meeting (Baltic-Nordic-Extended)
Venue: RIXC Gallery, Lenču iela 2

20:00 (EEST) Film Screenings and Performances
Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 13, K2
Felipe CASTELBLACO “Borrachero Dreams” (2025, 12 min.), “Inverted Oasis Part 1” (2025, 13:00 min), “Rio Arriba” (2021, 14:00 min), Julia MENSCH “Kiwicha” (performance-lecture, 18 min), Video Reporte por Ñambi Rimai Colectivo de Medios “Quemas de Páramo en el Pueblo Quillacinga” (2022, 11 min), and others

Please register via Eventbrite (entrance free, places are limited).
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rixc-art-science-festival-2025-plants-intelligence-tickets-1536930754259?aff=oddtdtcreator