In the conclusion of the RIXC Art Science Festival 2026, the latest exhibition by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits, “Prompted Evolution” will be opened at the RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2 on Friday, 23 October, at 18:00.

To explore possible futures of plant evolution, the artists use AI to transform herbarium images of wild Andean lupines—one of the most remarkable examples of recent explosive plant diversification—into speculative, unimaginable forms.

In Prompted Evolution, AI models further transform these forms into interactive virtual plants. Through their three-dimensional digital reappearance, the plants regain the bodies once lost as herbarium specimens—and with them, a new agency.

The title plays with the double meaning of the prompt: changing environmental conditions prompt biological adaptation, while artists prompt generative AI to imagine plants that may not exist (yet)—expanding our climate imagination.

Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits work at the intersection of art, science, and immersive media. Their practice centres on ecological systems, environmental data, and the relationship between technology and nature. The artists’ works engage with plant intelligence, atmospheric processes, microbial ecology, and planetary sensing. From scientific data, they develop immersive installations and XR environments that make complex relationships experienceable as spatial audiovisual experiences. Their work is exhibited internationally and has been awarded the PRIX Ars Electronica, among others, and nominated for the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year in Art and Science. Both teach and conduct research at renowned institutions: Rasa Smite at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), Raitis Smits as Professor at the Art Academy of Latvia. Together they founded the RIXC Center for New Media Culture in Riga, where they curate international festivals and publish the Acoustic Space / Renewable Futures series.

More information:
https://festival2026.rixc.org/prompted-evolution-exhibition-by-rasa-smite-raitis-smits/