Betreff: RIXC 25th Anniversary Edition: RIXC Art Science Festival 2025
PLANTS INTELLIGENCE
Datum: Sun, 28 Sep 2025 18:41:05 +0000
Von: RIXC Center for New Media Culture <[email protected]>
RIXC 25th Anniversary Edition: RIXC Art Science Festival 2025 PLANTS
INTELLIGENCE
https://rixc.org/en/home___/0/join-us-and-register-for-rixc-s-25-year-anniversary-festival-plants-intelligence/
Dear RIXC friends and colleagues,
This autumn, the *Riga-based RIXC Center for New Media
Culture* celebrates its *25th anniversary *– a milestone made possible
through decades of local collaboration and international exchange. Since
its founding, RIXC has built vibrant networks at the crossroads of art,
science, and technology, continually opening new pathways for dialogue
and discovery.
The* RIXC Art and Science Festival 2025,* shaped together with partners
from Latvia, the Baltic–Nordic region, Europe, and beyond, explores this
year’s leading theme: /*Plants Intelligence*/. Developed in close
collaboration with the Swiss National Science Foundation–funded project
*Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant,* the festival invites us to
consider what vegetal life can teach us about sensing, adapting, and
coexisting on a changing planet.
Keynotes by *Noelia Billi, Jana Kukaine, and Yvonne Volkart* will spark
conversations spanning South–North and East–West perspectives on vegetal
mutual learning. The festival’s rich program – unfolding* October 16–18,
2025 in Riga and online *– includes the Plants Intelligence *exhibition
*at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, a *symposium *at the Art Academy of
Latvia, *artist talks, research presentations, workshops, performances,
XR showcases, *and the Baltic–Nordic *Symbiotic Futures meeting.*
We look forward to welcoming you to this special anniversary edition of
the RIXC festival – a celebration of curiosity, shared knowledge and
creative collaboration that has defined RIXC’s journey for the past 25
years.
Warm regards,
RIXC Team
*REGISTRATION & PROGRAMME*
Join Us and Register for RIXC’s 25-Year Anniversary Festival: Plants
Intelligence!
October 16–18, 2025
/Riga, Latvia / Online/
We’re turning 25! Celebrate with us — all events are free (*register
HERE
<https://rixc.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d4509c89157f900222bc4831c&id=db2f05f77f&e=ebfead8d1d>!*),
featuring Plants Intelligence (CH), Resonance of Nature (DE–FR–LV),
Symbiotic Futures (Nordic–Baltic), and other partnerships.
*The main festival program will take place October 16–18, 2025,* in Riga
and online, 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. *More...
*THEME & EXHIBITION*
PLANTS INTELLIGENCE Festival Theme and Exhibition
Public Opening: Thursday, October 16, 2025, 18:00
On-view until November 23, 2025
/Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Sporta iela 2/
*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)
The exhibition is developed in cooperation with the research project
Plants_Intelligence (2022–2025) and features its outcomes. The
exhibition also includes other works in which artists explore the
intelligence of plants through scientific, artistic, indigenous,
anthropological, imaginative, and speculative perspectives. More...
<https://rixc.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d4509c89157f900222bc4831c&id=1b92f49252&e=ebfead8d1d>
*FESTIVAL KEYNOTES*
FESTIVAL KEYNOTES: Noelia Billi (AR), Jana Kukaine (LV) and Yvonne
Volkart (CH)
*Opening Keynotes:*
Thursday, October 16, 2025, 15:30 – Noelia Billi (AR), Jana Kukaine (LV)
*Symposium Keynotes:*
Friday, October 17, 2025, 15:00 – Yvonne Volkart (CH), with Zheng Bo (CN)
/Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2 building (entrance from the yard /
park side) // Online/
This year’s festival presents outstanding keynotes from different
regions – the Global South, the European North, Central Europe, and
Asia, bringing together perspectives of vegetal agency, ecofeminist
theories, critical ecologies, and socially engaged art from distinct
contexts.
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 *–
principal investigator of the Plants_Intelligence research project.
*RESONANCES OF NATURE*
RESONANCES OF NATURE: Workshop, Installation and Performances
*Opening of Immersive sound installation *Māja by Marylou Petot (FR) –
October 16, 2025, 14:00
*Performance: *Klimaton – October 17, 18:00
*Workshop: *Klimaton by Adnan Softić (DE) – October 18, 15:00–18:00
/Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga (Onsite only)/
Another thematic perspective comes through collaboration with one of the
RIXC’s longstanding partners, the Goethe-Institut Riga, which this year
joins with the French Institute in Latvia to present the Resonances of
Nature project, supported by the Franco-German Cultural Fund.
This program presents *Māja*, an immersive interactive sound
installation by French sound artist *Marylou Petot, *created in
collaboration with the Nature Education Center at Ķemeri National Park
using field recordings of Latvian birds. Together with German artist
*Adnan Softić and Latvian collaborators,* she will also present the
outcomes of the Resonances of Nature project at the RIXC Festival
symposium. More...
<https://rixc.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d4509c89157f900222bc4831c&id=87b7a9a618&e=ebfead8d1d>
WORKSHOP & PERFORMANCES: Klimaton by Adnan Softić
German artist Adnan Softić contributes performance in collaboration with
Latvian and German artists and workshop using his Klimaton Arctic, a
musical instrument that transforms scientific data from the MOSAiC
Arctic expedition into sound, making the climate crisis tangible through
immersive listening.
Performance: Klimaton – October 17, 18:00 /
/Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga (Onsite only)/
The Klimaton performance will feature *Latvian sound artists Normal
Babyy* and *German artist Thies Mynther,* who blend electronic music
with Arctic soundscapes, each engaging KLIMATON as a partner and
subject. *Normal Babyy* expand their exploration of control, automation,
and the agency of machines through the generative sound objecy, while
*Mynther’s* composition transforms polar datasets into shifting sonic
textures that blur the line between scientific abstraction and sensorial
immersion. More...
<https://rixc.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d4509c89157f900222bc4831c&id=e732d0eba1&e=ebfead8d1d>
/Workshop: Klimaton by Adnan Softić (DE) – October 18, 15:00–18:00/
/Venue: Art Academy of Latvia, K2, Riga (Onsite only)/
The workshop invites participants to engage creatively with climate
change through listening, reflection, and hands-on experimentation.
After an introduction to the KLIMATON ARCTIC sound instrument, a
contemplative space unfolds where complex aspects of climate science
become tangible.
*RIXC GALLERY*
TRANSITION ECOLOGIES Exhibition by Maija Demitere
September 4–October 25, 2025, Wednesday–Saturday, 12.00-18.00
/RIXC Gallery, Lencu iela 2/
/Transition Ecologies /introduces this year's RIXC Art and Science
Festival theme of "plants intelligence," which reflects on new ways of
creating knowledge and the coexistence of multispecies.
The exhibition focuses on the relationship between humans and the
environment at a time when the usual balances are collapsing and new
ecological connections need to be sought. At its center is an aquaponics
system that demonstrates food cultivation in water without soil. More...
*RIXC FRIENDS*
RIXC recommends – Skaņu Mežs 2025: From Hyperpop to Noise
October 3–4, 2025
/Culture Space "Hanzas Perons” (Hanzas ielā 16A)/
As RIXC Festival is approaching, we are recommending to attend the event
organized by RIXC friends:
The experimental music festival *Skaņu Mežs *will take place on *October
3 and 4* at the cultural venue *Hanzas Perons* (16A Hanzas Street,
Riga). Headlining artists include hyperpop project *Sega Bodega*,
experimental rock band *These New Puritans*, avant-rap visionary *Fatboi
Sharif,* and contemporary jazz star *Shabaka Hutchings.*
As always, the festival will explore shifts in today’s music through the
prism of diverse genres - from pop and noise to hip-hop, contemporary
avant-garde, and industrial techno.
rixc.org
[email protected]
/Copyright © 2025 RIXC Center for New Media Culture, All rights reserved./
*Our mailing address is:*
RIXC Center for New Media Culture
Lencu iela 2
Riga LV-1010
Latvia
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