ASTE

Author: Maija Demitere

  • gara.aste.gallery – an online exhibition

    gara.aste.gallery – an online exhibition

    The exhibition “Art Extends Lives” is open online – it displays eleven works of media and sound art in a virtual space, which allows the viewer to gain new experiences, new impressions, thus seemingly prolonging their life. The exhibition can be viewed on the website: https://gara.aste.gallery.

    The exhibition is inspired by the research of neuroscientist David Eagleman on the perception of time. Eagleman explains with scientific methods why in childhood, when the days are filled with new experiences and discoveries, time passes relatively slower compared to adults who do, see, experience the same thing day by day. Our brains process new experiences and new information slower, whereas it does not waste time and energy reprocessing repetitive information. So, to seemingly prolong their lives, people need to stimulate their brains with new experiences daily, using all the senses available to us. The curator of the exhibition, Paula Vītola, invites you to prolong your life and deviate a little from your daily routine by visiting an online exhibition, because art allows you to gain new experiences and the artist is the person who creates and seeks these new experiences.

    The artworks in the exhibition are created as personal research and reflection on lifestyle and perception. Diana Lelis provides an opportunity to immerse yourself in various layers of consciousness and subconscious through meditation and poetry. Krista Dintere has created a composition exploring handicraft as a method to reduce anxiety. Anna Priedola uses dairy products to visualize statistics on the development of dementia. Maija Demitere has created several “slow” media artworks as examples of more sustainable habits. Andrejs Poikāns offers to re-evaluate our daily routine and to fill the calendars with various unusual activities. Līga Vēliņa and Ieva Vīksne have visualized their daily lives in virtual data objects. Various materials and processes are explored in the artworks of Paula Vītola who has created a performance instrument based on simple, historical technologies that can create sound using light. Vītola believed that new experiences that promote curiosity can prolong life and improve its quality. Ivo Tauriņš has studied the material properties of glass in sound composition. The exhibition also features a robot created by Artis Kuprišs that serves as a performance instrument for the new life from a distance.

    The exhibition was on display in Liepaja at the end of 2020, and now it is also available online, adapting the works of art to the virtual environment, thus providing an opportunity to see it to anyone interested, regardless of their location.

    Exhibition artists: Diana Lelis, Krista Dintere, Līga Vēliņa, Ieva Vīksne, Ivo Tauriņš, Artis Kuprišs, Paula Vītola, Andrejs Poikāns, Anna Priedola, Maija Demitere, Rogier Jupjin.

    The exhibition is produced by ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and Liepaja University Art Research Laboratory (MPLab).

    Exhibition is supported by the Liepaja municipality administration, Kurzeme Planning Region, State Culture Capital Foundation and Liepaja University. The exhibition was created with the support of the European Union program “Creative Europe”, the project “GREEN REVISITED. Encountering Emerging Naturecultures”.

  • Educational and inspiring master classes online

    Educational and inspiring master classes online

    To maintain creative and research curiosity, Liepaja University Art Research Laboratory, MPLab, organizes online master classes on various unique topics – laser scanning, photogrammetry, sound art and creative programming. Master classes are intended for everyone, also those who without prior knowledge.

    New media art should not be seen as a skill for a limited audience. Although the terms seem complicated at first, these skills are accessible, learnable and usable by everyone. In the current situation, online masterclasses will allow you to engage your mind, to gain new hobbies or new skills to achieve creative goals.

    The first master class will take place on March 3 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM (GMT+2). In a two-hour intensive master class, participants will learn an introduction to laser scanning and techniques for using this versatile technology, widely used in various fields, to create works of art. The master class will be taught by Professor Žilvinas Lilas (LT / DE), who has many years of experience in both lecturer work and work with laser scanning technologies. The master class will explain the principles of laser scanning and show ways to apply it in practice in creating 3D images and animations.

    The second master class will take place on March 17 (same time – from 18:30 PM to 20:30 PM). Its topic will be photogrammetry and the integration of the resulting models into online pages and applications (using WebGL and A-frame). Photogrammetry allows you to “scan” real objects for use in a variety of 3D environments. Even for those who are not interested in different 3D environments and game creation, photogrammetry skills allow to preserve memories, objects in a new way – similar to photography and video. The master class will be presented by artist Alvis Misjuns, who has created an interactive 3D model of the Latvian Academy of Arts and a model of a Latvian homestead, digitizing the exhibit of the Latvian National Open-Air Museum, as well as his own 3D portraits.

    The master class series will continue in April and May, and will be directed by 3 artists – Shelly Knotts (UK), Alexandra Cardenas (CO / DE) and Oliva Jack (US). The aim of these 3 master classes is not only to introduce participants to easily accessible sounding techniques in isolation (requiring only a computer and not a special sound studio), but also to change stereotypes about sound art and programming as a masculine profession, thus encouraging young female sound and media artists to try these open access technologies. Importantly, if participants learn creative programming, they will be less dependent on commercial software vendors and will be able to develop their own unique means of digital artistic expression.

    “Update. Hybrid Lab” is intended for students, artists, researchers, educators and other interested parties. All events will be free and viewable online in real time, and participants will also be able to engage in discussions with lecturers, as well as watch the recordings online later.

    Lecture series “Update. Hybrid Lab ”is organized by Liepaja University Art Research Laboratory (MPLab, mplab.lv) in cooperation with ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education (aste.gallery) and the new media culture center RIXC (rixc.org).

    “Update. Hybrid Lab” was created with the support of the European Union program “Creative Europe” project “GREEN Revisited. Encountering Emerging Naturecultures”.

    Full program and additional information: https://update.mplab.lv

  • The archive of Liepāja new media art events for 2000-2010 has been published

    The archive of Liepāja new media art events for 2000-2010 has been published

    ASTE in cooperation with researchers from the Art Research Laboratory, MPLab of Liepaja University has started work on collecting and archiving evidence of activities and art developments of the active Liepaja community of young media artists in the project “New Media Art Archive 2000-2020” and the first research results are available to the public and art researchers at https://arhivs.aste.gallery/.

    The Liepāja New Media Art Archive currently contains data on the period from 2000 to 2010 – on the activities of the culture and information center K@2 in Karosta, where guest events organized by various other institutions took place – Latvian Academy of Arts student summer schools, international Cast Iron Art Festival , RIXC international conferences and symposia and many more. In 2007, the study program “New Media Art” was opened, but in 2006 the Art Research Laboratory of the Liepāja Pedagogical Academy (now – Liepāja University) was established, which continued to maintain the communication processes and infrastructure necessary for the development of media art. In Liepāja, it would not disappear even after the closing of K@2 operations in 2008. The new study program also created a unique, unprecedented study model in Latvia – interdisciplinary, collaborative and research-based digital art education, which denied the obsolete image of a lone artist – genius, and instead created a 24-hour study environment equipped for students with the latest media. technologies in which to engage in collective artistic experiments. New media art projects are too complex to be developed in excellent quality by the author alone without the help of other fields of art or science.

    Since the first graduation of Liepaja University “New Media Art” in 2010, many talented young artists have entered the Latvian art environment – Andris Vētra (-8), Artis Kuprišs, Paula Vītola, Maija Demitere, Rihards Vītols, Zanda Puče, Ieva Vīksne, Andrejs Poikāns, Gustavs Lociks and others, whose creative activity is characterized by interest in scientific achievements and technological innovations, not only the inner experience of a person, and issues of interest to them are explored by artists using both aesthetic and science-inspired methods.

    Diana Lelis, Anna Priedola, Pauls Vītols, Maija Demitere, Kaspars Jaudzems, Jekaterina Jevdokimova, Elza Zīverte, Elizabete Punka, Kristīne Petrovska, William Jefferson Brick, Kate Karīna Cebre and Anžela Timofejeva participated in the creation of the archive. Interpretative articles on the unique features of Liepāja’s new media art environment have been published on the archive website by media and art researchers Ilva Skulte, Maija Demitere, Anna Priedola and Kristīne Briede. The archive was created with the financial support of the target program of the State Culture Capital Fund “Creating the future cultural offer in all cultural sectors” and the informative support of the Liepaja University.

    Many thanks to Kristīne Briede, Andrew Paterson, Andris Vētra, Anna Trapenciere, Rasa Šmite, etc. for sharing their time, impressions and materials, especially to art historian Santa Valivina in creating the Liepāja New Media Art Archive.

    The archive will continue to be constantly updated, both with the addition of information and articles for the period up to 2010 and with the development of a new section with profiles of the most active new media artists working between 2010 and 2020 and an overview of their key works with audiovisual materials.

    Please also refer to contemporaries of K@2 or the study program “New Media Art” who would like to share their memory stories, video, photo and audio materials to supplement the data repository of the Liepāja New Media Art Archive. Contact: info@mplab.lv

    Archive editor: Anna Priedola

    https://arhivs.aste.gallery/
  • Exhibition “Art Extends Lives” offers new experiences and trigger new sensations

    Exhibition “Art Extends Lives” offers new experiences and trigger new sensations

    The exhibition in Liepāja, Piltenes Street 5 (entrance from the back of the building), is open to visitors from December 2nd until December 20.

    Opening hours:
    Wednesday – Friday 14.00 – 19.00
    Saturday – Sunday 12.00 – 18.00

    A maximum of 6 people can be in the exhibition premises at the same time,
    face masks must be worn indoors.

    Our understanding of reality comes from external impulses that the brain receives in the form of electrical signals, and the brain uses these signals to construct our “reality.” Neuroscientist David Eagleman studies human perceptions of time using scientific methods to explain why in risky situations we feel that the time moves slower and why, as we get older, we feel the opposite – as if the time moves ever faster.

    As the human brain process new experiences and new information slower, we have the feeling that the moment is moving slower. Eglmann compares this process to the processes that take place in computers – when a computer processes information, it does not waste time and energy reprocessing repetitive information. Therefore, for people in childhood, when their days are filled with new experiences and discoveries, time goes relatively slower than in old age, when people do, see, experience the same day of the day.

    In order to prolong their lives, people need to stimulate their brains on a daily basis with new experiences, using all the senses available to them. Art can be used to create new experiences.

    The works of art on display in the exhibition provide an opportunity to experiment and manipulate space, the environment and perception. Works in which we reflect on our way of life, perception, state of mind, relations with the modern world, environment and various processes. Visitors will see various art research projects that will visualize different processes and show alternative visions of life.

    Artists: Paula Vītola, Andrejs Poikāns, Anna Priedola, Maija Demitere, Rogier Jupjin, Diana Lelis, Krista Dintere, Līga Vēlņa, Ieva Vīksne, Ivo Tauriņš.

    PLEASE ENJOY OTHER ONLINE EXHIBITIONS ORGANIZED BY MPLAB AND ASTE:

    ARS Electronica exhibition in Liepaja: resort.mplab.lv

    Group exhibition for private viewing: undeleted.mplab.lv

    Foto, video blog: brivs.aste.gallery

    The exhibition is created in the context of The New Media Art Week Update BACKUP and is supported by the Creative Europe Programme of European Union, Liepaja city municipality administration, Kurzeme Planning Region, State Culture Capital Foundation and Liepaja University.

  • New Media Art Week “UPDATE” With Workshops and Lectures Online

    New Media Art Week “UPDATE” With Workshops and Lectures Online

    New media art week “Update BACKUP” from November 23 to 27 will feature online lectures on 3D prototyping, 3D modeling, speeches by practicing artists and, at the end of the week, the opening of the exhibition and an online experimental concert. Everyone has the opportunity to apply for participation in a workshop, they will learn the basics of laser cutting within 3 days under the guidance of mentors.

    Prototyping and DIY is an important tool that allows anyone to develop a low-precision prototype of ideas fast and cheap, which can later be developed to the desired quality of the final product. Prototyping is a very important stage in design thinking.

    The artist and researcher Varvara Guljajeva (EE) will share her unique skills in Monday’s lecture. Her work and research is inspired by the social change brought on by the information and technological age.

    Next, in Tuesday’s lecture, Krišjānis Rijnieks, a designer, new media artist and Fab Lab activist who currently runs Aalto Fab Lab at Aalto University in Finland, will talk about what Fab Lab really is and how it differs from other types of open workshops, such as hacker rooms, makerspace or open innovation workshop.

    Wednesday and Thursday’s program will be based on practical work with a laser cutter, mentor and creative engineer Rogier Jupijn (NL). Participants will learn the first, second and third steps in practical work with a laser cutter to get from an idea to a product.

    At the end of the festival on Friday, November 27, the program of the day will include presentations of artists, researchers and practitioners, as well as the opening of the exhibition with an experimental concert. The opening of the exhibition can be watched online.

    “Update BACKUP” is for students, artists, researchers, art critics and educators. The whole week’s program is free and will be available online in real time, when participants will also be able to engage in discussions with lecturers and in the archive.

    The new media art week “Update BACKUP” in Liepaja is organized by the Art Research Laboratory of Liepaja University, MPLab in cooperation with the association ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and New Media Culture Center RIXC.

    The new media art week “Update BACKUP” is supported by the State Cultural Capital Foundation, Kurzeme Planning Region, Liepāja Culture Board, the European Union program “Creative Europe” and Liepāja University.

    Full program and additional information: https://update.mplab.lv

    Prepared by: Maija Demitere, maija@mplab.lv, +371 29948430

  • A unique archive of new media art in Liepaja will be created

    A unique archive of new media art in Liepaja will be created

    ASTE has proposed an initiative to create an archive of the development of new media art in Liepaja – a website and a database that would bring together art events, projects, performances, workshops, exhibitions and art objects created from 2000 to 2010. The initiative has received support from the program “Creating the future cultural offer in all cultural sectors” administered by the State Culture Capital Fund.

    A website has been created for the project implementation – archive.aste.gallery. Project manager and main initiator Anna Priedola believes:

    It is necessary to create a digitized archive of Liepāja’s new media art events in order to fill in the white pages in the history of Latvian art and facilitate media art research, making it easily accessible to anyone interested. Facilitating the acquisition of research materials will promote the discourse of the interaction between art and technology, while comments by art scholars and media theorists on works of art will promote understanding of media art in the wider community.

    “Non Stiop”, performance, 2005

    The aim of the archive is to compile, categorize, publish and analyze local and international media art events that took place in Liepaja in articles of media art researchers. The archive materials will be compiled by doctoral candidate Paula Vītols, MPLab manager Anna Priedola, and Diana Bočkova, analytical articles will be created by the researchers themselves and invited media and art scientists, Ilva Skulte, Maija Demitere, etc., using the collected archive materials.

    Since the beginning of the 2000s, an international media art center and a community of local young artists have been established in Liepāja under the leadership of Kristīne Briede and Kalle Bjorshmark, including Aija Druvaskalne-Urdzis with her students, Rasa Šmite and Raitis Šmits in Karosta. This was a real cultural phenomenon and one of the earliest examples of community-oriented social art activism in Latvia, which initially introduced the latest media technologies to the locals in an area that was built for military purposes, isolated in Soviet times and later neglected in the 1990s. This art center hosted many innovative contemporary art forms and events with the participation of foreign and local artists, such as Transit Zero (2000), in which Rasa and Raitis Šmits started working with RFID and GPS technologies (which later brought them the prestigious ARS ELECTRONICA award for international food transit mapping and digital data visualization “the MILK project” in cooperation with Ieva Auziņa and Ester Polak).

    The media art events hosted by the K@2 Media Culture Center also attracted the attention of media theorists and art scientists, which resulted in the research institution of the University of Liepaja – Art Research Laboratory (2006) and the academic study program “New Media Art” (2007), that offers a full-cycle art education, based on international and interdisciplinary cooperation and research. The study program was imagined to be the alternative of the classic art education that promotes the “artist-genius” approach.

    In 2008, the cultural center K@2 was closed because it couldn’t maintain the infrastructure without the support of the municipality. However multiple international and annual art as research festivals were established in Latvia and Liepaja, for example, the international new media art week iWeek (2010 – 2019) with creative workshops and exhibitions, electronic and experimental music concerts and seminars in Liepaja and RIXC “Art and Communication” festival in Riga (in cooperation with Liepaja University), where internationally recognized media art experts participated and still participate in the conferences.

    This background of creative education has prepared a new generation of Latvian media artists with a particularly strong community in Liepaja, where not only one, but several regular, international media art festivals are organised – Sound Days, Update and Open Lab – as well as exhibitions and concerts, creating cultural activities of national importance (and also by attracting international cooperation partners, publicity and funding). Liepāja has long been recognized as an internationally important media art center, as evidenced by the invitation of the curators of the most important media art festival ARS ELECTRONICA to participate in the online program of the 2020 festival.

    Due to the physical distance and lack of cultural journalists, Liepāja media art activities are little analyzed in the context of art science and their documentation in the media is rather modest (mostly Liepāja University Art Research Laboratory and Electronic Art and Media Center E-LAB, and recently ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education – online sites and galleries). Information on the course of various art events is available, but there is a lack of reviews and analysis of specific works of art and directions. Liepāja media artists focus on researching various specific topics in art, such as sustainability and eco-art (Maija Demitere, Rihards Vītols, Anna Priedola), media archeology (Paula Vītola, Pēters Riekstiņš), sound art (Krista Dintere, Artis Kuprišs), virtual and augmented art (VR, AR, Ieva Vīksne, Līga Vēliņa), art generated by artificial intelligence (Kristaps Biters, Andrejs Poikāns), tomics that are relevant not only in national but also global context, but there is very little interest and media coverage on these examples in the art media and research.

    The creation of a digital media art archive is also very necessary in the study process, especially until the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art is established. Without a clear example of what has already been done in Latvian art, students often have a desire to “reinvent the wheel”, as well as they lack references and sources of inspiration to contextualize their artistic activity.

    K@2 event postcards
  • Online exhibition and performances “Planting a Resort for Mental Ecology”

    Online exhibition and performances “Planting a Resort for Mental Ecology”

    Responding to the current uncertainity and socio-economic storms, artists and researchers of MPLab are exploring the fragile structure of mental ecology in processual works, interactive installations, immersive sound and VR environments, and their online exhibition offers a journey through physical and virtual gardens planted for self-sustainability, mental exercise and retreat.

    Connect to the neuroacousting and photosonic online performances live on 12th of September 21:00 CET and on 13th of September 13:00 CET via resort.aste.gallery.

    People of Liepaja know very well that a garden is essential for keeping the status quo – without planting a park along the coast, the little seaside town would be consumed by sand, wind and water. The roots of trees keep the structure of the dunes stable, and people of Liepaja can retreat from the everyday struggles and storms in a safe and constant calmness of the garden environment.

    “Planting a Resort for Mental Ecology” is a response to the current overwhelming political, environmental and economic uncertainity of today. Residing in the coastal resort town of Liepaja, the artists and researchers of MPLab are exploring the concept of mental ecology (Guattari 1989) and developing techno-ecological systems and strategies for well-being during the times of change. In the web-based exhibition online visitors will be able to discover vernacular social practices of building places for psycho-emotional retreat; deep technology driven methods for the exploration of the mental sphere, and intimate acts of nurturing the well-beign of oneself.

    Visit the exhibition online: https://resort.mplab.lv

    In the picture: the telegarden experience “Natural Growth”, resort.aste.gallery
    In the picture: the telegarden experience “Natural Growth”, resort.aste.gallery
  • “Undeleted” – group exhibition for solo viewing online

    “Undeleted” – group exhibition for solo viewing online

    undeleted.mplab.lv website displays 6 new media artists works that are made specifically for online art gallery. New artists study how experience of exhibition could be passed over to virtual, individual artist work exposition and which can be considered as authentic experience of mediated communication and machine learning era, considering questions of – what stays, what is left behind and what is worth saving?

    Sintija Place takes place in this exhibition with her work “Acousmatic Ecosystem”, which represents “forest bathing” in a domestic environment. Artist work involves tools of technology, such as sound and light, simulating interaction with nature, therefore creating opportunity to keep in subconscious, emotional attachment to the process of nature and life, even if nature in future, how we know it, would fade. It is an invitation to close one’s eyes and experience nature; even though it is a virtual representation of nature, it induces a similar spectrum of emotions, one would experience gazing upon frail spots of sunlight that surmount the leafage of a tree and land softly on eyelids.

    A sound art composition (audio play) for headphones by Andrejs Poikāns titled “The Garden” is the second work to be exhibited. It is an exploration of voice as the basis of personal identity and a metaphor for its inherent (un-inherent?) and integral nature – both guarding the stability of democracy and individual sanity. Artist uses machine learning voice cloning techniques to fabricate unspoken speech and to gain vocal sounds, that cannot be produced by an embodied vocal mechanism. This can be achieved by using artificial neural networks, that tend to be labeled in the media as the new technology, which will solve the big social, political and ecological problems of the 21st century. In the age of fake news, computer-generated images and videos, the composition indulges listeners to face fragile states of privacy, by letting themselves be guided by a disembodied voice that eventually leads to a mental space where questions on the limits of commodification can be proposed.

    Andra Strautina offers to explore her created Liepaja Pet cemetery archives complemented with a special made sound composition. Dana invites exhibition explorers to go for a 945 km long virtual hike across Spain, offering to everyone transfer her experience that was experienced during this challenging process of creating work. Martins Vejs takes part in this exhibition with a kinetic installation called “Light Train”, but Anja Viksne invites to learn body awareness with immersive technology with guided breathing exercises.

    Exhibition organised by Art Research Laboratory (MPLab), ASTE – Art, Science, Technology, Education. Supported by Liepaja city municipality administration, Kurzeme Planning Region, State Culture Capital Foundation, Liepaja University.

  • Exhibition “Plastic Nature” in pictures

    Exhibition “Plastic Nature” in pictures

  • Opening of the exhibition “Plastic Nature” on November 8 at 6 PM

    Opening of the exhibition “Plastic Nature” on November 8 at 6 PM

    The opening of the digital art exhibition “Plastic Nature” will take place on November 8 at 6 PM in Liepaja, Zivju Street 3 (next to the “Rome Garden” gallery). The exhibition is part of the 11th International New Media Art Week UPDATE: Human. Nature. In the exhibition there will be an opportunity to meet all festival guests – media art professors, students, artists from around the world, and curators who strive to enrich the regional art scene with contemporary digital art events.

    The exhibition “Plastic Nature” brings together 16 media artists from Latvia, Lithuania, Germany and the Netherlands. In their work – photography, video, animation, virtual reality and immersive sound landscapes – they explore the interplay between human, nature and technology, forcing an appreciation of the natural in human and human in nature.

    During the ppening of the exhibition, visitors will see Connected Realities by German artists Seongmin Yuk, Giorgi Gedevanidze and Faidon Gialis, who test the ability of virtual reality to fit into one another’s skin. After the performance, viewers will be free to try the virtual reality system created by Raspberry Pi microcomputers.

    The exhibition is free of charge and will be open from November 8 to 24:
    Tuesday – Friday 4 PM – 7 PM
    Saturday, Sunday 11 AM – 4     PM

    New Media Art Week Update: Human. Nature is part of the Green Revisited encountering emerging nature-cultures / green project.

    Update: Human. Nature in Liepaja is organized by Art Research Laboratory, MPLab in cooperation with ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education, E-LAB, Center for Electronic Arts, Media and RIXC, Center for New Media Culture.

    Update: Human. Nature is supported by State Culture Capital Foundation and the European Union program Creative Europe.