As part of the international project Future DiverCities, the City of Liepāja has invited local communities and artists to reflect on the regeneration of the city’s vacant zones — with particular attention to the vast wooded areas of Karosta, a part of Liepāja still unfamiliar to many of its residents.
From 2023 to 2025, a series of sensory mapping activities, artistic interventions in Karosta’s natural and urban environments, and an international artist residency have taken place. Invited artists explored the local landscape and communities — including youth groups and military divers — transforming their experiences into multisensory artworks. These works include the creation of a Karosta scent archive, sculptures from biodegradable natural materials, multimedia poetry readings, tactile graphics, and sound art compositions, all forming a layered and contemporary portrait of the area.
The Association of Media Artists ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education, actively involved in the municipality’s creative interventions, is organizing the exhibition “Future DiverCities: The Potential of Gaps” from November 13 to December 12, 2025, at the RTU Liepāja Centre for Humanities and Arts Gallery. The exhibition brings together works and research materials created by participating artists: Aistė Ambrazevičiūtė (LT), Maija Demitere, Krista Dintere, Juan Duarte (MX/FI/DE), Diana Lelis, Kristīne Martinova, Sandris Mūriņš, and Anna Priedola.
Opening: November 13, 2025, at 17:00 Venue: Kūrmājas prospekts 13, 2nd floor, Liepāja
Opening hours: November 14 – December 12, 2025 Monday to Friday, 9:00–19:00 Venue: Kūrmājas prospekts 13, 2nd floor, Liepāja
The exhibition is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation, Liepāja Cultural Department, RTU Liepāja Academy, and the Creative Europe program.
From 22 to 26 April 2025, Liepāja will host the 12th International Sound Days Festival, an interdisciplinary event that combines music, visual and sound art in workshops, an exhibition, performances and electronic music concerts. “The aim of Sound Days is to identify and strengthen the sound art and electronic music community in Latvia, to foster international cooperation and growth by highlighting a unique theme and experimental forms of sound creation each year and bringing together both local and international stakeholders in a shared creative space.
The central theme of the 2025 festival is live coding and algorithms in audiovisual art. The festival will include the first algoreive – a live electronic music party – in Latvia. Artists will generate rhythmic electronic music and hypnotic visualisations by writing computer program code “live” (in real time). The Algorave movement started in the UK in 2012 and has since grown into a global community with events in London, Berlin, New York, Mexico City and elsewhere. Algorave’s programme in Liepaja is curated by musician, creative programmer and curator Patrick Borgeat (DE), who has organised many live coding events in Germany and other countries. “Algoraves are exciting for me not only because making music by writing algorithms often results in exciting and non-confirming musical styles but also because many live coding performances don’t rely on safety-nets and can be very spontaneous. We have a diverse line-up featuring artists from the Baltic states, as well as some well-established names from the European live coding scene traveling from Germany, Spain and the UK. The evening will start with performances focusing on visuals, movement and sonic exploration and will become more and more danceable later on. I believe that, together with the live visuals, the evening will be a unique blend of live electronic music, media art and programming culture with a line-up that doesn’t need to shy away from similar events in Berlin, Barcelona or other metropoles.”
Creative programmers Lina Bautista and Sol Sarratea perform at the Algorave in Leipzig. Publicity image
The multifaceted activities of the Sound Days Festival will take place at the Art Research Laboratory (MPLab) of RTU Liepaja and the cultural space “Tipogrāfija Creative Quarter”: a five-day programme of educational workshops, networking events, several performance programmes, concert evenings and presentations of the workshop results in an audiovisual art exhibition. “The festival is a meeting point for young artists and musicians with established and experienced artists in sound art, electronic music and audiovisual media. This year, the festival’s 9 workshops at RTU Liepaja Academy will bring together around 90 art students and enthusiasts from 6 European countries. A special event that celebrates the birth of a new community will be the first Baltic Live Programming Meeting on 25 April at the Tipogrāfija Creative Quarter in Liepāja,” says Krista Dintere, festival producer, sound artist and docent at RTU Liepāja.
The programme of the festival “Sound Days” in Liepāja from 22 to 26 April:
April 22–26: creative workshops RTU Liepāja MPLab, Kūrmājas prospekts 13. The workshop leaders are musicians, sound and visual artists and creative programmers from Latvia and Europe. The workshops will explore and learn image and sound creation techniques such as live sound and image programming, data visualisation, algorithmic image, interaction of nature and technology. Participation in the workshops will be free of charge, but places are limited. Workshop leaders’ biographies and descriptions of the workshop content, as well as the application form, can be found on the festival’s website https://sound.mplab.lv/.
April 25 at 12:00 BLCM (Baltic Live Coders Meetup) – Baltic live coding community meeting in the Creative Quarter of the Typography and online. You can register for BLCM by contacting the organisers at skana@aste.gallery
April 25 at 20:00 Algorave Liepāja at the Tipogrāfija Creative Quarter. Live programming music improvisation performances by linalab (CO/ES), nervousdata (DE), Attrique Orgeat (DE), kurivari (EE/UK), Decomposition Loops (LT), V of Londor (LT), WERR (LT), sofi (LV/FI), Agita Reķe (LV/NL), Šūna2 (LV). Flor de Fuego (AR/DE), Miksulis (LV).
April 26 at 18:00 festival workshop results presentations in the Tipogrāfija Creative Quarter- performances and pop-up exhibition. Together with the workshop participants, the workshop leaders Patrick Borgeat (DE), Florencia Alonso (AR/DE), Jasmin Meerhoff (DE), Tata Frenkel (LT), Ioanna Vreme Moser (RO/DE), Lina Bautista (CO/ES), Jan Georg Glöckner (LT/DE), Kaspars Jaudzems (LV) and Rihards Vītols (LV) and Györgyi Rétfalvi (HU/CZ) present the workshop results.
April 26 at 20:00 festival galá concert in the Tipogrāfija Creative Quarter. The Sound Days closing concert will bring together artists from Latvia and abroad, combining avant-garde pop, live techno, atmospheric and noise music in a varied programme. Artists will perform with their own instruments, sensors, loopers and feedback systems, as well as with a variety of forms – audiovisual performances with projections and costumes, or performances in other parts of the space, off stage. The concert will also explore the interests and energy of young artists. Eleonora Kampe (LV/EE), Elizabete Balčus (LV), Paula Vītola and Platons Buravickis (LV), Alise Rancāne (LV), Farah Wind (DE), Werr (LT), Ofae (LV), Sabrina (LV), Omiros (LV), Dafelz (LV) will perform.
The curator of the concert, artist Paula Vītola, highlights her improvised performance with composer and pianist Platons Buravicki as a surprise for herself and others: ‘I will be playing my own synthesizers, which create sounds with modulated light, but Platons will improvise on piano, together creating an unusual, slightly noisy and timbrally coherent sound experience. It will also be fascinating to hear and see the dreamily surreal audiovisual performance of Elizabeth Balčus, acclaimed in Latvia and abroad, as well as Eleonora Kampe’s noisy voice and feedback experiment.”
Tickets for Skaņa dienas events are available at the “Biļešu paradīze” box office and online.
“Sound Days is a great opportunity to combine the useful with the enjoyable, working for a week with renowned artists and broadening your artistic vision. An important value of the event is the sense of community that develops among all involved – participants, workshop leaders and artists, spending time together also outside the classes, making contacts and new friendships,” Raivo Mihailovs, a young artist and radio DJ, describes his experience at Sound Days Festivals.
“Sound Days” are organised by ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education, association “E-Lab, Electronic Art and Media Centre” and RTU Liepaja Academy, with the financial support of Liepaja City Municipality “Culture Authority” and State Culture Capital Foundation.
More information on the festival website https://sound.mplab.lv/ and by writing to skana@aste.gallery or calling the festival producer Krista Dintera +371 25997662.
On April 4, 2025 at 5:00 p.m., the solo exhibition “Shop SPAZ” by artist Margrieta Griestiņa will be opened at the gallery of the Humanities and Arts Center of RTU Liepāja Academy (Liepāja, Kūrmājas prospekts 13, 2nd floor), starting the “Image Flow” cycle of contemporary art exhibitions organized by the association ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and RTU Liepāja Academy.
In the visual language of Margrieta Griestiņa, childhood memories merge with imagination, her paintings incorporate images from video games, politics and pop culture, revealing the importance of visuality in the construction of everyday experience, and the imprints of fleeting screen experiences on the minds of their consumers. The author does not criticize either society or individual choices, accepting and playing with the codes of capitalism and mass culture, yet taking on the role of a producer and brand manager, not just an artist. ““Veikals SPAZ” is a store of the fashion and household goods brand GolfClayderman, where a cyber fox and a bohemian bear work. The first store branch was located in Africa, but since the contract with the beverage supplier “Monster” was terminated, the store had to settle in Madonna, where the brand’s subsidiary company MABOCA is also located. Due to popular demand the store is now moved closer to Western culture – to the windy city’s temple of education – RTU Liepāja Academy,” the artist describes the idea of the exhibition.
Curator Anna Priedola emphasises how needed it is to increase the diversity of visual expression and the accessibility of contemporary art in the regions. “Liepāja is still lacking the presence of contemporary art, and I am glad that “SPAZA Shop” will also be able to feed the hunger of Liepāja art students for current examples of contemporary art in their surroundings. Margrieta Griestiņa inspires me a lot not only with her creative work, but also organizes high-quality contemporary art and culture outside the center – in Madona.”
The exhibition is open during the working hours of the RTU Liepāja Academy (on weekdays from 8:00 to 19:00, on Saturdays from 8:00 to 16:00) from April 5 to April 25, and is available free of charge. Opening – 04.04.2025. at 17:00. The exhibition was implemented with the financial support of the Liepāja City and the State Cultural Capital Fund.
The annual UPDATE festival combines technology and innovation with art and creativity. The festival program includes workshops for registered participants and public events for everyone – masterclasses, a Family Day with workshops for families and children, a science symposium, an exhibition, and performances by various sound artists and musicians.
Part of the festival program is for registered participants, while another part is open to the public. Registration is required to join the workshops, but other festival activities are available without pre-registration. Since the festival is organized in cooperation with international partners, some parts of the program will be in English. All festival activities are free of charge.
As part of the festival, the “Liepāja 2027 Foundation” (“Nodibinājums Liepāja 2027”) organizes an artist residency. This September, two artists will arrive in Liepāja—Carlos Munnoz from Spain and Iryna Loskot from Ukraine. During the residency, the two artists will collaborate with Liepāja-based artists to create and exhibit new artworks as part of the UPDATE festival exhibition in November. Carlos Munnoz will share his experience of working with artificial intelligence during the festival’s workshops, while Iryna Loskot will present a performance exploring the sense of belonging and ecology in the The Printing House Creative Quarter on September 28, during the Afternoon for Art and Science
Festival Program
Afternoon for Art and Sciences in The Printing House Creative Quarter on September 28
The afternoon at the The Printing House Creative Quarter (Andreja Pumpura iela 10, Liepaja) will start with presentations of researchers working in interdisciplinary fields, combining work methods from different scientific fields, and creating hybrid and brand new, innovative approaches to discover new knowledge. Presentation will take place from 13:00 to 15:00.
The program will continue with a performance by Iryna Loskot, where visitors are invited to actively participate. During the performance, participants will reflect on contemporary crises and discuss care for each other and for the planet we all share.
The day will end with a concert featuring various artists. A detailed programme and further descriptions are available on the festival website.
Masterclasses (Online)
Sound Art. Tuesday, 1 October, from 18:00 to 20:00
Germany-based media artist and musician Heinrich Lenz will present his philosophical and technical approach to a unique sound art composition technique that uses self-similarity – a property where parts of an object’s structure resemble the whole object at different scales. Examples from nature include the shape of a cauliflower, where each small part resembles the entire cauliflower, or the veins of a tree leaf, which resemble the tree’s structure.
AI and Animation. Wednesday, 2 October, from 18:00 to 20:00
French artist and researcher Stéphanie Cadoret will present the results of her research and observations on the use of artificial intelligence tools in 3D and 2D animation.
Exhibition and Family Day on Saturday, 5 October, from 12:00 to 16:00
At the Art Research Laboratory (MPLab, Liepāja, Kūrmājas prospekts 13, basement – entrance from the rear), activities for children and young people will be available during Family Day. The exhibition will showcase artworks and projects created during the festival.
Workshops
The festival offers an educational program for registered participants – week-long workshops where everyone can learn a technological tool or software, participate in conceptual arts practice-led research, or explore different aspects of art and technology. Workshops are free of charge. Some workshops require prior experience with digital technologies, but most are accessible to people with no previous knowledge. Spaces are limited, and participants are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Registered workshop participants will learn motion capture (MOCAP) technologies, create interactive and spatial audiovisual installations and performances, experiment with artificial intelligence systems, and explore new cinematographic techniques using laser scanning. In two conceptual workshops, participants will discover how people, accustomed to being constantly connected to mobile devices, can gain new inspiration by spending time outdoors and off-grid. They will also explore the philosophical potential of the “blue humanities” – the relationship between humans and the sea.
Workshops will take place from September 30 to October 4, every day from 11:00 to 15:00. Workshops are led by international and local artists and researchers, including Zil Lilas (DE/LT), Vytautas Michelkevicius (LT), Tata Frenkel (LT), pETER Purg (SI), Oleksandr Sirous (UA), Heinrich Lenz (DE), Gustavs Lociks (LV), Carlos Munnoz (ES), Anis Haron (MY).
For more information and to apply for workshops, please visit the festival website.
Maija Demitere (maija.demitere@gmail.com, +371 29948430)
UPDATE is organised by the association of Liepaja media artists ASTE (https://aste.gallery) and RTU Liepaja Academy Art Research Laboratory (MPLab, https://mplab.lv). The activities of the association ASTE in 2024 are supported by the VKKF for professional non-governmental cultural organisations. UPDATE is supported by the Liepaja Municipality institution “Culture Department”, the VKKF, RTU Liepaja Academy and RIXC, a network for art, science, culture and innovation. The event is co-organised by the foundation “Liepāja 2027 Foundation” and the European Union Creative Europe Programme project “CreArt 3.0 #STRINGING_TOGETHER”. The workshop “Soundscapes” is realised in the framework of the Artillery 35 project “Soundfields”, supported by Nordplus Horizontal.
On Saturday, August 24, a unique digital art exhibition will open at the Adatu Fabrika (Kuldiga, Kalpaka Street 4). As part of “COOLDIGA ART FEST”, visitors will be able to experience 4 virtual reality artworks created by Latvian artists and a virtual reality game dedicated to the city of Kuldīga. During the festival, 8 new augmented reality artworks will be launched, and will be available to users through the ART+ mobile app (www.artplus.app).
During the opening on August 24, visitors will have a chance to see and experience virtual reality games and artworks created this year, meet the artists and take part in a workshop where everyone will have the opportunity to learn how to create 3D objects using VR tools. Workshop will be open to anyone, even those with no prior experience.
Workshop “3D Making in VR”
On August 24, from 12:00 – 16:00, a workshop will be open to everyone, regardless of their digital skills or previous experience, to learn how to create 3D objects using simple, intuitive, even playful tools. Participants will use VR glasses and controllers to create 3D objects through body movements, offering a more intuitive and accessible approach to 3D modeling compared to traditional, screen-based methods.
The workshop is free of charge and no prior reservation is required. Interested participants can join the workshop at any time. Although there is no age limit for the workshop, children under 10 may find the VR tools too large to use comfortably.
Virtual reality works in the exhibition
Jekaterina Jevdokimova’s “I (Don’t) Remember” is a story about her childhood experiences in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The artist’s interpretations of her memories show the changes that came with computers becoming a part of everyday life, as well as the visually fantastic impression left by growing up in a mass housing block.
Elina Dreimane’s ” Square of Strength” explores Latvian places of power described in folklore, stories and traditional lore. In her work, the artist has digitalized several such places and brought them together in one magical landscape. The work evokes reflections on whether digital experiences and digital tourism might be able to replace the experiences of human beings, whether virtual reality tools can transmit the ancestral wisdom and the power that nature gives us?
Kaspars Lēvalds’ work “The Mist” is based on the Latvian freedom struggle in Liepaja in 1919 after the World War I. Combining game and educational elements, this experience allows us to immerse ourselves in certain scenes of history and explores whether VR can evoke feelings of empathy, patriotism or deepen interest in learning about the history of a nation.
Olga Barbina’s “Pneuma” uses a unique, artist-designed VR experience interface. The work uses sensory data about the user’s bodily processes – breathing and muscle movement – to navigate throughout the work.
A group of artists, Jekaterina Jevdokimova, Kaspars Levalds and Mihails Pavlovecs, have developed a unique VR game dedicated to Kuldiga, interesting for visitors and residents alike. The VR game ” The Treasures of Kuldiga” will allow visitors to explore different places in the city and to see them in a new light.
Augmented reality works in ART+
As part of the festival, 8 new artworks will be launched in Kuldiga. The works will be available for viewing in the augmented reality mobile app gallery ART+. To view the artworks users will need a phone or tablet with internet connection and GPS. ART+ will work on iPhones newer than 6S; and Android devices with ARCore. Unfortunately, ART+ will not work on devices that do not have access to Google Services.
If a suitable device is not available or it is not possible to travel to the locations of the artworks, ART+ works are also available in a web browser and can be viewed from anywhere, on any device with an internet connection. To view ART+ works in a web browser, visit the ART+ website (https://artplus.app).
“Erosion” by the Dutch artist group ROTOR reflects on human nature and the impact of the environment on it – how we are affected by our environment and the culture we live in, just like the water waves and currents affect the shore and the seemingly unchanging rocks.
Latvian 3D artists Gustavs Lociks and Olga Barbina have created a giant plastic island floating above people’s heads in the Kuldiga watchtower, offering a futuristic scene in which new life forms emerge from man-made rubbish.
Latvian artist Kristena Sokolovska and Canadian sound artist Shawn Pinchbeck’s ” The Echo of Fear” is an interactive audiovisual work – the work will transform depending on how far the user is from the tree in the artwork.
ART+ artists at “COOLDIGA ART FEST”: Alex Sirous (UA), Anna Priedola (LV), Elīna Dreimane, Inga Šlangena, Kristena Sokolovska, Madara Kronberga, Maija Demitere, ROTOR (NL), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA).
Opening of the art festival “COOLDIGA ART FEST” will take place on August 24 at the Adatu Fabrika (Kuldiga, Kalpaka street 4) from 12:00 – 16:00.
The “COOLDIGA ART FEST” VR art exhibition will be open on weekdays by appointment from August 24 to September 13. The augmented reality artworks are available to ART+ users at any time.
“COOLDIGA ART FEST” is organised by Kuldīga Digital Innovation Centre and ART+. The festival is supported by Kuldīga Municipality, State Culture Capital Foundation (VKKF), RTU Liepaja Academy, RTU LA Art Research Laboratory (MPLab, mplab.lv) and ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education (aste.gallery).
Visiting the exhibition at the Adatu Fabrika is by appointment only, so please contact us to arrange a time. This can be done by calling or writing to +371 22352248 (Toms Girvaitis) or by e-mail: toms.girvaitis@kuldiga.lv.
More information about ART+: Maija Demitere (+371 29948430).
The festival “Sound Days” took place from April 23 – 27 at “MPLab”, Kūrmājas prospekts 13, “RTU Liepāja”, “FabLab Liepāja”, the concert hall “Lielais dzintars”, the club “Kursa”, and the cultural venue “Kursas putni”.
Sound Days is a yearly festival in Liepaja dedicated to sound, art and experiments. This year’s festival’s central theme is DIY culture – searching for new means of expression, developing unique and creative thinking – as well as innovations in sound art and electronic music.
The festival featured nine creative workshops covering a wide range of topics, from designing and developing sound instruments and event decorations to creating spatial sound works, electroacoustic composition, and audiovisual experiments, including making video music and learning other skills related to the materiality of sound and music. The workshops were led by internationally recognized artists, musicians, and designers: Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE), Christian Faubel (DE), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA), Julie Delisle (CA), Émile Gingras-Thérien (CA), Marco Timlin (FI), Ģirts Ozoliņš (LV), Mārtiņš Zutis (LV), Fricis Kalvelis (LV), Paula Vītola (LV), Rogier Jupijn (NL/LV). The evening masterclass program included a lecture on music publishing and copyright issues by Hari Karvinen (FI), as well as an introduction to the activities and current trends in the Canadian electroacoustic music scene by representatives of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), Jeff Chippewa and Shawn Pinchbeck (CA).
Workshops:
Marko Timlin (DE/FI) “Quadrophonic Orchestra”
April 23 – 26
A workshop that introduced participants to the fascinating world of sound improvisation.
Christian Faubel (DE) “Electronic Oscillators for Organic Patterns and Polyrhythms”
April 23 – 27
A practical workshop where participants developed electromechanical motorized rhythm machines.
Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE) “Graphic Scores – Composition, Interpretation, and Improvisation”
April 24 – 27
Participants created a piece or performance using various objects, household electronics, and other sound-producing items as musical instruments.
Shawn Pinchbeck (CA) “Animating Sound: An Introduction to Live Sound Spatialization Practices”
April 23 – 27
This workshop covered creative methods for sound diffusion in space, using a mixer to present electroacoustic music and sound art live with an eight (or more) channel sound system.
Émile Gingras-Thérien (CA) “Introduction to Audiovisual Creation”
April 23 – 27
Participants learned the process of creating visual music to produce a video music work.
Julie Delisle (CA) “Interactive Audio and Music with Wwise”
April 23 – 27
Participants gained basic skills for working with Wwise and creating real-time performances.
Mārtiņš Zutis (LV) “Visual Design for Events”
April 24 – 27
Under the guidance of a mentor, participants created the visual elements for the festival’s closing event, including scenography elements, spatial sculptures, and accompanying visuals.
Paula Vītola (LV), Rogier Jupijn (NL/LV), Fricis Kalvelis (LV) “MOCI”
April 24 – 27
Participants developed a mechanical instrument combining several modules to form a kinetic installation and rhythmic sound composition, known as MOCI (Modular Crankshaft Instrument).
Ģirts Ozoliņš (LV) “DIY Synthesizer Module Creation on the mki x es DIY.EDU Prototyping Platform”
April 25 – 26
In this creative workshop, participants used the educational Erica Synths DIY module series to learn the basics of electronic musical instrument design and created a performance.
The festival’s public program was complemented by a seminar featuring artist talks and presentations by sound technology designers, an open stage for emerging artists, a spatial sound concert, and, at the festival’s conclusion, a pop-up exhibition and an extensive evening of audiovisual performances.
Seminar, April 26 at the cultural venue “Kursas putni”:
The seminar featured presentations and talks by artists and industrial designers from sound technology companies on instrument design, artist associations and artistic practice were represented by Ģirts Ozoliņš (Erica Synths), Fricis Kalvelis (Gamechanger Audio), Kristaps Puķītis (Dirty Deal Audio), Lise-Lotte Norelius (Fylkingen), Julie Delisle and Mimi Allard.
Concert, April 25 at the concert hall “Lielais dzintars”:
The 2024 festival was held in collaboration with the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) and the JTTP 2023 competition. CEC members and JTTP winners, emerging composers from Canada, participated in the festival with presentations, workshops, and a spatial music concert titled “Play of Time: Canadian and Latvian Electroacoustic Music,” held in the chamber hall of the “Lielais Dzintars” concert hall on April 25. The concert featured electronic compositions spatialized through an 8-speaker surround system positioned around the audience. The concert, divided into two parts, showcased the latest in electroacoustic music and immersive sound from Canada and Latvia. The first part was dedicated to the works of the JTTP competition winners, with seven pieces performed, including two live performances (by Julie Delisle, Jules Bastin-Fontaine, Émile Gingras & José-Gabriel Bazán-Gauthier, Parisa Sabet Sarvestani, Mimi Allard, Kristian North, Parisa Sabet Sarvestani).
The second part featured a program of works by Latvian composers, curated by artistic director Voldemārs Johansons in collaboration with the immersive sound and science festival SWIRL.SPACE, presenting compositions by Voldemārs Johansons, Platons Buravickis, Krista Dintere, Anna Fišere, and Agita Reķe.
Festival “Sound Days” closing, April 27, at the club “Kursa”:
On the evening of April 27, a diverse program of audiovisual performances marked the conclusion of the “Skaņas dienas” week at the “Kursa” club in Liepāja. The pop-up exhibition and performances showcased the results of the creative workshops, including performances, sound works, audiovisual pieces, and other artistic experiences created throughout the week under the guidance of international artists and designers. The closing concert of “Skaņas dienas” featured a diverse and experimental program of audiovisual performances by a total of 13 artists: Christian Faubel (DE), Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE), Marko Timlin (DE/FI), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA/EE), Julie Delisle (CA) and Mimi Allard (CA), Spāre Vītola and Marta Ansone (LV), Paula Vītola and Alvis Grigaļūns (LV), DJ SAIRAM (LV), Unauthorized (LV), and Deelis (LV).
The festival is organised by ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and “RTU Liepāja” Art Research Laboratory (MPLab). Sound Days are made possible by the support of Liepaja municipality “Culture department” and Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.
At the end of November, the new media art festival UPDATE took place in Liepāja. It included nine workshops, three masterclasses, discussions and presentations, bringing together around 150 young artists, students, designers and IT enthusiasts. The main theme of the festival was automation processes in art, their opportunities and challenges. The festival was followed by two exhibitions, the first dedicated to the new works of art developed during the workshops and the second, “Update. Automated Creativity”, featured works by Latvian and foreign artists, including several of the UPDATE workshop leaders.
Workshop participants worked intensively with the workshop leaders over several days to learn new creative technologies, create prototypes, individual and collective artworks, and explore the festival theme from different angles.
In the “Image as Adventure” workshop with Taavi Suisalu (EE), participants worked creatively with artificial intelligence image generation tools to document a non-existent exhibition.
John Grzinich’s (US/EE) “Audio Swarming: exploring cognitive and performative dynamics through sound” used everyday objects and available technologies to create a collective “audio swarm”.
Under the guidance of Sol Sarratea (AR/DE), participants created various audiovisual, generative and interactive systems, working with the languages of mathematics, coding and art.
Together with Fricis Kalvelis at the Liepaja Science and Education Innovation Centre FabLab, participants used 3D printers as drawing tools.
Artist Sabrina Durling-Jones (US), in her workshop, taught how to create AI visualisations from a self-selected dataset, for example – of their own work.
Oleksandr Sirous (UA/FR) showed how to create interactive environments using game engines.
In the workshop “Eternal beginning” with Krista Dzudzilo, participants thought about the moment when a simple object becomes a work of art. At the end of the workshop, new conceptual works were exhibited.
The workshop by Imants Žodžíks explored analogue photography. It looked at the whole process – from choosing the camera and lenses to developing and making copies.
Artist and film-maker Pete Gomez (UK) has developed a methodology for working collectively on a film, where the participants form an ensemble and all work on both sides of the camera, as well as sound processing and editing. The group worked in this way to create an experimental short film.
On 25th of November, an exhibition of the works created during the festival was opened, followed by an experimental performance programme “uDISCO” in the evening.
On 15 February, the exhibition “Automatic Creativity” was opened. It explores the possibilities opened up by contemporary technologies such as artificial intelligence to automate the processes of human life and creative work, as well as the practices of repetition already present in them, and thus how experiences in this new era allow us to look differently at the nature of creativity. The concept of the exhibition was conceived by Anna Priedola. Artists Krista Dzudzilo, Pete Gomez, Sabrina Durling-Jones, Gustavs Lociks, Taavi Suisalu, Oleksandr Sirous reflected on these themes in their exhibition works. Alongside works by world-renowned artists and workshop leaders, collaborative works by festival participants are also on display.
The festival is organised by ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and the Art Research Laboratory of the University of Liepaja.Supported by the Liepaja Culture Board, Kurzeme Planning Region and Latvian Historical Lands, Liepaja Music, Art and Design Secondary School, the cultural centre “Kursas putni”, the new media culture centre RIXC and the State Culture Capital Foundation.
From April 23 to 27, the international festival “Sound Days” of sound, art and experiments will take place in Liepaja. This year’s festival draws attention to the practices of sound art, electroacoustic music, audiovisual culture and design – searching for new means of expression, developing uniqueness and creative thinking, DIY or ‘do-it-yourself’ culture, practical work with materials and studying the principles of operation of things. Creative workshops, seminars, discussions, master classes, as well as presentations of the results of creative workshops and evenings of audiovisual performances will take place within its framework. The central activity of the festival is the creative workshops that cover the fields of design, sound art, music, visual art and technology. Participants will have the opportunity to learn various prototyping and electronics techniques, making musical instruments and other sound objects, playing analog synthesizers, unique methods of creating spatial sound, creating performances and compositions, developing stage design and other skills. Workshop leaders are internationally recognized artists, musicians and designers from Latvia and abroad: Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE), Christian Faubel (DE), Marko Timlin (DE), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA), Julie Delisle (CA), Émile Gingras ( CA), Girts Ozoliņš (LV), Martiņs Zutis (LV), Paula Vitola (LV), Rogier Jupijn (LV/NL), Fricis Kalvelis (LV). The creative workshops will take place in the Art Research Laboratory (MPLab) of RTU Liepaja Academy and in the digital production laboratory “FabLab Liepaja” of the Science and Education Innovation Center of the Liepaja Board of Education.
On the evening of April 25, as part of the “Sound Days”, we invite you to attend the concert “Times Play. Canadian and Latvian Electroacoustic Music” in the chamber hall of the “Lielais dzintars” concert hall. The concert will feature compositions for electronics, which will be spatialized around the audience in an 8-speaker acoustic system. The concert in two parts will introduce the contemporary state of electroacoustic music and immersive sound in Canada and Latvia. The name of the concert is a direct reference to the first part of the concert program, in which the compositions of the winners of the “JTTP – Jeu de Temps / Times Play” contest and thematic prize winners will be played. The competition was organized for the 24th time by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) and is dedicated to new electroacoustic music in Canada. The electro-acoustic music concert of Canada’s new and emerging composers will feature spatialy diffused sound compositions as well as audiovisual compositions. CEC representatives and several composers will be present at the concert, who will introduce the culture of electro-acoustic music in Canada in a short pre-concert conversation. The 75 minute long program will feature works by Julie Delisle, Jules Bastin-Fontaine, Émile Gingras & José-Gabriel Bazán-Gauthier, Parisa Sabet Sarvestani, Mimi Allard and Kristian North. In the second part of the “Times Play” concert, a program of compositions by Latvian composers will be played, created by the artistic director Voldemārs Johansons in cooperation with the immersive sound and science festival SWIRL.SPACE. The program includes compositions by Voldemars Johansson, Platon Buravits and other composers for spatial performance.
On April 26, a seminar will be held in the cultural center “Kursas putni”, where guests of the festival – artists and various representatives of creative industries – will present their activities, as well as a discussion on the topics studied at the festival. In the continuation of the evening, the open performance program will be held, where the new artists of experimental and electronic music will perform.
The end of the “Sound Days” week will be celebrated on the evening of April 27 in Liepāja, in the “Kursa” club. The evening will begin with the presentations of the results of the creative workshops – there will be performances, demonstrations and other artistic experiences, which the participants will create during the week under the guidance of international artists and designers.
The event will be followed by a diverse and experimental program of audiovisual performances. Christian Faubel (DE), Lise-Lotte Norelius (SE), Marko Timlin (DE/FI), Shawn Pinchbeck (CA/EE), Julie Delisle (CA), Paula Vitola and Alvis Grigaluns (LV) will perform. Spare Vitola and Marta Ansone (LV). The evening will end with a program of electronic dance music.
Information about the full festival program, creative workshops and application, ticket sales for festival performance evenings on the website http://sound.mplab.lv. Tickets are available at “Biļešu paradīze” ticket offices and on the Internet: https://www.bilesuparadize.lv/lv/custompage/4255.
In 2024 the festival partner is The Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC) and the contest JTTP 2023.
The festival is organized by the society “ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education, association “E-Lab, electronic art and media center” and RTU Liepāja Art Research Laboratory (MPLab). The festival “Sound Days” take place thanks to the financial support of the Cultural Administration of Liepaja municipality and the State Culture Capital Fund. Technical support for the closing program of the festival will be provided by PXB.LV.
From 16 February to 5 March 2024, the exhibition “Automatic Creativity” will take place in the exhibition hall of the Liepāja School of Music, Art and Design, 18 Alejas Street. Opening of the exhibition is on 15 February at 18.00.
The artworks of the international exhibition “Automatic Creativity” depict the role of contemporary technologies and automated processes in shaping the perception, identity and well-being of society and the individual, as well as the unconscious, automatic actions that humans perform when adapting to the performance of machines. Estonian artist Taavi Suisalu’s poetic video installation sheds light on the autonomous interaction of devices to maintain human electronically mediated communication and relationships. Liepaja-based artist Gustavs Lociks reveals the creative reality constructions of artificial intelligence in multi-layered large-scale digital prints, while Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Sirous has constructed a decentralized archive in virtual reality from data digitally collected from the bodies of his compatriots as a monument to the painful existence of his people. The artist Krista Dzudzilo captured a moment in the practice of the performing artist, where routine and creativity, the precision of bodily performance and the interpretation of sound in the imagination meet.
The exhibition is part of the new media art festival UPDATE, inviting renowned artists from different countries and artistic disciplines to reflect on the processes of automating creativity together with new media artists and designers from Latvia and abroad.
The UPDATE New Media Art Festival is organized by the artists’ association ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and the Art Research Laboratory of the University of Liepaja (MPLab) with the aim to build an international network of creativity, exchange and collaboration in art and technology and to promote contemporary and innovative expressions of art and design in the region, as well as to enable the professional development of young artists by implementing an extensive free art and education programme in Liepaja every year.
From May 27 until June 4, the annual international interdisciplinary festival “Sound Days” will take place in Liepāja, Kuršu street 20, at the Liepāja University and in the cultural center “Pegaza Pagalms”. The 2023 festival is dedicated to the search for the in–between space in visual arts, audio culture and literature. The festival is a meeting and cooperation platform for young artists, musicians, students, professionals and others interested in sound, art, music and technology.
The interaction of sound and text will be discovered and researched in various forms – there will be creative workshops, audiovisual performance evenings, an exhibition, readings of poetry and creative texts, artist’s presentations, activities for families and children, demonstrations, as well as other activities.
The festival will be opened with the opening of the exhibition and performances on May 27, it will be open for the entire week of the festival until June.
Until May 29, those interested have the opportunity to apply for the central activity of the festival – creative workshops led by internationally known artists. The workshops will take place from May 30th to June 3rd and their results will be presented as part of the festival’s final performance program.
Under the leadership of Antye Greie-Ripatti (AGF) (DE/FI), audio sculptor, composer, sound artist & curator/facilitator of sound art, poemproducer & intersectional feminist networker, there will be an opportunity to study and create sounds – in the workshop we will explore, make sound and listen, critic, reflect and sonify. We will listen to the current world and identify space for artistic positioning. We will be looking to explore the questions: What is political sound? What is collective sound? How to have a sonic position? Does sound have a transformative quality?
In the creative workshop of the programmer, artist and educator Olivia Jack (US/DE), you will have the opportunity to learn visualization with the live coding using web–based video synthesizer “Hydra” developed by the artist.
In the workshop of the experimental musician, sound and text artist Friedemann Dupelius (DE), it will be possible to try out and try to find different formats to synthesize sound, thought and/or fiction – such as Audio Papers, Sonic Fiction, Experimental Hörspiele or epistemic DJ Sets.
Under the guidance of sound artist and architect Maksims Šenteļevs (LV), participants will be invited to use the environment as a composition tool and the objects found in it as sound tools in various unusual places in the environment of the city of Liepāja.
In the creative workshop “Sound, Media and Text”, by choosing the materials and media closest to them, the workshop participants will create and develop their creative works under the guidance of the poet and artist Artūrs Punte (LV).
Academic composer, pianist and improviser Platons Buravickis (LV) will offer the participants to learn various analog and digital methods for sound synthesis and will share his experience of using improvisation in the creation of a piece.
Sound artist, lecturer and one of the creators of the internet radio platform “Tīrkultura / Unexpected Sources Audio Gallery Radio” Reinis Semēvics (LV) will present methods and techniques for creating sound compositions, using digital effects and realizing creative ideas using sound.
The rich range of “Sound Days” creative workshops will be complemented by a short format creative workshop on May 30 and 31, 17.00 – 19.00, led by researcher and digital sound artist Tobias Hartmann (DE) – there will be an opportunity to learn about a variety of free online tools for the creation of interactive and reactive digital online artworks.
On June 2nd, activities dedicated to literature and experiments will take place throughout the day – readings by Elīna Bākule–Veira (LV) and Ivars Šteinbergs (LV) and short–format creative workshops, with the opportunity to learn unique methods of creating and performing sound poetry. The evening will end with readings and multimedia performances by young writers of Liepāja University.
On the closing evening of the “Sound Days” on June 3, there will be presentations of the results of the creative workshops and a diverse and experimental program of sound performances, in which the leaders of the creative workshops will take part. Several experimental music groups and artists will also participate: Rabenau and Mellamellene with listening poetry, text and media artist Diana Lelis in synergy with electronic music artist Mahi F. Bukimi, media artist Paula Vītola, audiovisual organism Trihars and others.
On the other hand, all age groups, especially families with children, are invited to visit the open creative workshops on May 28. Paula Vītola and Krista Dintere created a series of creative workshops within the framework of the Latvian School Bag project “Senses – sounds”. Workshops will study different listening techniques with or without technology, as well as introduce different methods of sound creation and recording, unusual microphones and instruments. Text and media artist Diana Lelis invites you to a poetry–collage workshop, (re)discovering ways, methods, laws and systems for creative thought – to activate the ‘motor skills’ in the creation of short stories.
In recognition of new cultural places, on May 30, the performance of Juan Duarte Regino (MX/FI) and Anton Felatov (DE), will take place on Tirgus Street 9, Jaunliepāja Cultural Centre “Fosfors”. Duarte is a Finnish–based Mexican artist who creates artworks with environmental sounds to explore ways of perceiving nature and technology. Until June 30, Duarte is the artist in residency of the Baltic and Nordic art, science and techno-ecology residency program organized by the new media culture center RIXC.
You will find the form and description of the application for workshops, as well as the full festival programme and other information on the festival’s website: sound.mplab.lv
“Sound Days” is organised by ASTE. Art, Science, Technology, Education and University Liepaja University Art Research Laboratory (MPLab), in collaboration with the Liepaja University writing study programme and the cultural site Pegaza Pagalms.
The festival is supported by the Liepaja Culture Board and the State Culture Capital Foundation (VKKF).
The information was prepared by the festival’s representative, Paula Vītola, and Diana Lelis.
