Last weekend (October 13–14, 2012) RIXC artists Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits together with Arturs Gruduls, scientist from University of Latvia took part in ARTICLE BIENNALE 2012 which takes place (until October 28) in Stavanger, Norway.
ARTICLE 2012: DIALOGUES
Stavanger | SKUR2 | October 5 – 28, 2012
Art is about changing the perspectives of people. Making aesthetic objects, such as sculptures or paintings, is only one way to provoke such changes. Many artists nowadays, however, respond to the urgent issues of our times by shaping dialogues instead. To facilitate such dialogues, artists are stepping out of their workspaces and exhibition venues to enter into the public arena and engage communities around critically important problems. Whether through design, installation art, or interventions in public spaces, these artists guide individuals and communities towards reflection, as they primarily aim to provoke or stimulate conversation.
ARTICLE 2012 aims to facilitate critical dialogue through art, by engaging communities in Stavanger in discussions relevant to the city and its inhabitants. Each weekend of October 2012, ARTICLE will develop dialogue around four critical themes: Sustainable Food Production, Environmental Safety, Direct Democracy, and Cultural Economy. These discussion themes will bring together artists and other experts, local stakeholders, and the broader public in various exciting dialogue frameworks, such as the dynamic discussion formats developed by the British art collective The People Speak. ARTICLE 2012 aims to offer Stavanger alternative perspectives on issues relevant to the city and its inhabitants through art provoking dialogue.
We are welcoming people of Stavanger to form a Dialogue!
Hege Tapio / Producer and curator
Directress of i/o/lab – Centre for Future Arts
& Michel van Dartel / co-curator
Michel van Dartel (NL) is a curator at V2_Institute for the Unstable Media and the Dutch Electronic Art Festival. Currently he also is guest curator of ARTICLE and a guest teacher at Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design. Michel also works as external advisor to a.o. the Mondriaan Foundation and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and is associate editor of the Journal for Artistic Research. (@MichelvanDartel | [email protected])
BIOTRICITY WORKSHOP – “BACTERIA BATTERY No 6”:
How to make energy from wastewater
Led by Raitis Smits (RIXC) and Arturs Gruduls.
This workshop introduces participants to methods that generate energy out of waste-water. On the basis of hands-on experiments with a ‘next-generation’ biotechnology called ‘microbial fuel cells’, participants explore how this technology can be interpreted through art. During the workshop, biologist Arturs Gruduls and artists Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits will demonstrate how to make a fuel cell that generates electricity from bacteria living in (dirty) water. Together with the participants, they will conduct experiments using different energy sources, such as soil. Subsequently, using their own self-made ‘bio-tricity’ cells, workshop participants will be invited to design a bacteria-battery network that will form the basis for experiments transforming its electrical signals into sound and ‘live streams’. During these hands-on activities the workshop leaders will introduce participants to scientific visions and artistic approaches related to the future of this emerging technology, as well as encouraging participants to develop their own.
Scientist Arturs Gruduls from University of Latvia digging for mud in Stavanger to make bacteria batteries.
In the background Hege Tapio from i/o/lab (NO) and Rasa Smite from RIXC (LV).
All photos: Raitis Smits.
ARTIST TALK BY RASA SMITE AND RAITIS SMITS (RIXC):
“A Vast Energy [R]evolution. Artists and Scientists Joining Forces in the Quest for Renewable Future”
The end of the Oil Age is approaching. In contrast to popular belief however this is not the result of depleting oil resources, but of a paradigm shift. To replace the apocalyptic visions of ecological catastrophes and resource depletion with viable alternatives, scientists and artists are currently joining forces in the quest for a more sustainable future. While scientists focus on vast resources and engineers aim to develop next generation technologies, artists approach energy and sustainability issues from more socio-cultural and trans-disciplinary perspectives. Within the recently founded Renewable Network, artists for example explore the edges of sustainable development together with experts in the field as well as with local communities from both urban and rural areas. Renewable Network artists collaborate with scientists, engineers, designers and architects to develop devices that generate electricity from bacteria in wastewater, aronia berry juice, sunlight, or even electromagnetic radiation. This program will present what happens when art leaves its autonomous position for the sake of a more sustainable future.
By Rasa Smite and from ARTicle 2012 website