On 15th August the programme of Café Europa Riga – RIXC Innovation Lab will be launched. For one and a half month Café Europa Riga will hold event series at the container module which has come to Riga all the way of more than 2000 km from Belgium. RIXC Centre for New Media Culture invites to attend the large-scale and manifold programme of events focused on art, science and innovative technologies.
Café Europa container at Spikeri Creative Quartier in Riga. Photo: Daina Siliņa / RIXC
When becoming European Capital of Culture, the city undertakes the role and duty of an envoy – bringing up the foreground of it’s own and herald it to reach other cities and countries at the same time. This is the case of Café Europa Riga project – RIXC has undertaken it in a close collaboration between Riga 2014 and Mons 2015. The concept of Café Europa implies networking among the European cities especially. It has to be marked out that Riga is the very first European city outside Belgium where Café Europa is installed, but the next year Café Europa hybrid structures will pop up in many other European cities – such us Linz, Pilsen, Karlsruhe, Sarajevo and others.
The container was brought by two trucks from Belgium to Latvia. Photo: Daina Siliņa / RIXC
Café Europa is a project initiated by Mons 2015 – European Capital of Culture. The main theme of Mons 2015 is “where culture meets technology”, and Café Europa is an example of this. It’s intention is to bring new technologies closer to people, making them more familiar and accessible for everybody.
Doing such, Café Europa is rooted around the historical concept of cafés. During the centuries, a café is the place for meeting, sharing, learning, imagining and creating. Café Europa appropriates these social qualities of traditional café place, but merges them with creative opportunities coming along the new technologies.
Café Europa is multi-functional, architecturally flexible, mobile space, that can be adapted to the needs of the local context while maintaining connection to other places in Europa with similar nature at the same time.
Café Europa Riga will deal with 3D printing and renewable energy technologies especially, it will also invite to rethink the future of urban ecosystems, human evolution and psychology of visual perception together with artists and scientists from Latvia and abroad.
Placing of the container by Belgium and Latvian technicians. Foto: Daina Siliņa / RIXC
Café Europa Riga programme highlights:
Friday, August 15, 19.00-21.00.
Opening of Café Europa Riga.
Sunday, August 17, 12.00-18.00
RIGA CITY FESTIVAL: 3D Bridges workshop.
August 19–31 (Week I and II)
3D creative randomness printing lab. Exhibition, workshops and JMM Showcase. Artists in residence: Rihards Vitols, Peteris Riekstins, Martins Engelis.
Speed-dating between LV and BE creative industries. August 21, 15.00-17.00
Europa Wall – workshop on digital interfaces. August 25–27.
September 2–7 (Week III)
Urban Ecosystems – bee keeping and mapping the foraging fields in the city. Exhibition and workshop by Annemie Maes (BE).
WHITE NIGHT 2014: Fog – art and science workshops and performance.
Saturday, September 6: 15.00 and 18.00 – workshops / 20.30, 21.30, 22.30… performances by Edwin van der Heide (NL)
September 9–14 (Week IV)
3D BioLAB. Pond-Battery by Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Voldemars Johansons, Arturs Gruduls. Workshop “Virtuosos” (the 17th century play on science experiments) by Ainars Kamolins and Rudolf Bekic.
CITY UTOPIA: Future of Water: Renewable Energy. Saturday, September 13, 15.00 and 18.00 Art and science workshops.
September 16–21 (Week V)
FOOOD. War and peace. Exhibition, art and science creative labs. Artist in residence: Gints Gabrans.
September 23–28 (Week VI)
Habitus. Exhibition and workshop on visual perception, real-time mapping and “shadow” projections. Exhibition and workshop by Hanna Haaslahti (FI).
Photo from Café Europa containers in Mons. 3D prints. Photo: Mladen Bundalo / Mons 2015.
Exhibition opening hours: Mon – closed, Tue-Sun 12.00-18.00.
All workshops are open for participation, apply in advance, no admission fee, no prior knowledge required.
Special offer supported by ABLV Charitable Foundation: we invite school groups to interactive tours!
Please apply for workshops and group tours: 26546776, rixc@rixc.lv.
Café Europa Riga is the project implemented by RIXC Center for New Media Culture in collaboration with Riga 2014 and Mons 2015.
For the most recent information about the project will be published on Riga 2014 portal and RIXC’s Facebook page.
Photo from Café Europa containers in Mons. Photo: Mladen Bundalo / Mons 2015.
Support: Foundation Riga 2014, Riga City Council, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, EU programme Culture, the State Culture Capital Foundation, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Riga, Wallonia-Brussels Delegation in Warsaw, Wallonia-Brussels International, ABLV Charitable Foundation, Nordic Culture Point, Soft Control, Renewable Network, Laboratory of Hydrogen Energy Materials of the Institute of Solid State Physics of University of Latvia, Art Research Lab of Liepaja University.
by Daina Siliņa / RIXC