Open North Launch Meeting and conference took place in Riga, September 6 – 7, 2013, gathering together artists, cultural operators and other creative producers from Riga (Latvia), Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg (Russia), Tallinn (Estonia), Copenhagen (Denmark), Stockholm (Sweden) and Mons (Belgium), motivated to get involve in discussion and action aimed to foster sustainable culture development in the North European region.
The opening speech by Rasa Smite/RIXC Centre for New Media Culture. Photo: Maija Demitere
The conference focused on digital media art, techno-sciences and open business developments with an aim to investigate the current state of emerging creative industries sector in region. Thematically the programme was divided into two sessions: 1: THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL MEDIA ART (moderated by Rasa Smite and Nils Clasesson) and 2: CREATIVE HUBS (moderated by Rasa Smite and Oleg Koefoed). The programme also included two creative think tank workshops – Networking, Culture and Sustainability (conducted by Oleg KOEFOED) and Designing New FabLabs (conducted by Ali Neissi SHOOSHTARI ) – a chance to discuss and work on concrete new concepts, strategies and ideas.
Workshop 1: CREATIVE NETWORKS, CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY – conducted by Oleg Koefoed / Cultura21 / Denmark and Rasa Smite / RIXC. Photo: Maija Demitere
This meeting was a great platform for face-to-face discussion among representatives of creative industries, local municipalities, artists, businessmen, NGO’s etc., giving an opportunity to share perspectives of the involved parties and discuss the daily problems and unique challenges, comparing different practices in the region and creating basis for a common strategy and future cooperation. It has also been a good starting point for setting up new partnerships and initiatives stimulating the international cooepration within the creative sector as well as encouraging dialogue and cooperation across different sectors and actors on national level.
Workshop in process. Photo: Maija Demitere
Programme of the 7th of September – SOCIAL GAMING workshop, art-science workshop BACTERIA BATTERY and the evening programme – audiovisual performances, took place at the Spikeri Creative quarter in Riga, in the framework of WHITE NIGHT (Riga forum for contemporary culture). For more information look at the section OPEN NORT ON THE WHITE NIGHT.