A digital art symposium REALITY TURN will be held at Lūznavas Manor
On 15-16 May, the International Digital Art Symposium “Reality Turn (Reality) – new experience, art and ecology in the virtual era” will be held at THE Rēzekne municipality. Hundreds of participants, artists, designers, digital art theorists from Latvia, France and Ireland, three countries participating in the project “European Connections in Digital Arts – EUCIDA” will participate in the symposium. The project partners are digital art centres in Dublin (Ireland), Belfort (France) and the municipality of Rezekne.
At the time of the event, several art exhibitions will be opened, panels and previews will be held, all who want to learn a new experience are invited to participate in artists' workshops, deepening into the possibilities of arts and ecology in the virtual era.
As reported in the symposium programme, the attitude towards the virtual world, ecological awareness, climate change, environmental issues, art and technology relations, these problems will be the main theme of the Forum's participants' discussions.
People have always searched for answers to a question that is reality. As soon as the old myths are dispersed, there is a new, imaginary world. New technologies are being invented, our willingness to learn about the expansion of telecommunications sends, the acquisition of new experience – becomes more powerful and transforms into new forms. There is now a paradox – although almost all aspects of our everyday life are in the virtual room, but the consequences of this process affect our physical space. The boundary between real and virtual has become very thin, smart algorithms analyze every our activity in social networks and provide advice on where we should shopping with which we should be friends. The virtual reality offers us new experience, expanding our feelings and visions, but what does this “new experience” mean “a generation of aifons” which do not have a similar experience in real life and who often make decisions based on the experience gained in the virtual field? The digital art calls for a serious treatment of the virtual world, because everything we do in the virtual environment can bring immediate consequences in everyday life, such as bad news can become viral and actually harmful. Artists in symposium will provide masterpieces that will reveal different myths – how to use digital technologies for communication with plants that hide in electricity and network infrastructure, how to use algae and bacteria for the production of green energy, experiment with 3D printers and 360 videos, creating a stronger link between the virtual and real world.
In one of Lūznavas, the exhibition “digital experiment in design II” will be opened at the Rta Student Academy (RTA). This exhibition will be a continuation of the previous year's exhibition showing the light objects developed by digital technologies, as well as clothes and accessories.
On the EUCIDA project
The project “European Connections in Digital Arts – EUCIDA (digital art covers Europe)” is from 1 July 2016 to 31 December 2019. The total budget of the project is EUR 344 000, of which EUR 41 000 is part of the co-financing of the municipality of Rezekne and EUR 41 885 is the financing of THE EU “Creative Europe” programme. Within the framework of the project, all stakeholders have the opportunity to see the digital art exhibitions created by Latvian, Irish and French artists IN Lūznavas Manor, to meet the artists of different countries, as well as to visit creative workshops by testing the possibilities of digital laser equipment in the creation of artistic works. The project also offers artists' residence opportunities, scholarships for artists and cultural workers who can attend digital art exhibitions. More information on website www.reseknes novads.lv, accounts on social networks https://www.facebook.com/eucidaproject/
Prepared by Anna Ranāne
Symposium Program
Exhibition concept