Pictures from opening of the exhibition – https://www.flickr.com/photos/rixcriga/albums/72157690101384204

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On December 7, 17.00 at RIXC gallery is going to take place opening of exhibition "Light works" by young Latvian artist Paula Vītola. In her works artist intends to discover and show meaning of light in our day technologies.

Paula Vītola believes that our day technologies have been considered as self-evident and unfamiliar at the same time. This is the reason why they are mystified so often. Artist creates works that make us think about technical principles hidden in “black boxes”, that we are usually introduce to through different metaphors and interfaces. “Light works” intends to discover and show meaning of light in our day technologies. Light is used as physical phenomena, as information carrier and as guide that helps us understand how modern technique has been used. And also to find out – what is behind those blue screens and inside black boxes.

Vitolas work “Sun Tracks” is a sound recorder which uses sunlight as an information transfer material turning it into electric sound signal and physical sound record. The inspiration of the work comes from the photophone invented by Alexander Graham Bell which used sun light, creating the first wireless electronic communication device already in the 19th century.

Installation "Light Net" shows that the Internet is an integral part of our everyday lives. Professional engineers, designers and business visionaries develop devices and interfaces to help people to navigate themselves in this immense system. Not everybody understands or wants to understand how this phenomena works. The Internet is a very complex infrastructure in which data, images and other user provided material are filtered, processed and glued together while traveling through the air, light, wires and other transfer environments.Despite the complexity of the Internet infrastructure, it is possible to reduce it to basic elements necessary for every communication system – a sender, information transfer material, receiver as well as a language (protocol), so both sides involved in the communication could understand each other. “Light Net” works as a slow and very well understandable model of the Internet – it is so simple that one could decode it using only pen and watch.

Paula Vītola has graduated from the New Media Art program at Liepāja University, where she now works as lecturer and continues her PhD. Both works that can be seen in exhibition are a part of her future promotion work, that is dedicated to communication between human and technologies in different stages of time. She is mainly interested in fields such as art as research, media archaeology, art and science, and relationships between humans and technology.

Her work encompasses experimenting with technology and nature, and pro­gramming and gadget-hacking. Paula Vītola actively participates in different media art exhi­bitions and light festivals in Latvia, France, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Finland.

Venue: RIXC Gallery. Address: Lenču iela 2, Riga, LV-1010. Opening hours: from Monday to Saturday, 12.00 – 18.00; Sundays – closed. Entrance free. Exhibition is opened until January 20, 2018.

Support: State Culture Capital Foundation, Art Research Laboratory (MPLab) of Liepaja University.