From left: Ruta Gruma. Take me to se(a), 2026. From right: Rogier Arents. Line 1. līnija, 2026.

Rasa Smite in conversation with artist Rogier Arents

Date: 30 July 2026
Time: 18:00–21:00
Location: RIXC Gallery, Lenču iela 2, Riga (near Strēlnieku and Dzirnavu Streets)

Programme:

18:00–19:00

SensUs – Extended Reality Art Platform / Rasa Smite
Line 1. līnija – Exhibition / Rogier Arents
Conversation: From Invisible Dynamics to Extending Realities
(In English)

19:00–21:00

Line 1. līnija – Exhibition
Meet the Artist: Walk-through with Rogier Arents
(In English, with Latvian translation)

How can art extend reality?

What becomes visible when artists challenge our habitual ways of perceiving time, space, embodiment, ecological processes, and the invisible dynamics that shape our everyday lives?
We invite you to the first visionary conversation on Extending Realities, RIXC's new programme developed through its international SensUs platform, taking place within the Riga Last Thursday programme at the RIXC Gallery, Lenču iela 2, on 30 July 2026 at 18:00.
In conversation with Dutch artist Rogier Arents, Rasa Smite will explore how artistic practices, immersive technologies, and ecological thinking can expand our perception of reality.

This event also marks the first public discussion of Extending Realities—a new visionary direction developed by RIXC. It will first be explored through this year's RIXC Art Science Festival 2026, themed Climate Imagination, including the first Baltic Art & STS Workshop on Artistic Experimentation, and will continue towards Extending Realities—an immersive art symposium and exhibition as part of the official programme of Liepāja 2027 – European Capital of Culture.

Within the Last Thursday conversation programme at the RIXC Gallery, artist and researcher Rasa Smite will trace the origins and development of RIXC's SensUs XR Art Platform, including the most recent Baltic–Nordic pilot project Symbiotic Futures: Slow Travel as Field Work, while engaging in conversation with artist Rogier Arents, who will introduce his experiments with reality perception presented in his current exhibition Line 1. līnija at the RIXC Gallery.
Following the presentations and discussion, visitors are invited to view the exhibition Line 1. līnija until 21:00 and join a guided tour with the artist.

The exhibition " Line 1. Līnija" by Rogiers Arents presents Riga through the lens of a slit-scan camera. Through images of people, cars, streets, and buildings, Rogier captures the dynamics of contemporary life, extending our perception of reality as the tram's movement stretches and compresses time and space. As in his film and book, Rogier lets his gaze glide across Riga while travelling on Tram No. 1, documenting the passing landscape from Imanta to Jugla.

Conversation: From Invisible Dynamics to Extending Realities

Referring to this focus on situated knowledge, which lies at the heart of the SensUs XR platform's artistic experimentation through fieldwork, Rasa Smite will draw parallels with her own engagement and RIXC's site-specific explorations of nature, culture, and ecology through immersive technologies. These artistic practices explore Extending Realities through concepts such as Climate Imagination, Symbiotic Futures, art and science, and immersive technologies for creating situated and embodied experiences.
The event brings into dialogue Rogier Arents' slit-scan explorations of urban space and time with the SensUs XR Platform's artistic investigations of ecological relationships, environmental sensing, and climate imagination. Although working through different artistic media—from analogue image-making to augmented reality—both practices invite us to extend perception beyond the immediately visible, revealing hidden dynamics that shape our everyday environments.

Baltic–Nordic pilot project Symbiotic Futures: Slow Travel as Field Work

In her presentation, Rasa Smite will reflect on the artistic and conceptual development of the Baltic–Nordic pilot project Symbiotic Futures: Slow Travel as Field Work. Bringing together augmented reality, artistic field research, ecological thinking, and collaborative practices developed across the Baltic and Nordic region, the platform explores new ways of experiencing more-than-human relationships, environmental change, and place-based knowledge.

Future visions

The event also marks the public conclusion of the Baltic–Nordic pilot project Symbiotic Futures: Slow Travel as Field Work. It will present the results of the Baltic–Nordic slow travel routes, during which eight artists from Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, travelled exclusively by sustainable means of transport—including ferries, canoes, electric vehicles, and buses—to conduct artistic field research and explore terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems through immersive media technologies.
The routes culminated in the creation of an immersive soundscape and artwork presented on the SensUs XR Platform. Artists participating in “green slow travel as artistic fieldwork”: Mari-Liis Rebane & Timo Toots (Maajaam / EE), Kristina Zakutauskaitė & Ruta Gruma (Institutio Media / LT), Line Thastum & Sissel Thastum (Isop / DK), Kristin Bergaust (SENT / NO), Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir (Lorna / IS).
Rather than an endpoint, the project presents a blueprint for a new phase of long-term Baltic–Nordic collaboration, bringing together artistic research, Science and Technology Studies (STS), ecological fieldwork, and XR practices.

The conversation also offers a first public introduction to the evolving conceptual trajectory of RIXC's upcoming programmes—from Climate Imagination, the theme of the RIXC Art Science Festival 2026, where the newest Symbiotic Futures augmented reality soundscape will be presented, towards Extending Realities, the emerging theme of RIXC's XR programme within Liepāja 2027 – European Capital of Culture.

Rather than presenting a finished programme, the evening opens a conversation about how contemporary artistic practices can expand our understanding of ecological, technological, social, and temporal realities.

More information: https://rixc.org/

Contact us: rixc@rixc.org,  +371 67228478 (Office), +371 25358541 (Līva Siliņa)

Supported by the Nordic Culture Point, foundation Liepāja 2027, State Cultural Capital foundation, Riga City Council