RIXC Art Science Festival 2025: Plants Intelligence

This year’s RIXC Art Science Festival will delve into the theme of ‘plant intelligence,’ exploring how our understanding of plant evolution and recognition of their intelligence might introduce new methods, knowledge, and aesthetic approaches through perspectives such as Indigenous knowledge and ethnobotany, plant sensing and the evolution of intelligence, neo-extractivism in transgenic agriculture and organic farming, and the still scarcely unfolded relationships between natural and artificial intelligence—holding the potential to shape imaginary future scenarios amidst climate change.

The festival will take place on October 16–18, 2025, in Riga, featuring a broad program including the Plant_Intelligence exhibition opening, public keynotes, symposium, artist talks, presentations and showcases, performances, and workshops.

This year, the festival is produced in significant international partnerships. The “Plants_Intelligence” exhibition at Kim?, exploring the central theme of “plant intelligence,” is developed in collaboration with Swiss researchers of the SNSF-funded project Plants_Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant, co-curated by Yvonne Volkart and Raitis Smits, and will feature 12 international artists.

Another perspective will be introduced through the “Resonances of Nature” workshop and performance programme, organized in partnership with German, French, and Latvian artists, co-organized by the Goethe-Institut Riga and the French Institute in Latvia, and supported by the Franco-German Cultural Fund.

Complementing these collaborations is the “Symbiotic Realities” symposium with a diverse lineup of international artists from across Europe and beyond — from Nordic countries and Canada to South America and Asia — contributing fresh global perspectives to the dialogue between art, science, and nature, and contributing to launch the new Symbiotic Realities platform by RIXC and its partners.

The symposium will include presentations by this year’s RIXC Residency artists and a guided tour showcasing their new artworks on the SensUs art platform, co-curated and co-produced by RIXC in partnership with NAIA in Karlsruhe, Zone Sound Creative in Taipei and SLOlab in Toronto. 

The festival will also host a Symbiotic Futures network meeting, supported by Nordic Culture Point, including a “Greening Guidelines” workshop. Culminating the festival, the “Plants_Intelligence” Film Screening programme will present films exploring the festival’s central themes.

Festival Programme:

• Festival Dates: October 16–18, 2025
• “Symbiotic Realities” Symposium: October 16–18, 2025, at Art Academy of Latvia (K-2), Kalpaka bulvāris 13; KIM? Contemporary Art Centre, Sporta iela 2; and online via Zoom.
• Plants_Intelligence Exhibition: October 16–November 23, 2025, at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga. Opening on October 16, 2025, at 18:00
• “Resonances of Nature” workshop and performance programme: October 17–18, Art Academy of Latvia (K-2), Kalpaka bulvāris 13.
• Plants_Intelligence Film Screening Programme: October 18, Art Academy of Latvia (K-2), Kalpaka bulvāris 13. 

More information:

https://festival2025.rixc.org/

https://rixc.org/

Host or Publisher RIXC Center for New Media Culture