nettime: Rasa Smite answers

[Olia Lialina <olialia@glasnet.ru>]

interview with Rasa Smite, Latvian artist and curator, after ART +COMMUNICATION, November, 22-23
From:   Rasa[SMTP:rasa@parks.lv]
Sent:   28 ’”؇ÝØ 1996 ‹. 6:01
To:     Olia Lialina
Subject:        Re: interview


>Rasa, how many (and what) new media conferences you visited before you
decided to organize "Art +Communication" in Riga and how many (and what) new media conferences you visited before you
organized it ?

1.The first conference were I've got more information about new media
activities was in Tallin, Understanding Interactivity, exactly a year ago in
November 1996. Immediatly after this conference I started to work to establish 
Electronic arts and media center in Riga.

after I visited:
2. August, 1996, Computer-art festival NEW BODIES in Maribor (Slovenia) ,
where we with Raitis presented our videoinstallation "The Hedgehod Coat".

3.September 12-14, 1996 I participated in Media & Ethics conference in
Helsinki with presentation about media art situation and new tendances in
Latvia.

4.In September 17-22, 1996 we four people from Riga (Raitis Smits, Janis
Garancs, Alise Tifentale and me) participated in V2_East Documantation
Meeting conference (DEAF). I and Janis made presentation about media art in
Latvia.
In last day of this conference I suddanly decided: we have to make an
official opening of E-L@b with small conference.

5.In October 1996 I was in Metaforum 3, Budapest and invited some more
people to participate in Art+Communication.

So finally the conference become not so small and actually it was really
important event in Latvia.

>What is e-l@b?

e-l@b is creative group of people (or group of creative people), althogh
officialy e-l@b is electronic arts and media center, but more and
more I prefer to call e-l@b - open creative group.
  
>4.Who is e-l@b?

four people-founders Rasa Smite, Janis Garancs, Raitis Smits, Alise Tifentale,
some more young artists - Gints Gabrans, Arvids Alksnis, Toms Vitins (he
also is musician) - they all participated in their first Internet art
project "Riga-fresh" (I guess, it also was the first Internet on-line art
project in Latvia) , Riga's part of the Internet project Refresh (which is
organized by Vuk, Alexei and Andreas), and of course some more nice people, who has interest in new media
activities and would like to know something more. 
I hope there will be even some more people who will join us in projects.

>How much time you spent to get a computer and internet access?

more than half a year.
 
>What else do you have?

many nice people  and ideas around

>At  Riga Art Academy and at Secret Experiment club were a lot of young people listening very attentivly to speakers
(Baker, Bunting, Dzerve, Kluitenberg, Lialina, McCarty, Shulgin, Steimane,
Vanags). Do you think it was the interest to smth actual, or to smth
absolutly new?

Not really interest to something absoutely new, but many people had heard
about it and wanted to get to know more. Of course many issues like the net
culture were really new.

>How can you describe old media art situation in Latvia now?

I am not so interested in it and i have not thought about it very much.

>How can you describe new media art situation in Latvia now?

Everything is just at the beginning and it starts to grow more popular.
Specially if we are able to stand against the commercial move with our
creative ideas and work.

>Your next project?

uncertain althourh there is a  lot of ideas 

>Next conference you are going to partisipate in?

no idea

>Next conference you want to organize?

i am not quite sure, but of course i will organize some new media art events.


Rasa



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