INTERNATIONAL VIDEO AND CONTEMPORARY ART FESTIVAL
Free admission, videos are screened in their original language with English subtitles
For the 24th time, the NOASS Art Centre will host the festival “Ūdensgabali”, dedicated to international video art.
Video art combines the visual language of film with the conceptual nature of contemporary art, offering artists a unique medium to explore time-based narratives, interactivity and multi-sensory experiences.
Selected programmes showcase programmes from world-renowned and acclaimed festivals. This year, on three Wednesday evenings (10, 17 and 24 July), visitors will have the opportunity to experience video art programmes from several countries, including Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Romania and Ethiopia, free of charge.
The festival is organised by Art Centre NOASS in collaboration with partner festivals Addis Video Art Festival (Ethiopia), AG Kurzfilm (Germany), MADATAC (Spain), SIMULTAN (Romania), LINOLEUM (Ukraine).
Supported by: Goethe-Institut Riga. NOASS is supported by Riga City Council, State Culture Capital Foundation. Publicity supported by the Public Integration Foundation.
July 10: Emerging artists – Experimental Video Art from Germany (AG Kurzfilm)
The program duration: 73 minutes.
JULY 17: VIDEO ART FROM SPAIN AND UKRAINE
SPECULAR CONVERGENCES – video art curated by Iury Lech, director of MADATAC festival from festival MADATAC (Spain): 7 PM
Selection of Ukrainian animation art – video art from LINOLEUM festival (Ukraine): 8:30 PM
The program duration: 130 minutes.
JULY 24: VIDEO ART FROM ROMANIA AND ETHIOPIA
SIMULTAN FESTIVAL (Romania): 7 PM
A P A R T TOGETHER – Addis Video Art Festival (Ethiopia): 8:30 PM
The program duration: 148 minutes.
PREVIOUS “WATERPIECES” PROGRAMMES
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The goal of the WATERPIECES festival is to highlight the relevance of the medium of moving image and video within the field of contemporary art. Every year during the festival, audiences have the chance to discover the technical and artistic diversity of the moving image. Select programmes showcase the latest domestic video art works and globally renowned festival and experimental moving image archive programmes. In an era, when much mention is made of the ‘renaissance of video art’, Rigans and tourists have the opportunity to view internationally renowned works of art, continuing to promote the ubiquitous nature of the video medium and to observe its trends in the context of contemporary art.
Originally a narrow event of interest to professional artists, the festival has evolved into one of Latvia’s cultural events with the richest traditions and has been held every year for the past 20 years. The festival provides a platform for the promotion of the development of video art in Latvia. Programmes compiled under the auspices of the festival are distributed to foreign partners and serve as a sustainable means of nurturing collaborative partnerships and addressing new audiences. WATERPIECES is a meeting place for internationally renowned media art curators, moving image art professionals and festival representatives, as well as an opportunity to discover memorable, entertaining and inspiring work of video art from the latest programmes from world famous video archives and media art festivals, providing an insight into the development of the latest technologies and the influence of differences in culture on the art of the moving image.
Over the course of many years, the WATERPIECES festival has been organized in collaboration with the world’s most notable video and media art and short film festivals and archives, including the video art archive Onedotzero, the prestigious Japanese Media Art Festival, the German travelling video festival CologneOFF, the Finnish video archive Avearhi, the internationally renowned Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, the Trans Europe Halles professional cultural centre network the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the SonicActs festival, the cultural and art platform Screencity Lab, the Lithuanian National Art Gallery and the Estonian Contemporary Art Centre, etc. Every year, the festival attracts several new cooperation partners, continuing to expand the programme’s geographical, visual and professional diversity.
