At 6pm on Friday, 14th October, an exhibition called "Synthetic BIO" by artists Linda Vigdorčika and Jānis Noviks will be opening at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art’s Office Gallery. The artists have created an installation specifically for the Office Gallery space within this framework, exploring the interaction between the natural and the synthetic world.
“We have built a futuristic greenhouse where we cultivate our environment, attempting to understand how the definition of natural changes over time, when the drawing of a boundary between the natural and synthetic is becoming ever more difficult,” is how the artists describe their intentions for the exhibition.
“People’s impact on nature is ever increasing – we are living in an era of innovation when we are using resources provided by the earth, but are also creating our own synthetic materials. Our era is sometimes called the plastic era, and the volume of plastic manufactured by humans nowadays is truly fantastic. Processes in nature are moving along and synthetic resources are also beginning to take a certain place in nature. We were interested in the fact that geologists have begun to look at the possibility of allocating the status of a rock to plastic. Collections of plastic which create separate biotopes, worms and mushrooms which eat plastic, clothing from recycled plastic which has been collected in oceans and seas – if plastic really exists as a new rock, is it still possible to return to the kind of nature where we won’t sense human intervention?” is how the authors of the Synthetic BIO Exhibition explored future scenarios.
Jānis Noviks (1989) gained his Master’s degree in Sculpture at the Art Academy of Latvia. Linda Vigdorčika (1986) gained her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at the University of Latvia, graduated with Honours from the Department of Painting at the Art Academy of Latvia and gained a Master’s degree in Art at the Chelsea College of Arts in London. In 2014, she received the Stanley Picker Bursary in London, and in 2016 was nominated for the Red Mansion Art Prize. Both artists regularly take part in exhibitions and projects in Latvia and in other countries.
The Synthetic BIO Exhibition can be viewed at the LCCA Office Gallery until 2nd December. Supporters: Rīga City Council and the State Culture Capital Foundation.