RIXC

Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, and Martins Ratniks, born 1969, 1966, and 1975, are electronic media artists and key founders of the RIXC, the Center for New Media Culture in Riga (2000). Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits are also founders of E-Lab, the first Electronic Arts Laboratory in Riga and Art Server (1996), and Martins Ratniks is a founding member of the artist collective F5. E-Lab/RIXC has organized the annual new media culture festival Art+Communication since 1996, and been the publisher of the Acoustic Space publication series on internet radio, sound art, and network culture since 1998. E-Lab/RIXC initiated pioneering streaming media network projects in the 1990s, such as the XCHANGE Net Radio Network, which received an Award of Distinction from the PRIX Ars Electronica in Linz (1998). RIXC’s projects include Acoustic Space Lab (2001–03), Solar Radio Station (2006), and Universe Listening Station (2008). The group’s more recent projects focus on artistic investigations into the electromagnetic spectrum. Since 2009 RIXC has been working on a new network initiative in the Baltic-Nordic region that explores art and science collaborations in the fields of renewable energy and sustainability technologies.