Digital Twins: Echoes from the Archive
Artists: Diana Velasco (DK/ES) and Ida Kvetny (DK)
Dates: 29.05.2025 (opening at 6pm - 9pm as part of Gallery Late https://www.rigaartweek.com/events/gallery-late ) till 01.06.2025
Opening Hours: Fri, Sat, Sun 12pm-8pm
Location: Berga Bazārs pop-up art space (next to the Nordic Council of Ministers office in Latvia and the ISSP gallery) at Berga Bazārs, Elizabetes iela 83-85, Riga
Managed by Elina Lazareva
Partners: Nordic Council of Ministers office in Latvia, Danish Culture Institute in Riga, Berga Bazārs, PBX.LV, Riga Art Week
Digital Twins: Echoes from the Archive at Berga Bazārs pop-up art space is organised by Radar Contemporary, an artist-driven exhibition platform based in Copenhagen, Denmark that focuses on contemporary artists working in the field of digital art and the Latvian art project manager Elina Lazareva.
Diana Velasco and Ida Kvetny will present two digital art works where DIGITAL TWINS (2024) will explore the makeup of identity, the affordances and limitations of facial recognition technology, and the creative implications and possibilities of collaborating with intelligent systems, but AQUA QUANTUM (2025) will unite classical sculptural tradition with modern technology to explore the cyclical nature of time and art’s ability to create connections between the past, present, and future.
Velasco’s DIGITAL TWINS will arise the question of originality: how is authorship assigned to AI-generated images? Organized as a grid, the wall of faces will reveal patterns and consistencies - a bold red lip, a tilted gaze, a pop of green in the frame - as well as creative license in the form of hallowed cheeks, exaggerated facial features and selection of pixelation. It will be unclear which choices were made by the artist and which were made by the AI. Given this collaboration there will be a question - are those self-portraits or something else? Moreover, what does it take to produce a digital twin? The work is cantered around the original photo that is a part of the Danish National Photography Collection. Kvetny’s AQUA QUANTUM will reinterpret history through AI, placing the mermaid at the center as she sings to reimagined versions of Apollo - the daughters of Niobe, and other sculptures from SMK - The National Gallery of Denmark Open Archive’s collection of plaster works. This dialogue between mythological figures of the past and contemporary technology will create new connections that challenge linear perceptions of time and history.
Presenting the digital artworks of Diana Velasco and Ida Kvetny at Berga Bazārs pop-up art space will provide attendees of Riga Art Week a chance to learn more about Nordic-Baltic digital art spaces and it will be an opportunity for everyone to interact with technologies like AI and generative art capabilities. It will facilitate a global discussion on the use of digital creations in contemporary art.
Supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers office in Latvia and the Danish Culture Institute in Riga, the exhibition will also serve as an introduction to the larger discussion on digital art at the LAMPA Conversation festival in Cesis on 20th June as part of the conversation panel hosted by the Nordic Council of Ministers office in Latvia.
