NAIA

• 17th August 2026
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• naia

Last-Friday salon at Sensus Immersive Studio in Karlsruhe
Solarceptors by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits at the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2026

“What happens when we no longer view the world from a human perspective, but rather through the eyes of a flower? What happens when light is not just a source of energy, but also a language, a memory, and a unifying force?”

Curators: Alessia Tardivo and Julia-Katharina Thiemann
https://kuma.art/en/exhibitions/studio-rasa-smite-raitis-smits

The Solarceptors exhibition series by Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits begins with exhibition opening at STUDIO space, at the prestigious Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany on Tuesday, September 2, 2026, at 19:00, in collaboration with and launching the very special 75th anniversary edition International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg (IFFMH) under the theme IMAGINE FUTURES. The Solarceptors series will continue also in Latvia, with the RIXC Art Science Festival 2026 with this year’s theme Climate Imagination, taking place in the National Library of Latvia, Riga and online, October 20–22, 2026.The exhibition is on-view until Friday, November 22, 2026.

Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits. Solarceptors (2025). A part of Plants-Intelligence research (SNSF, 2022–2025). Screen render from the VR experience. Courtesy of artists.

In 2026, Kunsthalle Mannheim celebrates a very special anniversary: the 75th edition of the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg, marking three-quarters of a century filled with film history, encounters, and remarkable discoveries. 

We ask: What futures do we envision – for our festival, our communities, the region – and beyond? Together with cultural institutions in Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, we aim to create new spaces for reflection, provide inspiration, and realize creative ideas with a diverse cultural program starting in September: IMAGINE FUTURES!

Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany. Publicity photo.

The exhibition at STUDIO is themed “Imagine Futures” and was created in collaboration with the 2026 International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg. It focuses on the future as a matter of perception and shows what new visions of life emerge when we rethink our relationship to the more-than-human world.

With “Solarceptors,” the Latvian artist duo Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits (live and work in Basel and Riga)—present an impressive virtual reality work accompanied by a single-channel projection. This work fascinatingly combines scientific research and artistic imagination. Its starting point is Charles Darwin’s description of the “abominable mystery”—the rapid emergence and extraordinary diversity of flowering plants—which remains unsolved to this day. Based on 3D scans of real plants and ecological data, Smite and Smits design flowers as solar receptors: light-sensitive beings that perceive their environment, react to the sun’s path, and synchronize with the planet’s rhythms. 

At the intersection of art, science, and immersive media, Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits create sensory spaces of experience that renegotiate the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. The work offers a shift in perspective in which plants are no longer perceived as passive components but as active agents. The future is understood not as a technological promise but as an invitation to change our perspective. The work explores what forms of knowledge become visible when we begin to view the world from the perspective of other living beings. Through this, we may also be able to gain a new understanding of our own role in the world.

Solarceptors exhibition curators: Alessia Tardivo and Julia-Katharina Thiemann

Solarceptors research framework: Plants Intelligence. Learning Like a Plant (2022–2025), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, hosted by the Institute for Art, Gender, and Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, led by Yvonne Volkart (PI), artistic research by Rasa Smite; scientific partners: FiBL— Swiss Organic Farming Research Institute, and Katja Tielbörger (University of Tübingen).
VR programming: Kristaps Biters.
Music/Sound: Lauris Smits.
Co-produced: RIXC Center for New Media Culture

Contact us: rixc@rixc.org,  +371 67228478 (office), +371 25358541 (Līva Siliņa)

More information:
https://rixc.org/
https://kuma.art/en

[DE]

Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits
Kunsthalle Mannheim 
Solarceptors

03.09.2026 – 22.11.2026
Können Blüten die Welt anders wahrnehmen als wir? Und was verrät ihr Blick über unsere Zukunft?

Mit “Solarceptors” verwandeln die lettischen Künstler*innen Rasa Smite und Raitis Smits, die in Basel und Riga arbeiten, wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse in ein eindrucksvolles immersives Erlebnis. In einer Virtual-Reality-Installation und einer begleitenden Projektion begegnen Besucher*innen Pflanzen als sensiblen Wesen aus nächster Nähe. Sie erleben, wie sie Licht wahrnehmen, auf ihre Umwelt reagieren und in engem Austausch mit den Rhythmen unseres Planeten stehen.

Die Ausstellung im STUDIO entsteht in Kooperation mit dem 75. Internationalen Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg und ist Teil des Jubiläumsprogramms “Imagine Futures!” des Festivals. Sie lädt dazu ein, gewohnte Denkweisen hinter sich zu lassen und die Zukunft nicht als technologische Vision, sondern als neue Art des Sehens zu begreifen.

Die Besucher*innen tauchen ein in eine Welt, in der Pflanzen ihre Vorstellung von Leben und Zukunft auf überraschende Weise verändern.

Kuratorinnen: Alessia Tardivo und Julia-Katharina Thiemann 
In Kooperation mit: IFFMH – Filmfestival Mannheim gGmbH
Gefördert von: Die Baden-Württemberg Stiftung