When does STUDIO: Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits take place?

The event date is September 27, 2026, at 10 AM. The exhibition Solarceptors can be seen from September 2 to November 22, 2026.

What can visitors expect in the exhibition?

A virtual reality installation with accompanying projection will be on display. The work makes it tangible how flowering plants perceive light and respond to their environment.

What is the admission fee?

Admission to the STUDIO of Kunsthalle Mannheim is free.

Where is the exhibition located?

The exhibition takes place at Kunsthalle Mannheim at Friedrichsplatz 4, 68165 Mannheim.

What are the opening hours for the exhibition?

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM. On the first Wednesday of the month, extended hours from 10 AM to 10 PM apply.

Is there an accompanying educational program?

The exhibition is part of the Imagine Futures program and is created in cooperation with the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg. No additional tours or workshops are scheduled for the specific date.

Solarceptors: How Art in Mannheim Makes the Secret View of Plants Visible

Name: STUDIO: Rasa Smite & Raitis Smits
Start: 2026-09-27T10:00:00+02:00
End: 2026-11-22T18:00:00+01:00
Location: Kunsthalle Mannheim

Solarceptors: When Flowers Open Their Own World of Vision

In the STUDIO of Kunsthalle Mannheim, Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits transform scientific insights about plant perception into an immersive art experience. The exhibition Solarceptors invites visitors to view flowering plants not as passive natural phenomena, but as light-sensitive, living organisms.

An Aesthetic Experience Between Art, Science, and Technology

At the center is a virtual reality installation with accompanying projection. Based on 3D scans of real plants and environmental data, a digital visual world is created where light, movement, and spatial perception merge into an unusual artwork observation. Visitors experience the world from a plant’s perspective and encounter nature that appears sensitive, dynamic, and communicative rather than decorative.

Flowers as Solarceptors

The title Solarceptors refers to flowers as beings whose existence is closely tied to light. The installation examines how plants perceive light, respond to it, carry out photosynthesis, and continually adapt to their environment. This exhibition opens up a change in perspective: humans are no longer at the center, but become part of a larger ecological context.

Artistic Research and New Forms of Perception

Rasa Smite and Raitis Smits work at the intersection of painting, installation, media art, science, and immersive media. As co-founders of RIXC, a center for art and science in Riga, they connect ecological systems, environmental data, and digital technologies into sensually experienceable artworks. Solarceptors draws on Charles Darwin’s considerations of the emergence and diversity of flowering plants and translates scientific questions into a contemporary aesthetic experience.

Part of the Anniversary Program Imagine Futures

The exhibition is created in cooperation with the 75th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg and is part of the anniversary program Imagine Futures. Within the Facing New Challenges section, the festival presents moving images beyond the cinema screen. The curation by Julia-Katharina Thiemann, with curatorial assistance from Alessia Tardivo, combines media art, cultural education, and future issues into a focused exhibition format.

Conclusion: An Exhibition that Changes the View of Nature

Solarceptors invites art enthusiasts into an intense connection of virtual reality, projection, scientific research, and ecological reflection. The exhibition atmosphere opens a space for concentrated perception and allows plants to appear as independent actors in a shared world. Those wishing to rethink the relationship between humans, technology, and nature will experience an extraordinary art experience with lasting impact at Kunsthalle Mannheim.