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Experimental Design

Ance Janevica

Ance, born in Rīga, is an interdisciplinary designer and researcher of storytelling objects and experiences. She translates in-depth research into meaningful narratives and user experiences.

She is an alumnus of the Design Academy Eindhoven, with the projects Pollination Equipment and House of Disinformation. Her graduate project at the RCA combines 3D data-collecting technologies and narratives of landscape that hold ever-changing identities and complex meanings. 

Her previous education includes photography, graphic design, textiles, and classical arts. This mix of skills and knowledge is used to power a holistic, multi-sensorial experience design, where the underlying message is communicated through powerful yet accessible and intriguing aesthetics. These in turn are driven by diverse research, drawing on a wide range of research methods, including but not limited to the infield, material, digital, and journalism. 


Education:

2020 - 2022 MA in Information Experience Design, Royal College of Art

2015 - 2019 BA (Hons) Design Academy Eindhoven

2011 - 2015 Riga Art and Design Secondary School

2012 - 2014 Photography Diploma, Riga Professional Photography School

Exhibitions:

  • WATERSCHOOL’S GARDEN OF DELIGHT IN ALCOVA MILAN, 2022 5 June — 12 June
  • DESIGN FEST GHENT, 2022 April 22 - May 1
  • IABR—DOWN TO EARTH: WATERSCHOOL M4H+ AT DUTCH DESIGN WEEK 2021 October 16-24 -International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, IABR- DOWN TO EARTH 2021 June-August
  • Proximity/Distance satellite show London 2021
  • DDW Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show 2019 October 19-28
  • Textile Museum Tilburg 2018 February
  • MAD summer school exhibition 2018 August 12-25
  • Baltic Design Fair 2015 September
  • Latvian Art School Drawing competition (1st place) exhibition 2015 March 

Degree Details

School of CommunicationInformation Experience Design (MA)Experimental Design

Show Location: Battersea campus: Studio Building, Ground floor

Ance Janevica-statement

"Convoluted Landscapes” is a research project that explores entangled histories and spatial memories. It is an investigation of using LiDAR and photogrammetry technology to reveal hidden histories of geo-cultures by creating virtual experiences and proposing experimental methods of preserving landscapes. 

I believe the essence of cultural identities can be found in landscapes inhabited by societies. Due to globalization and migration, the identities of rural areas are in an uncanny state of change without a clear direction. Historically the Baltic countries have been under constant change in political regimes and changing ideologies toward preserving cultural values, especially during the Soviet occupation. 

“As collectivization set in across Latvia's countryside after the Second World War, the landscape was changed utterly. About 100,000 traditional homesteads (viensētas) were demolished. Forced into a kolkhoz, or collective farms, by the Soviets, Latvians abandoned their traditional way of life in what was one of the people's most traumatizing experiences of the 20th century.”
Mārtiņš Ķibilds


The project is dedicated to my grandparent's generation, a generation born during the war and whose independence was taken away. I believe that my generation, the first generation born after the Soviet occupation, holds a responsibility to record, collect and preserve stories and artefacts that are in danger of extinction due to migration and sociopolitical.

The current invasion in Ukraine puts a new perspective on the importance of preserving cultural heritage and identities and sharing narratives that have been marginalised and overlooked.

Collecting landscapes leads to preserving them while the environments are in constant change. It creates the possibility of remembering more than our own timescale and the possibility of questioning the past and future. We are in need of reflection to enable us to evolve as a society and in communities.


 

Preview of "Convoluted Landscapes" virtual reality experience. Created in a combination of archived folk songs and sound recordings from field trips. In collaboration with sound artist Chloe Mason. Original recordings of various folk songs from Digital Archives of Latvian Folklore.
The installation of “Convoluted Landscapes” invites the viewer to explore its landscapes through a duality of physical and digital representations.
The installation of “Convoluted Landscapes” invites the viewer to explore its landscapes through a duality of physical and digital representations.
Convoluted Landscapes, media item 2

My goal is to facilitate discussion about the ongoing destruction of heritage. I believe the way to raise awareness and understanding of the complexity of material and non-material heritage is through immersive, interactive experiences, and embodied narratives. 

With the help of design, we can move beyond fact stating and move towards recognition and understanding of uneasy narratives of the past. Designed experiences can create an understanding that we crucially need to untangle difficult topics of this age.

By collecting LIDAR data, stories, folk songs, and 3d photogrammetry objects, and soundscapes, the worlds that would let us explore more about ourselves can be created. Views and perspectives can be challenged. I want to provide an alternative way and methodology of perceiving and telling history, a way that includes more than two human senses. This is an expanded narrative that includes traditional historical elements, but beyond this, includes fragments of memories and ecological information and data. 

Often in general museology, the focus is on material heritage. I believe intangible heritage, such as oral rituals, performative acts such as dance, cooking, bathhouse rituals, and more, hold as much learning for our current age. We simply need to identify new ways to collect and translate these.

This is where emerging technologies come in. In my practice, I work with LIDAR scanning technologies that create accurate representations of 3d environments. While on the research trips, next to LIDAR data, I collect 3d modules to create photogrammetry technology, soundscapes, and material examples.


Digital archive
Launch Project
Digital archive "Convoluted Landscapes" digital archive is an experimental alternative to classical object-oriented archives. The development of new technologies holds possibilities to record our heritage and identities with new techniques. With a possibility to generate new meanings and ways of exploring historical narratives. Digital Archive is an ongoing collection of places that are on brink of disappearance. In collaboration with web developer and creative coder Niek van Sleeuwen.
Research focuses on personal and societal histories, exploring perspective alterations as a tool to better understand the challenges of this age.
Research focuses on personal and societal histories, exploring perspective alterations as a tool to better understand the challenges of this age.
The project is led by two fascinations.
First, cultural geography, is how the environment where we live shapes our identities and cultures. 
My focus area is remote, rural areas that hold convoluted h
The project is led by two fascinations. First, cultural geography, is how the environment where we live shapes our identities and cultures. My focus area is remote, rural areas that hold convoluted histories within. Second, 3dimensional scanning technology. Possibilities for new forms of storytelling collecting, preserving worlds that are fading away.
During the project, I made 3 field trips. The locations were chosen based on research into cartography. 
During each field trip, different locations were visited and a variety of technological methods
During the project, I made 3 field trips. The locations were chosen based on research into cartography. During each field trip, different locations were visited and a variety of technological methods were employed. Main tools for collecting: DSLR camera, MIX-Pre sound recorder, Lidar Leica blk 360, Ipad "Polycam", DJI drone
Process of Convoluted Landscapes, media item 4
Process of Convoluted Landscapes, media item 5
Process of Convoluted Landscapes, media item 6
Process of Convoluted Landscapes, media item 7

The project would not be possible without help from RCA technicians: Karlung Wai, Halim Lais, Kam Raoofi and Annie Richardson.

Memory places we inhabit, media item 1
Memory places we inhabit, media item 2
Memory places we inhabit, media item 3
Memory places we inhabit, media item 4
Memory places we inhabit, media item 6

"Memory places we inhabit" were presented as RCA WIP (work in progress) presented in January 2022. "Convoluted Landscapes" is the continuation of this project.



Wes Lunn Design Education Trust 4D Project Award