The first international symposium of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture of the Art Academy of Latvia (LMDA) (BUILDING) NEW PERSPECTIVES through Practice-based Research in Art, Design and Architecture took place in November 2022, demonstrating the diversity of contemporary research approaches in the humanities and creative disciplines. The new publication, launched at the end of 2023, offers an in-depth insight into the topics addressed by symposium participants and brings together articles and visual essays by fifteen international researchers and practitioners in architecture, design, art and education.

The publication focuses on interdisciplinary practice-based research topics and methods that aim to expand and merge the boundaries of artistic and scientific disciplines, as well as to overcome the traditional distinctions and prevailing binary divides – be it the ones established between subject and object, urban and rural, living and non-living, architecture and users or others. The fifteen selected contributions focus on the merging of real and virtual environments, the search for new intersubjective narrative forms, post-humanist perspectives, propositions of speculative design, tools for redefining architecture, the role of sensory knowledge and bodily experience, environmental memory, the Anthropocene and living materials, as well as empowering strategies of community solidarity and empathy for surviving contemporary crises.

The collection of articles reflects the four sessions of the symposium, which focused on topics such as (post)digital and (post)human architecture; speculative and critical design; social and political activism in times of crisis; algorithmic forms of governance and their ethical dimensions; and the interplay between art, identity and landscape. With this publication, LMDA highlights the importance of differentiated, interdisciplinary, practice-led research in the development of critical thinking and the search for new, practice-based solutions. These approaches are particularly relevant in the face of current uncertainties brought about by global technological and ecological challenges and shifts in political power. The publication highlights the ability and strengths of creative research in responding to today's urgent needs.

The publication is particularly relevant for readers interested in practice-based interdisciplinary, experimental and speculative forms and methods of research. The proceedings are the first volumein a publication series by LMDA.

The proceedings are published in English and are available here.

Editors: LMDA researchers Dr. Eva Sommeregger, Dr. Dietmar Köring, PhD Liene Jākobsone, Dina Suhanova and Māra Traumane. Published by the Art Academy of Latvia. Graphic design: Eva Sommeregger.

Authors: Cenk Güzeliş, Dietmar Köring, Eva Sommeregger, Alessandro Ayuso, Breg Horemans, Ramon Cordova Gonzalez, Signe Pērkone, Sebastian Bietenhader, Matthias Moroder, Mara Trübenbach, Andris Eglītis, Nesli Hazal Oktay, Julijonas Urbonas, Austeja Platukyte, Ruta Valusyte, Rita Broka, Michelle Teran, Barbara Prezelj, Susanne Kriemann.

The publication is supported by the State Culture Capital Foundation and the State Research Programme "Letonika for the Development of Latvian and European Society" project "IDEUM. Landscapes of Identities: History, Culture and Environment" (IDEUM) No.VPP-LETONIKA-2021/1-0008.

The printed version is available in a limited edition. To obtain a printed copy, please contact: lmda(abols)lma.lv.