When Science Becomes an Adventure: European Researchers’ Night at the Latvian Academy of Culture
On 26 September 2025, the Institute of Arts and Culture of the Latvian Academy of Culture (LAC) will host the European Researchers’ Night under the theme “Discover the Researcher Gene in You”. The event will take place from 18:00 to 22:00 at the LAC building “Gara māja” (Miera iela 58a, Riga).
The programme will highlight the wide spectrum of LAC research – from film heritage and documentary theatre to digital culture, public discourses, and intangible cultural heritage. Visitors will have the chance to step into the role of a researcher, experiment with different scientific approaches, and see how academic research shapes society, the arts, and everyday life.
A variety of LAC research projects will be showcased through activities that explore culture both in future scenarios and in everyday experience. A creative workshop using virtual reality will invite participants to imagine cultural spaces in the year 2050. The session “Culture in Your Home” will reveal traces of culture in daily objects and memories, while the discussion “Keywords of War” will engage young people and researchers in analysing how war is represented in public discourse.
Special attention this year is devoted to emerging researchers and their initiatives. The workshop “Spot the Fake News: Becoming Digital Detectives” will encourage school students to develop critical media literacy. Families will be able to join the Courtyard Games Tournament, exploring outdoor play as part of living intangible heritage, while the Documentary Theatre workshop will offer secondary school students the chance to transform facts and objects into artistic performance. A research walk through the Miera Street neighborhood will uncover cultural layers of the urban environment and illustrate how research interacts with everyday surroundings.
In the field of film heritage, visitors will be able to explore the Latvian Cinema Museum’s exhibition “Conjuring the World: Latvian Film Designers”, which reveals more than a century of film history through unique objects from the golden archive of Latvian cinema. Lectures will further explore the essay as a creative form in film studies and highlight student and academic films as research objects. On the day of the event, museum entry will be free of charge from 17:00 to 22:00.
European Researchers’ Night at LAC demonstrates that research is not only an academic pursuit but also a living, creative process deeply connected to our daily experiences, art, and culture.
Contact:
Aija Lūse, Coordinator of European Researchers’ Night
Latvian Academy of Culture, Institute of Arts and Culture
aija.luse@lka.edu.lv