confluxus [+][×] corner portals by Jānis Garančs, on the role of code and algorithms in contemporary governance and communications, and the influence of immersive power on perception.

Jan 30
4 min read

Updated: Feb 1

confluxus [+][×] corner portals by Jānis Garančs, RIXC Gallery, Rīga, Latvia

In the audiovisual installation confluxus [+][×] corner portals, at the RIXC Gallery, Riga, Latvia, two stereoscopic 3D projections are utilised to transform the gallery’s 90° corner into a simulated zone of transition and confluence. Dynamic structures—abstract geometries, letters, numbers, statistical and financial charts, data landscapes, flames, smoke, and organic forms—emerge within an illusory expanded spatiality on both sides of the wall planes as elemental flows, flares, and ephemeral spatial formations. Within them, not only Cartesian (rectangular coordinate systems) and non-Euclidean geometries, but also timelines and scales collide, slip, or momentarily coincide.

The installation positions the viewer not ‘in front of’ the image, but within the configuration of an illusory, pulsating architecture. Here, the expanded geometry of space functions as both a property and an instrument, referencing the principle of anisotropy in physics—where space and materials exhibit different properties depending on the viewing angle—which is also realised through the perception of the stereoscopic image.

The work indirectly points to the increasing role of code and algorithms in contemporary governance and communication practices—systems where information flows are constantly restructured for the sake of efficiency, yet remain prone to misunderstandings, inherent errors, and inconsistencies.

The title confluxus (from Latin—flowing together, confluence, intersection, crowding), along with the symbols [+] and [×], marks a multi-layered space of operations and transitions. [+] can be read as connection, addition, or entry, while [×] denotes splitting, crossing, or exit. confluxus [+][×] corner portals explore a potential connective space;

Although the work is inspired by the author’s interpretation of the phenomena and paradoxes of contemporary technological society, the installation—through its immersive impact and referencing the ‘immersive power’ defined by philosopher and mathematician Rainer Mühlhoff*—encourages the viewer to create an individual mapping of their experience.

*Rainer Mühlhoff, working across philosophy, mathematics, and critical theory, describes immersive power as a form of influence that does not persuade through argument, representation, or narrative, but instead acts directly on perception, affect, and bodily orientation. He is professor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at Osnabrück University in Germany.

Jānis Garančs on Thomas Friedman's New York Times essay "The New Era. What Do We Call It?"

What resonated for me is his framing of our moment as a “poly‑epoch,” where multiple technological, ecological, and geopolitical transformations unfold simultaneously and at incompatible speeds. He argues that we are living inside overlapping systems whose interactions are increasingly difficult to perceive, let alone narrate.

That tension is very close to what I explore in confluxus [+][×] corner portals. The installation grew out of my experiments with spatial metaphors for data streams—how flows of information, financial signals, and algorithmic processes can be staged not as a single coherent picture, but as intersecting temporalities and geometries that the viewer must navigate. In that sense, the work tries to give a perceptual form to the same condition Friedman describes: a world where structures collide, slip, or briefly align, and where our interpretive position is always shifting.

Some of this comes from the topics in my recent research: where I look at “narrative economics” and the rise of "Affectivism" and growing role of what sociologist Phil Zuckerman call "aweism" (secular, nonreligious approach to finding meaning). The idea that aesthetic and design choices matter when representing complexity, but that they should support understanding rather than collapse into pure spectacle. The challenge is to create immersive experiences that help people sense the dynamics of contemporary systems—without pretending to simplify them into a single storyline.

So the thematic connection, for me, lies in this shared question: how do we make sense of multi‑layered, algorithmically mediated realities? Friedman approaches it through global analysis; I approach it through spatialized, perceptual experiments. But both are concerned with how we navigate a world where the flows shaping our lives are increasingly abstract, intertwined, and difficult to grasp from any one vantage point. — Jānis Garančs

confluxus [+][×] corner portals is on view at the RIXC Gallery, Lenču iela 2, Centra rajons, Rīga, LV-1010, Latvia, January 22 to March 14, 2026. Supported by the Riga City Council, State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.

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Jānis Garančs (b. 1973) is an artist working with multimedia installations, VR/XR environments and audiovisual performance. His creative and immersive‑media research practice combines the use of emerging technologies to expand expressive possibilities with critical social analysis. It examines how technological, algorithmic and communication systems influence perceptual processes. He received his education in visual arts, music and digital media at the Latvian Academy of Art, Riga, Royal University of Fine Arts (KKH), Stockholm, Academy of Arts (HfbK), Hamburg, and Academy of Media Arts (KHM), Cologne, where he obtained an MA diploma with a specialization in interactive and virtual reality systems.

His works have been exhibited and presented internationally at venues and events including Ars Electronica Festival (Linz), DEAF (Rotterdam), Transmediale (Berlin), ISEA (Helsinki 2004, Montreal 2020, Barcelona 2022, Paris 2023), Centre Pompidou (Paris), SAT – Society for Art and Technology (Montreal), RIXC Art and Science Festival (Riga), Banff New Media Institute, EXPO 2000 World Exhibition (Hanover), and others. He is currently conducting doctoral research in media arts and creative technologies, focusing on the analytic and affective interpretation of financial transaction data.

garancs.net