Exhibition – Line 1. Līnija

This exhibition presents Rīga through the lens of a slit-scan camera.

Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single instant, a slit-scan builds an image linearly—more like a photocopier scanner—using a different logic of time and space. The result is a series of surreal, hybrid images where time, movement, and perception intersect.

Rogiers Arents research into slit-scan has produced a film, a book, and a participatory installation. The installation is a self-built slit-scan camera that allows visitors both to experience how slit-scan works and to contribute their portraits to the exhibition’s collection. In the film and the book, Rogier lets his gaze glide across Rīga as he travels on tram 1, documenting the passing view from Imanta to Jugla. The pictures convey the dynamics of contemporary life—people, cars, streets, and buildings—while the tram’s speed shapes the perception of time and space, stretching and compressing the images. Time in the film slips out of sync: the landscape seems to glide both forward and backward, and people occasionally appear to run in reverse. Slit-scan becomes a choreography of space and time.