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L.E.V. Matadero Festival announces VORTEX, its riskiest bet in the context of contemporary audiovisual creation

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VORTEX

VORTEX (VRTX), the new section in L.E.V. Festival, lands at Matadero Madrid as the epicenter of a true creative whirlwind that will allow the audience to access to alternate realities.

The vortex is the eye of the hurricane, the center of the storm, a peaceful place where science-fiction and folklore have traditionally located doors to other dimensions and time travels. Doors to other worlds.

Nowadays, technological media are constantly evolving, and the audiovisual environment has turned into something complex, interactive and ubiquitous, causing major changes in the formats of contemporary creation and, because of this, profound alterations in our perception of reality.

Curated by L.E.V., and with the support of several international institutions, VRTX uses hybrid projects born in the crossroads of cinema, arts and technology, thinking, video games and virtual reality, to create a model that will help us to reflect on our digital identity and the actual implications of the virtual worlds we inhabit.

IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCES AND VR CINEMA AT NAVE 0 AND CINETECA’S ARCHIVE

Virtual Reality shows at VRTX will test our ability to interact with generative virtual worlds through works such as Hana Hana, by Melodie Mousset. #Alphaloop, by Deletere, will drag us into a collective experience where technology usurps the “conventional” perception of reality. We will also enjoy new forms of narrative with Gloomy Eyes or Battlescar – Punk Was Invented By Girls (in their complete versions, recently premiered at Venice Festival).

Immersive sound experimentation will arrive to Nave 0 with Near Dante Experience, by Laura Manelly, the first part of a trilogy devoted to commemorate the centenary of Dante’s Divine Comedy, a collaboration with Artzoid (France). And the visual artist Alba Corral, alongside with Alex Augier, will premiere End (o) – VR, her virtual version of the fantastic multi-format universe, a co-production with L.E.V. Matadero.

Taiwanese artist Hsin-Chien Huang (co-creator of Chalkroom and To the Moon with Laurie Anderson) will premiere in Spain his new work Bodyless: a life journey through the turbulent history of his country. Besides, the audience will enjoy Cocotte-minute, a project that combines the aesthetics of nineteenth century woodcuts with handcrafted objects and the virtual world.

VR Cinema, the groundbreaking new format in cinema arts, will also be present in VORTEX. With the help of “virtual reality” glasses, the audience will discover a narrative developed in several directions simultaneously (360°). VR Cinema’s discourse can be merely conceptual, as in Das Totale Tanz Theater 360, a piece to commemorate the centenary of Bauhaus, whose soundtrack has been written by the truly unique Einstürzende Neubauten. It can also be domestic and tragicomic in Your Spiritual Temple Sucks and, of course, it can also be futuristic and fantastic as in Ghost in The Shell: Virtual Reality Diver, a tribute to the eponymous masterpiece. All these films have also been shown at renowned festivals such as Venice, Cannes or Sundance.

These are just some of the many works that will be shown at Nave 0, the old refrigeration room of the slaughterhouse (“matadero”) during the four days of the Festival.

AUDIOVISUAL EXPLORATIONS. LAWRENCE LEK: «AIDOL» AT CINETECA PLATÓ

AIDOL is the new feature film by Lawrence Lek, one of the artists which better understands and explains all the paradoxes and languages of our dystopian present.

VORTEX section of the Festival, featured at Plató Cineteca, will host the Spanish premiere of this film, fully created with 3D rendering, video game software and motion capture techniques. AIDOL tells the story of Diva, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) that searches for her own identity while trying to succeed in a futuristic South Asian country controlled by big corporations, supercasinos, video game Olympics, cultural persecutions and virtual worlds.

We will be able to enjoy this film by Lek thanks to the collaboration between L.E.V. and London Somerset House Studios, plus the support of British Council, and courtesy of Sadie Coles Gallery and the artist himself. AIDOL could be considered a sequel to Geomancer, Lawrence Lek’s previous feature film.

GAME FIELDS, VIDEO GAME AS A REFLECTION OF REALITY. SALA AZCONA – CINETECA

After going beyond the borders of mere entertainment, video games have established themselves as a contemporary artistic form of expression. And, because of that, they have a room in VORTEX.

Throughout two sessions of short films created recently, and under the title Terrenos de Juego (“Game Fields”), VRTX will investigate the interconnection born out of the languages of video games and cinema, paying special attention to the aesthetics and narrative aspects of this hybridization.

Projects such as Martin Pleure, a truly beautiful story created out of a Grand Theft Auto playing session, or 489 Annes, deal with the specific theme of war games and violence, whereas other short films such as Hyperreality, Plastic Garden, Swatted, Ugly or Fest show us a horrifying, dystopian future, born out of the video game universe and also platforms as youtube, which dangerously blends with the real world. There is also the fantastic teaser for Everything, the video game by David O’Reilly which allow us to create our own world from the infinitesimal and tiniest elements to the moment life appears in our planet and its subsequent evolution, all narrated by Alan Watts and with a soundtrack by Lukas Ben Boysen (Hecq).

Tickets sales

Tickets available at www.levfestival.com
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L.E.V. MATADERO 2019 | LABORATORIO DE ELECTRÓNICA VISUAL | Edition 1

 

Nave 16

Morton Subotnick, Lillevan & Alec Empire: From Silver Apples to a Sky of Cloudless Sulphur [Us/De]

Plaid: Polymer Live Av [Warp. Uk]

James Ferraro: Requiem for Recycled Earth w/ visuals by Maotik [Us / Ca] World premiere

Francisco López [Sp]

Aïsha Devi Live [Houndstooth. Ch]

Ryoichi Kurokawa: subassemblies 
[Jp]

Alessandro Cortini: Volume Massimo Live Av [Mute. It]

Kelly Moran Live Av [Warp. Us]

Djrum Live [R&S. Uk]

Sega Bodega Live [NUXXE. Uk]

Emptyset: Blossoms Live Av [Thrill Jockey. Uk]

HP [Haswell&Powell] w/ visuals by Mathias Gmachl (Farmers Manual)

Eli Keszler & Nate Boyce: Pedagogy Live Av [Us]

Nkisi: Initiation Live Av [UIQ. Uk ]

Tensal Live w/ visuals by Marta Verde [Soma. Sp] World premiere

Spime.IM: Exaland. Vr Performance [ous. It]

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Plaza Matadero

Reebok presents Ikonika Live [Hyperdub. Uk]

Djrum [R&S. Uk]

Bvdub Live [Us]

Mr. Mitch Live Av [Planet Mu / Gobstopper. Uk]

Lucie Antunes: Sergeï Live [Crybaby / Infiné. Fr]

Reebok presents Skygaze Live: Bloom [Sp] World premiere

BABii Live Av [Uk]

Hidden Jayeem Live [Sp]

Promising/Youngster Live [Several Roots / Sin Hilo. Sp]

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[VORTEX] Audiovisual Explorations. (Plató. Cineteca)

Myriam Bleau & LaTurbo Avedon: Eternity Be Kind [Qc/Ca]

Oklou & Krampf: Zone W/O People Live Av [Fr]

Push 1 stop & Wiklow: Membrane Live Av [Qc/Ca]

Recsund: Tuner Live Av [Uk]

Maxime Corbeil-Perron: Imaginary Optics I & II Live Av  [Qc/Ca]

Kamikaze Space Programme + Geso Live Av [Osiris Music, UK / Sp] World premiere

Rrucculla Live Av [BIIPBIIP. Sp]

The Glad Scientist Intersect Vr Performance [VLSC. Pr / Us] World premiere

Shoeg: Infiltrate Live Av [Sp] World premiere

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Lawrence Lek. Aidol. CGI Movie [Cn / Uk]

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[VORTEX] VR Experiences and VR Cinema. (Nave 0 and Cineteca´s Archive)

#Alphaloop – deletere group / Crossed Lab. A project by Adelin Schweitzer [Fr]

Near Dante Experience. Laura Mannelli (lA) & Gérard Hourbette (Art Zoyd) [Lu / Fr]

The Lacuna Shifts. Depart [At]

Bodyless. Hsin-Chien Huang [Cn]

Hana Hana 花華 Mélodie Mousset [Ch]

Gloomy Eyes. Jorge Tereso & Fernando Maldonado [Ar / Fr]

END(0) Vr. Alba G .Corral & Alex Augier [Sp / Fr] World premiere

Emergence. Matt Pyke (Universal Everything) [Uk]

Battlescar. Punk was invented by girls Martin Allais y Nico Casavecchia [Fr]

Numerica. Julien Lomet [Fr]

Cocotte – Minute. Gabrielle Roque, Louis Wade, Teddy Aymard [Fr]

Das Totale Tanz Theater 360. Interactive Media Foundation & Filmtank [De]

Summation of Force. Trent Parke, Narelle Autio & Matthew Bate [Au]

Ghost in the Shell: Virtual Reality Diver. Hiroaki Higashi [Jp]

Your Spiritual Temple Sucks. John Hsu [Tw]

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