The Festival will take place between September 24 and 27, 2020, at Matadero Madrid and online
L.E.V. Matadero 2020 starts this week with new, original audiovisual experiments and virtual reality immersive experiences
- For the second year in a row, Matadero Madrid organizes L.E.V. Matadero Festival of Visual Electronica and Immersive Experiences, a key event in Madrid with the most avant-garde, experimental side of audiovisual creations, electronic music and art created with digital tools.
- Events will be divided into three sections which will be held in physical, virtual and hybrid spaces, combining projects of Virtual Reality and RV cinema, plus musical and artistic experiences hosted in a new online universe.
- Some of the renowned national and international artists on the bill are Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang, Claudia Maté, Darren Aronofski and Eliza McNitt; plus works related to big names from the international sound creation scene, such as Biosphere, Sigur Ros, Matthew Herbert and Robert Lippok.
Matadero Madrid, the contemporary creation center belonging to the Government Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports, and managed by Madrid Destino, presents this new L.E.V. Matadero Festival. The Festival of Visual Electronica and Immersive Experiences, produced by Matadero Madrid and Cineteca Madrid and directed by Datatrón platform, will take place between September 24 and 27, 2020.
In 2019 a new festival was born in Madrid. After a long history in Gijón, L.E.V. broadened the scope to reach the capital city thanks to Matadero, in order to showcase an extensive lineup which explores the forefront of contemporary digital creativity. In 2020, L.E.V. Matadero retains its full ambition and experimental vision, adapted to these current times and following the new health and hygiene rules. During four days, the Festival will combine on-site activities and new shows specifically created for a digital environment to showcase new experiences in the fields of audiovisual creation, electronica and art created with digital tools.
With this effort, Matadero strengthens its support to national creations and its international focus by showing in Madrid the art of Laurie Anderson, Hsin-Chien Huang, and Claudia Maté; the very first virtual reality project by film director Darren Aronofski with Eliza McNitt, plus works related to big names from the international sound creation scene, such as Biosphere, Sigur Ros, Matthew Herbert, and Robert Lippok.
Vortex. Virtual Reality and VR Cinema experiences
The Vortex (VRTX) section, focused on immersive experiences, will keep on exploring the narrative and artistic possibilities of new digital environments. Shows will take place on-site and follow the new health and hygiene rules at different spaces of Matadero, with Nave 0 as main stage but also using Nave 16, the Workshop, the Plató hall and the Cineteca Madrid Archive.
Vortex shows will approach sound experimentation in the digital field using the main concept of travelling. This is the case for To The Moon, a work by Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing; or Spheres, directed by Eliza McNitt, the first VR venture by film director and screenwriter Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a dream, Black Swan). An invitation to listen to the sound of gravitational waves plus the voices of rock legend Patti Smith and actress Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven from Stranger Things series).
This section will also feature works related to big names of international sound creation. The project ‘Tonandi’, a collaboration between Sigur Ros and Magic Leaps, is an interactive exploration of the sounds and imaginary of the Icelandic band through augmented reality. ‘A Symphony of Noise VR’ is a virtual reality interactive project based on the works by Matthew Herbert, which allows the audience to create their own music compositions.
New additions to the lineup are Peach Garden, a project by Korean artist Hayoun Kwon that takes us to a sensory journey through a surreal garden; or The Entropy by Austrian collective Depart, which also uses a garden as the starting point, in this case to explore the nature of post-digital reality. User interaction is essential in works as the H.E.A.R.T. project, which uses biosensors to connect our emotions straight to the visual environment. Another addition is a collaboration with Canada’s Mutek Festival: The Orchid and The Bee, a project by Frances Adair Mckenzie where the idea of playing gets translated into the realms of virtual reality.
To complete the VORTEX section, several VR Cinema films will be screened at the Workshop: Black Bag by Qing Shao, Conscious of Existence by Marc Zimmermann, and Passenger, directed by Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine.
Augmented City. Augmented reality urban experiences
This new L.E.V. Matadero section will showcase different artistic experiences which use augmented reality, so that the audience may use their mobile phones to visualize the new layers of digital reality, increasingly present in our daily lives.
Madrid artist Claudia Maté, one of the most internationally renowned net artists, will create specifically for L.E.V. Matadero a big size visual sculpture inspired by The Fallen Angel, the iconic statue at Retiro Park in Madrid. Claudia’s work Entes celestiales (Heavenly Entities) is a conceptual oxymoron between monotheism and paganism, which Maté invites us to geolocalize using augmented reality, at Matadero Madrid and Templo de Debod’s viewpoint. With this project, Matadero supports once more the creation of new works by Spanish artists that use day-to-day technology in a creative way.
In Augmented City there is also room for collective experiences such as M.O.A (My Own Assistance) AR, an interactive fiction in augmented reality based on Alain Damasio’s novel The Stealthies. Taking place in a 2040 dystopian reality, this experience will allow the audience to walk around the locations of the novel and take part in the narrative using their mobile devices. This world premiere in collaboration with NewImages Festival (Paris) and Bienal Chroniques (Aix en Provence & Marseille) has been developed by Marie Blondiaux and Charles Ayats, and produced by Red Corner.
This section also includes works for all the family such as URAMADO Tanukis Awake AR by Julie Stephen Chheng, a walk around Matadero using an augmented reality app to learn the true story of the Tanukis, some fascinating spirits of the forest.
Planet LEV Matadero. Digital Explorations
L.E.V. Matadero will have a big, immersive and collaborative virtual stage. Created by Children of Cyberspace and produced by Matadero Madrid and L.E.V, the project Planet LEV is a new artistic experience, born during lockdown in order to turn these challenging times for culture into a chance to experiment with new formats.
This dreamlike universe is a circuit of audiovisual installations, sculptures, and animations, available in virtual reality, through the devices installed at Cineteca Plató, and through web browsers, visiting planet.levfestival.com
Among the installations, we will be able to enjoy works created for this virtual world by artists close to L.E.V.’s orbit, such as Robert Lippok & Lucas Gutiérrez and their SPIN project: two impressive levitating rings that generate a space for meditation between them, a place where nature sounds and civilization meet. Planet LEV is also inhabited by Tentacle Queen, a four-armed goddess and the main character in Zora Jones‘ new album, created by herself and Sinjin Hawke through their creative platform Fractal Fantasy; and Monades by Sabrina Ratté, a series of sculptures made of 3D scans which invite us to think about the role of selfies in our digital world.
Heterotopies, the first collaboration of Elías Merino and Sergio Millán, is an abstract, tridimensional space formed by colossal audiovisual structures, where music and visuals go through different processes. The result is an experience of infinite possible realities. Concentric Core Reflector, a fragmented structure in the shape of a shimmering portal, a way to get inside a cave where the synthetic forms reflect organic systems, is a project created by MSHR, the twosome formed by Birch Cooper and Brenna Murphy.
Last but not least, Biosphere & Initi will stay at Planet LEV during the four days of the festival with a daunting audiovisual work created specifically for Domos.
Among the live acts and the audiovisual happenings which will take place online, we may find artists such as Nik Void & Peter Rehgber with their joint effort NPVR as part of Arcanoid, the Forest in Planet LEV. Their live show Ecosistema will occupy one of the caves in the planet.
Besides the installation by Fractal Fantasy, the festival also hosts the new show by this duo. Dreamrooms is the result of a highly experimental process, which takes them through a quite an unbeaten path.
Taiwanese production company Meuko! Meuko! collaborates with NAXS Corp. to create an online virtual reality installation and the audiovisual show Ghost Island: Innervision, a dystopian world set to experimental, dreamlike sonic landscapes. And Boris Divider will showcase Spheral.dome, an audiovisual project designed to be screened over a spherical dome.
Besides, dot tape dot will play a live show conceived as a single, several hour long piece, a compendium of Daniel Romero’s latest works about algorithmic, generative composition. Organic sounds, dreamy ambient and ethereal melodies, accompanied by a swarm of sound fireflies that will inhabit the desert of Planet LEV.
Festival of Visual Electronica and Immersive Experiences
From September 24 to 27 2020
Vortex: several spaces at Matadero Madrid (Nave 0, Nave 16, Taller) and Cineteca Madrid (Archive)
Augmented City: several spaces at Matadero and other locations of Madrid City
Planet LEV live shows: online at planet.levfestival.com
Planet LEV installations: online at planet.levfestival.com and Sala Plató, Cineteca Madrid
Vortex. Virtual Reality and VR Cinema experiences
TO THE MOON VR
Laurie Anderson y Hsin-Chien Huang.
SYMPHONY OF NOISE VR
Michaela Pnacekova and Jamie Balliu
w/ Matthew Herbert
TONANDI AR
Sigur Rós / Magic Leap Studios
SPHERES
Eliza McNitt & Darren Aronofsy
THE ORCHID AND THE BEE
Frances Adair McKenzie
THE ENTROPY GARDENS
Depart
PROJECT H.E.A.R.T.
Erin Gee & Alex M. Lee
PEACH GARDEN
Hayoun Kwon
PASSENGER
Isobel Knowles & Van Sowerwine
CONSCIOUS OF EXISTENCE
Marc Zimmermann
BLACK BAG
Qing Shao
Augmented City. Augmented reality urban experiences
ENTES CELESTIALES
Claudia Maté
URAMADO AR. TANUKIS AWAKE
Julie Stephen Chheng
M.O.A. ( My Own Assistant) AR
Marie Blondiaux y Charles Ayats / Alain Damasio
Planet LEV Matadero. Digital Explorations
Installations
SPIN
Robert Lippok & Lucas Gutierrez
TENTACLE QUEEN
Fractal Fantasy / Sinjin Hawke & Zora Jones
HETEROTOPIES
Elías Merino & Sergio Millán
CONCENTRIC CORE REFLECTOR
MSHR / Birch Cooper and Brenna Murphy
MONADES
Sabrina Ratté
GHOST ISLAND: INNERVISION
Meuko! Meuko! & NAXS corp.
Live shows and sound experimentation
DREAMROOMS
Fractal Fantasy: Sinjin Hawke & Zora Jones:
NPVR
Nik Void & Peter Rehhberg
ECOSISTEMA
Arcanoid
GHOST ISLAND: INNERVISION
Meuko! Meuko! & Naxs Corp.
SPHERAL.DOME
Boris Divider
LIKE A BUNCH OF FIREFLIES
dot tape dot
Tickets
Tickets available atwww.levfestival.com and www.mataderomadrid.org
Download audiovisual assets here.
More information
Matadero Madrid | Myriam González | comunicacion@mataderomadrid.org | M. 689 023 578
L.E.V. | Pilar Rodríguez | prensa@levfestival.org | 628 942 722
