L.E.V. Festival completes the programme of its 20th edition to be held from 30 April to 3 May 2026, bringing together the full line-up for this anniversary edition.
With the support of Gijón City Council and the Principality of Asturias, the festival expands its programme with new projects that consolidate its role as a laboratory for audiovisual and extended realities. These additions complete the two previous announcements: audiovisual live shows and stage performances, the daytime programme at the Muséu del Pueblu d’Asturies, and interventions across the city.
This 20th edition already features artists such as Alva Noto, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Jlin, Myriam Bleau + Pierce Warnecke, Catnapp, Corin, Sara Muñiz, µ-Ziq & ID:Mora, Cod.Act and Enrique del Castillo and unfolds its programme across multiple venues in Gijón, positioning the city as an active environment for contemporary audiovisual and digital creation.
Among the new additions, the festival introduces the Church of La Laboral as a venue following its reopening, with a performance in which cinematic machinery becomes a tool for sound creation. It also presents its extended realities programme in collaboration with Arenas Movedizas. The exhibition La Sociedad Automática will also be on view at LABoral Centro de Arte. All three are free to attend.
IGLESIA DE LA LABORAL
ENRIQUE DEL CASTILLO
The Church of La Laboral, which reopened to the public last February following the complete restoration of its dome by the Government of the Principality of Asturias, joins the festival as a new venue. Beneath the largest elliptical dome in Europe, Enrique del Castillo will present Umbráfono, a project that transforms celluloid into a sonic experience.
The performance uses optical readers designed and built by the artist himself, which convert into sound the light projected through 35 mm film, based on the optical-analogue reading system used since the early days of sound cinema. The films, also created by the artist, generate harmonic sounds, textures and atmospheres in a unique, unrepeatable experience.
The intervention will take place in two sessions, on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 May, with free access.
ESCUELA DE COMERCIO: extended realities
CARLES CASTAÑO | BORIS LABBÉ
In collaboration with Arenas Movedizas, an initiative led by the Youth Office of Gijón City Council, L.E.V. presents an extended realities programme at the Escuela de Comercio.
Carles Castaño presents *****2025/…*, a mixed reality experience that challenges audiences with a critical perspective on contemporary society. Set within an interactive dystopian environment where decisions shape the journey, the piece transforms space into a speculative fiction that reflects, with irony and a strong narrative and political charge, the contradictions of today’s society.
Meanwhile Ito Meikyu, by Boris Labbé, is a virtual reality work awarded at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. Drawing on references from Japanese art history and literature, the project proposes virtual reality as a bridge between artistic heritage and the new possibilities of contemporary creation, articulating a sensory environment of free exploration that transforms the audience into inhabitants of the work.
The programme is completed by SI-4202. Laboratorio abierto: imaginar, crear, habitar las Realidades Extendidas, a free access workshop led by Carles Castaño that offers an accessible introduction to XR technologies, guiding participants through the different stages of creating an immersive experience, from initial concept to final experimentation.
LABORAL CENTRO DE ARTE
FÉLIX LUQUE
During L.E.V. the audience can visit La Sociedad Automática at LABoral Centro de Arte, an exhibition by Asturian artist Félix Luque, based in Brussels, which examines the relationship between automation, algorithmic systems and artificial intelligence. The art show presents a universe of automata that perpetuate their cycles within a closed system devoid of human purpose, reflecting a dystopian present and prompting us to question whether it is still possible to critically reclaim the technologies that govern us.
L.E.V. Festival 2026
30 April – 3 May | Gijón
www.levfestival.com
@levfestival #LEVFestival
An initiative by L.E.V. (Laboratorio de Electrónica Visual)
With the support of Ayuntamiento de Gijón y Principado de Asturias
In collaboration with: Divertia, Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura, Department of Culture, Museums and Creative Industries of Gijón City Council, Department of Institutional Relations and Youth of Gijón City Council, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Escuela Técnico-Profesional Revillagigedo, Ministry of Culture of Taiwan, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Spain, Korean Cultural Centre in Spain, Polish Institute of Culture, Goethe-Institut Madrid, Flanders State of the Art, Arenas Movedizas, Conseyu de Mocedá de Xixón, Radio 3, OCIMAG, CLOT Magazine, Metal Magazine.
Venues: Teatro de la Laboral, LABoral Centro de Arte, Muséu del Pueblu d’Asturies, Jardín Botánico Atlántico, Iglesia de la Laboral, Teatro Jovellanos, Centro de Cultura Antiguo Instituto, Capilla del Palacio de Revillagigedo, Espacio Cultural San Esteban del Mar.
Graphic Design: Pasajero37
Motion Design: Lateralideas
LINE UP_
ABUL MOGARD Quiet Pieces _IT
ALVA NOTO HYBR:ID UNI PARA _DE
CATNAPP _AR
CORIN Diwa _AU/PH European Premiere
JLIN _US
JULEK PLOSKI _PL
KOMATSSU vs TENSAL Pulchra Errata _ES World Premiere
MEUKO! MEUKO! & HSIANGFU CHEN 遞 嬗（Dì Shàn) _TW World Premiere
MUSGO2 _ES
MYRIAM BLEAU & PIERCE WARNECKE The End Product _CA/QC US/FR
U-ZIQ & ID MORA _UK/CZ [Planet Mu]
NAH _US/BE
NIKNAK _UK World Premiere
NONTECH Ignorance Online: ev0 _TW World Premiere
NOVA MATERIA _FR/ CL
RYOICHI KUROKAWA nD _JP World Premiere
SARA MUÑIZ Numen _ES
TACIT GROUP FrankenTacit _KR World Premiere
INSTALLATIONS & AV PERFORMANCES
COD.ACT πTon _CH
STUDIO SVEN SAUER Deviation _DE
ANNE HOREL La señal está abierta _FR Premiere
ERIC VERNHES Meeting Philip _FR
ENRIQUE DEL CASTILLO Umbráfono _ES
INMERSIVE REALITIES EXPERIENCES
*****2025/… Carles Castaño _ES
ITO MEIKYU Boris Labbé _FR
SI-4202. Laboratorio abierto: crear, imaginar, habitar las realidades extendidas. Taller con Carles Castaño _ES
EXHIBITION
FÉLIZ LUQUE La Sociedad Automática _ES
