Text by CLOT Magazine
Since 2019, L.E.V., the International Festival of Audiovisual Creation of Gijón, has expanded its reach to Matadero Madrid (Spain). L.E.V. Matadero, known for showcasing experimental electronic music, digital art, and extended realities, returns to Madrid for its seventh edition from September 18 to 21 to explore the intersection of technology, sound, and performance, presenting immersive experiences, audiovisual installations, and live shows by artists from around the globe.
The program presents artistic proposals that reflect on the climate crisis, social vulnerabilities, and the impact of hyper-consumerism, aiming to reveal, question, and reimagine our material reality. As in previous editions, the festival showcases digital art and extended realities used as tools to create new narratives where the human and the artificial blur.
Murcof joins L.E.V. Matadero on September 19 at Plaza de Matadero. Our highlights of this first announcement included audiovisual performances and live shows by Myriam Bleau with Nien Tzu Weng, Team Rolfes New York studio, Matthew Biederman and Alain Thibault and SPIME.IM collective. The program consists of five extended reality projects in the Vortex section, two installations by artist Theo Triantafyllidis and Liminal, and an augmented reality experience by artist Julie Stephen Chheng.
On Thursday, 18, Myriam Bleau and Nien Tzu Weng present Second Self. This hypnotic audiovisual performance explores the transformation of humans in the digital age through gestures, sound, and movement, all within an aesthetic that interweaves the body and the screen, according to the curatorial team. On Friday, 19, New York studio Team Rolfes presents 321 Rule, a show that will immerse the audience in an experience that blurs the lines between virtual and physical worlds. On Friday, 19, Murcof will present two free special sessions featuring The Etna Sessions and Twin Color, two immersive listening experiences using wireless headphones. The Etna Sessions, created from field recordings in Etna Park, have been transformed with analog and digital tools, as well as modular synthesisers, resulting in a soundscape halfway between drone, ambient, ethereal dub, and minimalist techno with volcanic atmospheres. On the other hand, for Twin Color, Murcof combines modular synthesis and studio experimentation to create an immersive experience where the music tells a story that moves between melancholy and rhythmic power.
ARS NATURA, the immersive piece by Annabelle Playe, Hugo Arcier and Rima Ben Brahim, invites us to contemplate natural landscapes and brutalist architecture as if they were simulations or visions of the post-Anthropocene. This audiovisual journey comes to life on Saturday, 20, at Nave 10. Another highlight from Saturday is SPIME.IM’s GREY LINE, a sensorial exploration of the colour grey as a representation of the uncertain times we inhabit. The festival’s closure on Sunday, 21, is presented by Matthew Biederman and Alain Thibault with Incertitude. This performance fuses algorithm-generated visuals and synthetic sound, exploring the tension between control and chance.
Lastly, the Vortex section features five virtual and mixed reality shows that audiences can experience in Nave 0, Central de Diseño, and El Taller. These experiences include Stéphane Foenkinos and Pierre Alain Giraud’s Noire, which immerses viewers in Claudette Colvin’s story through augmented reality. Noire is produced by Novaya and won Best Immersive Work at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY, directed by May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy and narrated by Tilda Swinton, explores ADHD through the lived experiences of four individuals navigating between order and chaos.
In The Sutherland Test, Adelin Schweitzer uses a vision-blocking helmet to challenge our dependence on images and provoke sensory reflection. Carles Castaño Oliveiros and Servicios Inmersivos’ 2025/… place participants in a dystopian world where every choice carries political weight. Finally, Uncanny Alley, by Rick Treweek, will guide visitors through VRChat’s surreal Metaverse, where participants follow Gh0st and their community through surreal digital landscapes that challenge the boundaries of virtual identity and space.
As part of the festival’s Augmented Reality experiences program, Julie Stephen Chheng presents Fortune Teller, an augmented reality experience where spirits linked to natural elements—such as water, fire, shadow, or light—hide in the space and can be discovered through a free mobile app.
This year’s circuit of installations comprises two audiovisual installations. Drift Lattice by Theo Triantafyllidis, with music by Diego Navarro, is an immersive simulation of an evolving digital marine ecosystem that blends aquatic life with synthetic debris and responds in real time to global climate data, offering a speculative take on humanity’s impact on ocean health. And Liminal, an interactive installation by LP Rondeau, materialises the threshold between past and present through light, sound, and visual technology.
With this first wave of announcements, L.E.V. Matadero sets the tone for a new edition where digital imagination meets critical reflection in the heart of Madrid (Spain).
L.E.V. Matadero 2025 will run from September 18 to 21. Tickets are available here.
