The 8th Edition of L.E.V. Matadero Embraces Digital Art with Innovative Proposals and Immersive Experiences

• With its contemporary and experimental vision of electronic sound creation, audiovisual and performing arts, digital art, and extended realities, L.E.V. has established itself as an essential date in the city.
• British company Neon Dance will present the Spanish premiere of Last and First Men, a stage adaptation of Jóhann Jóhannsson's film, featuring an original score composed by Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman.
• Concerts and audiovisual performances will feature creators such as the legendary Suso Saiz, New York-based Kelly Moran, the Schnitt duo with Aoi Yamaguchi, Drew McDowall alongside Pedro Maia, and Kyria Libia.
• The Vortex section reinforces its focus on extended realities with award-winning international festival projects, such as A Long Goodbye by Kate Voet and Victor Maes, and the premiere of Spanish artist Carles Castaño's new work.
• The audiovisual installation circuit will be headlined by an interactive proposal developed by Vitalic and the 1024 Architecture studio, alongside the work of Riccardo Giovinetto.
• The festival hosts the activity ‘XR Camp. Habitable Worlds: New Ways of Thinking About Extended Realities’, an international gathering linked to the European project Realities in Transition (RiT2).

Matadero Madrid, the contemporary creation center of the Department of Culture, Tourism, and Sport, will host the eighth edition of L.E.V. Matadero from September 17 to 20. This festival will once again transform the city into a meeting point for some of the most innovative proposals in contemporary creation. Featuring a programme that combines absolute premieres, Spanish debuts, and projects specially conceived for the festival's context, L.E.V. Matadero reaffirms its commitment to experimentation and new audiovisual languages.

Ranked among the top five essential art fairs and festivals according to the Contemporary Foundation's Culture Observatory, L.E.V. Matadero will showcase some of the most compelling trends in contemporary creation by connecting music, visual arts, and digital technologies. Concerts, audiovisual performances, stage pieces, immersive installations, and XR experiences make up a programme that uses technology as a tool to address deeply human questions. Themes such as memory, resilience in the face of illness, the dialogue between tradition and new technologies, the relationship between body and machine, and the reinterpretation of the contemporary landscape run through the heart of this edition, inviting audiences to discover new forms of perception and shared experience.

Far from treating the digital realm as an end in itself, the proposals featured at L.E.V. Matadero use technological innovation as a language to imagine new spaces for gathering, listening, and transformation.

Live Shows and Audiovisual Performances

L.E.V. Matadero kicks off on Thursday, September 17, at 8:30 PM, with one of the most anticipated events of this edition: the Spanish premiere of Last and First Men, a stage adaptation of Jóhann Jóhannsson's acclaimed experimental film, inspired by Olaf Stapledon's 1930 science fiction novel of the same name. British company Neon Dance transforms the film’s imagery into a spectacle blending 16mm film, contemporary dance, narration by multi-talented artist Tilda Swinton, and an immersive score by Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman, bringing a powerful reflection on the future of humanity to the stage.

The Friday, September 18 programme brings together three key figures of contemporary sound creation. A foundational figure in Spanish experimental music, Suso Saiz will perform a free live set in Plaza Matadero using guitars, textures, and soundscapes. The activity will run in two sessions (at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM) utilizing a wireless headphone sound system. At 8:30 PM, Scottish composer Drew McDowall—a key figure in experimental music and former member of Coil and Psychic TV—will present an audiovisual show alongside Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Maia, where electroacoustic composition and experimental cinema dialogue in real time. Following this, Kyria Libia will premiere her latest work, El arrobamiento, an exploration of sacred music developed at Matadero Madrid’s Centro de Residencias Artísticas (CRA) that intertwines mysticism and electronics.

Saturday, September 19 begins at 8:30 PM with the Spanish presentation of Calligraton, a live performance developed by the Schnitt duo in collaboration with Japanese calligrapher Aoi Yamaguchi, where the art of shodō comes to life on stage in dialogue with experimental electronics. Afterward, composer and digital artist Milian Mori will deliver an intense live audiovisual set driven by stroboscopic visuals designed to push dance into unexpected territories.

On Sunday, September 20, at 8:30 PM, New York-based pianist and producer Kelly Moran returns to L.E.V. Matadero to present her album Don’t Trust Mirrors, an introspective journey where the piano and synthesizers take center stage. The programme concludes with Japanese artist NAO, who is making his Spanish debut with THE CLUSTERs, a performance blending dance, robotics, sound, and real-time imagery to shape a fascinating dialogue between the human body and the machine.

Territories of Memory in the Vortex Section

In this edition, L.E.V. Matadero once again champions interactive virtual, mixed, and augmented reality projects that allow audiences to rediscover the world and themselves, approaching intimate experiences from a collective perspective. The various projects in the Vortex section can be experienced across two spaces: Central de Diseño and Terrario.

A standout selection is [“Á”1653 “gora” 23035], a new piece by digital creator Carles Castaño produced by Servicios Inmersivos, making its world premiere at L.E.V. Matadero. This immersive and interactive mixed-reality installation confronts us with the memory of our own planet from an uncomfortable vantage point: what if the aliens are actually us?

From Belgium, creators Kate Voet and Victor Maes join the Vortex section with A Long Goodbye, a virtual reality experience exploring the impact of dementia through the intimacy of a love story. Winner of the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize at the last Venice Biennale, the piece turns memory into a habitable space while reflecting on the bonds that endure beyond illness.

Audiences can also experience Chronica V1, a project intertwining artisanal craft and technology through traditional paper-making techniques. Barbara Mydlak and Yann Deval invite visitors to participate in the construction of a living archive that evolves with every interaction, taking them on a sensory journey through memory, illness, and healing processes.

Audiovisual Installation Circuit

L.E.V. Matadero programs the immersive audiovisual installation Puppet in the Taller space, developed by the 1024 Architecture studio in collaboration with French producer Vitalic. Making its national premiere, the piece offers a playful approach to musical composition through the manipulation of a puppet-like interface that generates rhythms and melodies with every movement—creating a live sound-creation experience halfway between a game and a performance.

The Plató room at Cineteca Matadero will also host the Spanish premiere of H U M I, one of the new works by Italian audiovisual artist, composer, and physicist Riccardo Giovinetto, who reflects on the concept of borders as spaces in constant transformation. This sensory experience weaves satellite images and soundscapes to construct imaginary geographies that invite viewers to rethink the configuration of the contemporary world. The project extends throughout the Matadero site via an augmented reality activity.

Children will also have their own space in Nave Una, courtesy of the Czech studio Initi, with their interactive game Playground—a system that turns any wall into an area for collective play and experimentation.

A Professional Gathering to Rethink the Future of XR

As a prelude to the festival, from Wednesday, September 16, to Friday, September 18, L.E.V. Matadero will host ‘XR Camp. Habitable Worlds: New Ways of Thinking About Extended Realities’. This professional meeting is linked to the European project Realities in Transition (RiT2), a community dedicated to researching new forms of creation, production, and critical thought surrounding Extended Reality (XR).

The Matadero Madrid Aulario will host two public activities on Thursday, September 17. At 12:00 PM, artist Carles Castaño will lead the workshop ‘Anatomy of an Immersive Piece: How Extended Realities Are Built’, providing an accessible introduction to XR technologies and walking participants through the practical phases of creating an immersive experience. Recommended for ages 15 and up; advance registration via the online form is required.

That same afternoon at 5:00 PM, the round table ‘How to Approach XR Technologies: Accessibility, Formats, and Distribution Policies’ will bring together artists and professionals to discuss the challenges of distributing and accessing XR art. Participants will share insights on presenting work to diverse audiences and explore ways to expand accessibility without sacrificing artistic experimentation. Moderated by Marie Pont, director of the artistic production agency Dark Euphoria, the session will feature Elena Carbajal (Onkaos), Diego Iglesias (MMMAD), and artists Irene Molina and Carles Castaño. Admission is free with limited capacity.

Organization and Support The Visual Electronics and Extended Realities Festival, organized by Matadero Madrid, is curated by L.E.V. (Visual Electronics and Extended Realities Laboratory) with the collaboration of Centro Danza Matadero, Cineteca Madrid, and Centro de Residencias Artísticas, alongside the participation of Central de Diseño. The festival is supported by the European project Realities in Transition (RiT2), with Radio 3, OCI Magazine, Clot Magazine, and Metal Magazine as media partners. The visual identity is designed by Iván Puñal.