The eighth edition of L.E.V. Matadero returns from September 17 to 20 with audiovisual performances and extended realities
- British company Neon Dance will present the Spanish premiere of Last and First Men, a staged adaptation of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s film, featuring an original score composed by Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman
- Standout names in this edition include the legendary Suso Saiz, New York-based artist Kelly Moran, and the duo Schnitt alongside Aoi Yamaguchi
- The Vortex section reinforces its focus on extended realities with award-winning projects from international festivals, such as A Long Goodbye by Kate Voet and Victor Maes, and the premiere of Spanish artist Carles Castaño’s new work
- The circuit of audiovisual installations will be headlined by an interactive proposal developed by 1024 Architecture and Vitalic, alongside the work of Riccardo Giovinetto
- Fundación Contemporánea's Cultural Observatory ranks L.E.V. Matadero among the top five essential art fairs and festivals
- Tickets for the live performance program and extended reality experiences can be purchased at levfestival.com and mataderomadrid.org
Matadero Madrid, the contemporary creation center of the Area of Culture, Tourism and Sport, presents the program for the eighth edition of L.E.V. Matadero, taking place from September 17 to 20. Recognized for its commitment to artistic innovation and experimentation, the festival’s 2026 edition will offer a program conceived as a space for discovery, featuring absolute premieres, Spanish debuts, and projects by national and international artists rarely seen in other contexts.
L.E.V. Matadero, ranked among the top five essential art fairs and festivals by Fundación Contemporánea's Cultural Observatory, will map out a journey through some of the most stimulating proposals in contemporary creation at the intersection of music, visual arts, and digital technologies. The curatorial selection for this edition revolves around a constellation of works exploring memory, perception, and the multiple ways we inhabit a world increasingly shaped by technology. Through concerts, audiovisual performances, immersive installations, theatrical pieces, and XR experiences, national and international artists propose new imaginaries where the physical and the virtual, the human and the artificial, the intimate and the collective dialogue to open spaces for reflection, emotion, and shared experience.
Far from viewing the digital as an end in itself, the proposals at L.E.V. Matadero turn technological innovation into a sensitive language from which to imagine new spaces for encounter, listening, and transformation.
Live performances and audiovisual performances at Centro Danza Matadero
L.E.V. Matadero will kick off on Thursday, September 17, with one of the most anticipated proposals of this edition: the Spanish premiere of Last and First Men, the staged adaptation of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s acclaimed experimental film, inspired by the eponymous science fiction novel written by Olaf Stapledon (1930). British company Neon Dance transforms the film's imagery into a show that merges 16mm film, contemporary dance, the voice of multi-talented artist Tilda Swinton as narrator, and an enveloping soundtrack by Jóhannsson and Yair Elazar Glotman, bringing a powerful reflection on humanity's future to the stage.
The lineup for Friday, September 18, will bring together three benchmarks of contemporary sound creation. An essential figure in Spanish experimental music, Suso Saiz will offer a free live performance in Plaza Matadero marked by guitars, textures, and soundscapes. 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. The day will be completed by Kyria Libia with the premiere of her latest work, El arrobamiento, a piece centered around sacred music developed at Matadero Madrid's Center for Artistic Residences (CRA) that intertwines mysticism and electronics.
Saturday, September 19, will begin with the Spanish presentation of Calligraton, a live show developed by the duo Schnitt in collaboration with Japanese calligrapher Aoi Yamaguchi, where the art of shodō comes to life on stage in dialogue with experimental electronics. That same day, composer and digital artist Milian Mori will deliver an intense live audiovisual set marked by stroboscopic visuals that will take dance into unexpected territories.
On Sunday, September 20, New York-based pianist and producer Kelly Moran will return to L.E.V. Matadero to present her album Don’t Trust Mirrors, an introspective journey starring prepared piano and synthesizers. The program will conclude with Japanese artist NAO, who is premiering THE CLUSTERs in Spain, a performance fusing dance, robotics, sound, and real-time imagery, shaping 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 commits to interactive virtual, mixed, and augmented reality projects that allow visitors to rediscover the world and themselves, featuring proposals where intimate experiences are considered from a collective perspective. The various projects in the Vortex section can be enjoyed across two spaces: Central de Diseño and Terrario.
A standout proposal in the selection is [“Á”1653 “gora” 23035], the new piece by digital creator Carles Castaño produced by Servicios Inmersivos, making its 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 position: what if the aliens are actually us?
From Belgium, creators Kate Voet and Victor Maes join the Vortex section with A Long Goodbye—winner of the Venice Immersive Achievement Prize at the last Venice Biennale—a virtual reality experience exploring the impact of dementia through the intimacy of a love story, turning memory into a habitable space and reflecting on the bonds that endure beyond illness.
Audiences will also be able to experience Chronica V1, an experience intertwining craftsmanship and technology based on traditional papermaking techniques. Barbara Mydlak and Yann Deval invite us to participate in the construction of a living archive that evolves with each interaction, taking us on a sensory journey through memory, illness, and healing processes.
Circuit of audiovisual installations
L.E.V. Matadero presents the immersive audiovisual installation Puppet in the Taller space, developed by the studio 1024 Architecture in collaboration with French producer Vitalic. The piece, also premiering in our country for the first time, offers a playful approach to musical composition through the manipulation of a puppet-like entity that generates rhythms and melodies with every movement. This presents an opportunity for live sound creation halfway between a game and a performance.
The Plató room at Cineteca Matadero will also host the Spanish premiere of one of Riccardo Giovinetto’s new works. With H U M I, the Italian audiovisual artist, composer, and physicist reflects on the concept of borders as spaces in constant transformation. This sensory experience weaves together satellite images and soundscapes to construct imaginary geographies that invite a rethinking of the configuration of the contemporary world.
Young audiences will also have their own space in Nave Una courtesy of the Czech studio Initi, featuring their interactive game Playground. This system turns any wall into a space for collective play and experimentation.
The Visual Electronics and Extended Realities Festival, organized by Matadero Madrid, is curated by L.E.V. (Laboratorio de Electrónica Visual y Realidades Extendidas) with the collaboration of Centro Danza Matadero, Cineteca Madrid, and Centro de residencias artísticas, and 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.
Tickets are now on sale at levfestival.com and mataderomadrid.org