Asian Avant-garde Film Festival 2026: Space, Entry, Transfer

David Boring's live performance for "Silent Sounds: An Experimental Performance" is based on their latest album, *Liminal Beings and Their Echoes* (2026). Experiencing a "critical state" of trauma, survival, healing, and dialogue, this highly infectious performance oscillates between destruction and rebirth, exploring the darkest contours of the human heart.

Gao Siya is a film festival director, producer, and writer, renowned for her outstanding work at Modern Films Production. As a key guest at the Asian Avant-garde Film Festival, Gao Siya will screen a selection of films from the Modern Films archive and participate in discussions on recently restored works by M+.

"ikkibawiKrrr" (founded in South Korea in 2021) is a visual research group composed of Ko Kiek and Cho Ji-eun. Starting with rural life in South Korea, they visit East Asian villages that are gradually declining under the rapid waves of globalization and urbanization, and conduct extensive field research. Through screenings, video installations, and workshops, ikkibawiKrrr reminds us of the spirit of villages and helps us rediscover the shared joy of communities.

Takashi Ito is a leading figure in the field of Japanese avant-garde film. This year's film festival will screen his early 8mm and 16mm experimental films, as well as his latest video work, "Distant Sound" (2024), all of which demonstrate the artist's long-standing interest in using space as a theme, concept, and structural principle.

"Daham Park" - Korean avant-garde sound artist Daham Park will serve as the resident DJ during the film festival, presenting diverse experimental, improvisational, and independent music from across Asia. Audiences of the Asian Avant-garde Film Festival can dance and experience the music in various spaces within the festival grounds, while also learning about Park's extraordinary personal experiences and his rich and collaborative sound practices.

The artist duo Larissa Sansur and Sørenlind explore the complexities of displacement through a series of screenings and dialogues. Their works, featuring futuristic scenes and narratives, reflect on the profound impact of exile and intergenerational trauma stemming from historical events, local traditions, and personal experiences.

Rilgi de Lavani, a pioneer of relational aesthetics, is renowned for his groundbreaking spatial art practices. Relational aesthetics refers to an artistic approach where artists foster social experience and interaction within specific spaces. De Lavani will bring numerous experiences to this year's Asian Avant-garde Film Festival, inviting audiences to socialize and interact in innovative ways within museum spaces.

Xu Bing, a pioneering Chinese artist, uses video installations to critically examine the relationship between the gaze, voyeurism, and the act of watching and being watched. His latest space art project will be a highlight of this year's film festival. The project incorporates satellite imagery and transmits experimental footage to an orbiting satellite for viewing in outer space.

"Zheng Ma Le" uses technology to explore the subjective world of non-human species in the ecological field and their relationship with humans. This year's film festival will showcase their work from the M+ collection, "What's it like to be a (virtual) bat? (Phase 2–4)" (2023). The film version will be screened at the museum's east entrance, while the virtual reality version will be available for visitors to experience at the film festival's pop-up, allowing them to become bats and embark on a journey.