SUFFUSE

Frequencies warp, diffused through LED fields. In our minds, fractals of sound and light. We pour another week of movement, light, and sound into October.

As we extract and filter spectra, we establish symbiotic collisions between movement and music. Our full lineup is live, punctuated by soundsystem forward electronics, audio-visual explorations, exploratory workshops, and discussions.

Suffuse (October 22-25), is about cross-pollination. As one rhythm fills the room, its resonance bleeds into time signatures in another. This year’s collection of tempo and tone curators draw from the roots of electronic genres while reaching out into amorphic futures. We invite you to pass through the varied films of this festival and tap into new movements.

Our atrium space open October 22 with a complete series of A/V narratives. This evening will showcase immersive installations and playbacks, hosted by curator ephemeral objects. The union of code, math, and audiovisual poetics finds itself in the expansive works of XEL and Andrew Sun, who will lend their sensitivities to our atrium space. Likewise, parametric shaper arya and video collagist Kaila Bhullar will ease participants into the festival architecture through their expansive works. The atrium will be accessible by donation throughout the festival.

Our core events take shape Friday evening. Early in the evening, we’ll experience Eric Cheung & Cristian Gonzalez who will propel us into heightened new movements amplified by dynamic media. Traversing the centre, our eyes and ears will be swept up in the microcosms of 3D designer and A/V poet Ashwell Woodland. In that same space, high energy, eclectic mixes from AGS, reinforced with a live modular techno set from Carmen will lend us momentum. Meanwhile this psychoacoustic backdrop will augment the programmed dimensions of VJ clara.

Our first night in the studio leans into the experimental and multidisciplinary. Perpetual rupture will structure the evening as Josh Ongcol who will introduce us to a fundamental house dance style in his Anatomy of the Jack workshop. Sierra Lima returns to our framework—this time integrating elements of folk, breaks, and techno through our first live set. Jas Lin's choreographed exorcism will precede the visceral transcendence of Vot perfectly. Liliane Chlela’s deconstructed rhythms will follow before Jaijiu seals the evening with aspects of Argentine club.

Our second evening roots itself in rhythms and resonances. Here we celebrate dub, sound system cultures, and kinetic release with acts such as DJ Spinn, a cofounder of the Teklife collective, and one of the most influential Chicago footwork and juke producers in existence. Saturday also sees the addition of A/V duo Schema Drift, whose spatial-sensorial visions will mesmerize early arrivals before our descent into night with El Ángel Exterminador. CHXMERAS will adjust the BPMs before Buncha blurs the lines between virtual and reality, tearing through the air with pounding drum and bass. Throughout the evening we juxtapose energies from ADAM, wurld2000k, and SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL who will lock us in physical motions.

Dub is a recurring language within our program. The sonic foundation of the downstairs Production Studio will be maintained by iAMi Soundsystem. We are portioning part of our festival to demonstrate the Void Soundsystem in detail, as part of the live dub mixing workshop with iAMi Soundsystem, Gulod Tanawin, and SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL. In this workshop, we will learn how to leverage the visceral nature of the soundsystem while exploring different workflows.

The interlocking of sound and bodies is a central component to music and experience. Our discussion following the iAMi workshop examines the vectors of soundsystem culture, resistance, and rhythm in conversation. Going beyond geographic boundaries and timelines, we will hear from the varied perspectives of DJ Spinn, SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL, and Simon Grefiel as ra / sol moderates this panel.

CURATORS

This matrix of frequencies stems from curators Evidence Doll, ephemeral objects, and Reylinn. It is both an invitation and a process to be porous rather than fixed, and to imagine what’s possible when we come together.

ephemeral objects

ephemeral objects is an interdisciplinary artist, producer, VJ, and DJ based in so-called Vancouver. She has performed at influential music venues and festivals throughout Canada, including Bass Coast, New Forms, Active/Passive, and MUTEK (as i+eo, her a/v project with IHA). She has created music videos for Canadian forward-thinking electronic music labels, such as Mood Hut and NAGA. She produces ambient, experimental, noise, drone-inspired music, with her latest release on SYS Sister Sounds and Wuji.

Her practice is rooted in care and intention: championing music and labels led by femmes, artists of colour, and communities underrepresented in electronic music. As a resident of Acceleration Radio, she platforms emerging and diverse audio and visual talents from Vancouver’s underground scene and beyond. In 2024, she was invited to join MUTEK’s first incubator program. Her lived experienced as a queer Chinese-Vietnamese-Canadian and her academic background, with a MA in anthropology and BA (Hons.) in sociology and anthropology from Simon Fraser University, grounds how she situates her work: ethnographically, relationally, and accountable to place, power, and people.

Evidence Doll

Evidence Doll [Malik Abouzeid] is an Arab transmasculine artist and designer reconstructing identity, catharsis, and the organized chaos of sci-fi world-building. Yearning for a post-human form, an egg cracks. Invigorated by the viscerality of body horror and the limits of flesh adornment, they infuse their fashion design into their music production. He utilizes music videos & live performance to simultaneously express and find his identity. Through this, movement and costuming adorn his embodied craft of uninhibited exploration, further materializing it all through a tattoo practice. Existing at the intersection of the evocative human condition and the existentialism of a technological age, their work digitizes the tension and release of life's absurdity.

Reylinn

Reylinn is a multidisciplinary audio/visual artist, performer, and radio host. They have been working within the underground electronic music community in the Pacific Northwest since 2016, most notably with the experimental audio/visual collective Acceleration Radio since 2018, and as the artistic director & production manager of New Forms Festival since 2022.

As a producer and DJ, they are driven by the visceral sounds of dub, techno, bass, footwork, jungle, deconstructed club and experimental music. Reylinn is also a core member of the collective experiment Gulod Tanawin alongside collaborator Simon Grefiel, conjuring sound and movement inspired by Southeast Asian grassroots techno, dub, traditional sounds, ceremony and Filipino martial arts.

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