Ahead of its opening on August 26, the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale 《Séance: Technology of Spirit》 has unveiled its film, music, and theater programs.
 
The two film programs featured in this year’s Biennale—Cinematheque Seoul Art Cinema and Frieze Film Seoul 2025—explore the spiritual and visionary dimensions of cinema, inviting audiences into a temporal space where light and shadow projected on the screen feel as vivid as real memories and experiences.

Hosted by Cinematheque Seoul Art Cinema, the film program comprises fifteen screenings unfolding in four thematic chapters: ‘Speaking with the Dead,’ ‘Ancestors Breathing,’ ‘Psyche and the Screen,’ and ‘Everyday Mysticism.’
 
The program features major works by renowned filmmakers such as Abbas Kiarostami and Ken McMullen, who explored the essence of cinema and narrative experience; Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Lee Jang-ho, who developed distinct cinematic languages through experimental film; and Trinh T. Minh-ha, who practices decolonial critique through independent filmmaking. 

During the opening week of September, the Biennale partners with Frieze for a rooftop screening series at the Seoul Museum of Art. Organized into four chapters—'Harmony,’ ‘Reclaiming,’ ‘Communion,’ and ‘Waking Dreams’—the program focuses on films where spiritual and mystical energies alter perceptions of daily life.

Music, too, has long served as a conduit to the invisible—linking listeners with the divine, the dead, or the more-than-human. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros’s practice of “deep listening,” a dedicated Sound Room curated by Sanna Almajedi will feature sound art and experimental music that probes the porous boundaries between inner and outer worlds. 

Located in the historic NAKWON SANGGA, the Sound Room presents music as a portal to invisible dimensions. Featuring artists across music, sound, and performance, the program explores sonic transmissions from the unconscious, the dead, and the beyond.

Performance becomes a site of transformation in The New Genius Experience of The Great Atomic Bombreflector, a theatrical sci-fi ritual by ORTA (Alexandra Morozova and Rustem Begenov) that merges mysticism, science fiction, and embodied participation. 

Inspired by Kazakhstani visionary Sergey Kalmykov (1891-1967), the performance combines Kalmykov’s texts, Zhuangzi’s philosophy, and atomic test survivors’ testimonies into a multi-phase ritual of transformation, staged in an immersive environment built from 15,000 aluminum containers.

The 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale expands beyond visual art to encompass film, moving images, music, theater, and performance, creating a space where artistic experience is approached as a form of ritual.
 
Through experimental practices that traverse the boundaries between life and death, past and present, Seoul and the world, art and cinema, mainstream and marginal, vision and sound, the Biennale aspires to become a shared platform for both professionals and enthusiasts—a true gathering of art that draws wide attention. 

Full program details, ticketing, and participating artist lists for Séance: Technology of the Spirit will be announced shortly. Please visit the Biennale’s website(mediacityseoul.kr) for updates.

References

• 서울시립미술관 보도자료 (Seoul Museum of Art Press Release)
• 서울미디어시티비엔날레 (Seoul Mediacity Biennale)