FUTURE COMMONS
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE / DIGITAL ART / EASTERN FUTURE NARRATIVE
An immersive space where Eastern traditions meet digital art and interactive technology. Explore a future shaped by heritage and innovation—where physical and virtual worlds merge to create shared experiences.
1.1
Documentary Screening: Xu Bing Tianshu Rocket × Satellite Lake: Cosmic Reflections (UK Premiere), followed by a Q&A with Xu Bing and David Sington
Kings College London (London, UK)
“Xu Bing Tian Shu” Rocket documents the fulljourney of the Tianshu Rocket project, from its conception in late 2019 to the maiden launch of an art rocket on February 1, 2021, opening up new reflections on the relationship between art, technology, and the unknown.
Satellite Lake: Cosmic Reflections is the first stop-motion animation created in outer space, filmed using an expired satellite. Following the screening, Xu Bing also introduced the Space Arts Residency Program.
Xu Bing is widely recognized as a leading conceptual artist in linguistics and semiotics. His pioneering work continues to push the boundaries of contemporary art and has been exhibited at major institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the British Museum, and the Venice Biennale.
David Sington is an acclaimed science documentary filmmaker and a recipient of the Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism (1999) and the Grierson Award (2004).
1.2
Film Screening: 2046 by Wong Kar-wai
The Garden Cinema (London, UK), 16th August 2025
2046 tells the story of a futuristic world imagined by the womanizing writer Chow, where a memory-retrieving train blurs the line between fiction and reality. His romantic encounters in a Hong Ko in outer space, filmed using an expired satellite. Following the screening, Xu Bing also introduced the Space Arts Residency Program.
Wong Kar-wai is a renowned film director, screenwriter, and producer from Hong Kong. Known for his nonlinear storytelling and distinctive visual style, his films—including the internationally acclaimed In the Mood for Love (2000)—frequently appear on best-of lists around the world.
1.3
Film Screening: Bumming in Beijing – The Last Dreamers (UK Premiere of the Original Version) + Pre-Recorded Video Message from Director Wu Wenguang
The Garden Cinema (London, UK), 21th August 2025
Bumming in Beijing portrays raw, unfiltered street life and the struggles of nomadic artists pursuing their dreams in Beijing. Often regarded as the first independent Chinese documentary, this screening marks the UK premiere of the film’s original version.
1.4
Video Essay Screening: Sinofuturism X and Geomancer by Lawrence Lek
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
Sinofuturism X is a video essay that imagines speculative futures shaped by China’s technological rise. Blending documentary, gaming aesthetics, and machine learning, it expands on Lawrence Lek’s Sinofuturism project by exploring how cultural narratives and automation intersect in visions of global futurity.
Geomancer is a VR film set in a megacity generated from live geospatial data. It follows a sentient AI artist seeking recognition in a future where creative labor is fully automated, reflecting on authorship and identity in an age of digital urbanism.
Lawrence Lek is a London-based virtual reality artist known for immersive digital narratives about technology and identity. His work has been exhibited at major international venues including the Venice Biennale and UCCA Center for Contemporary Art.
1.5
Digital Art Screening: Composition #3 by Seph Li
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
Composition #3 is inspired by early Buddhist cave temples, where space becomes a series of living, segmented forms that evoke the Buddha’s simultaneous absence and omnipresence.
Seph Li is a London-based digital artist and former teamLab member known for interactive works that explore the relationship between the artist and the audience. His installations have been exhibited internationally, including at the National Art Center Tokyo and the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro.
1.6
Digital Art Screening: Still Garden#1 by Jiayu Liu
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
Still Garden# 1 explores machine worldbuilding through AI-generated virtual landscapes, combining spatial memory, particle simulations, and nonlinear narrative structures. The work reveals new perceptual aesthetics shaped through human–machine collaboration.
Jiayu Liu is a London- and Beijing-based media artist whose immersive installations merge AI, live data, and Eastern poetics. Her work investigates the evolving relationship between humans, machines, and nature through dynamic, living systems.
1.7
Digital Art Screening: Psyche Wonderland by Psyche Studio
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
Psyche Wonderland is a multisensory interactive installation that transforms dreamlike digital ruins into emotional data landscapes. Through their avatar Psyches, visitors explore memory, nostalgia, and digital decay while reflecting on the preservation of digital heritage.
Psyche Studio uses advanced creative technologies to craft immersive visual narratives and digital experiences. Their work blends avant-garde aesthetics with imaginative, curiosity-driven solutions across culture, merchandise, software, and art.
1.8
Digital Art Screening: The-innumerable-things-that-existe-things-that-exist by Yoonkyeong (Gabi) Yang
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
In an era where cash has vanished, the only trace of a transaction is a single receipt, prompting questions about what exists, what disappears, and what remains. The-innumerable-things-that-existe-things-that-exist reflects on presence, absence, and the fragile proofs of our everyday existence.
Yoonkyeong (Gabi) Yang creates immersive animations that merge music and moving image to explore shared experiences of time. She has collaborated with major artists including Adele and G-Dragon.
1.9
Digital Art Screening: The Terminal Vision by Hua Xi Zi & Patrick O’Shea
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
The Terminal Vision is a synthesized, imagined view of Earth from the perspective of the SCA-1 satellite. Displaying moving images at a planetary scale, the work visualizes the Earth as it drifts through low Earth orbit. It was created as part of Xu Bing’s Space Art Residency Program.
Hua Xi Zi & Patrick O 'Shea are a newly formed collective engaged in practice-led research that reimagines planetary projections and mapping methods. Their work examines the intersections of colonial archival histories and contemporary technologies.
1.10
Digital Art Screening:
SuperFUTURES - Royal College of Art Group Exhibition
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
THE FILTER LIGHT(Baizhen Pan), HYPOXIA (Jiayi (Leo) Lin), Beyond the Frost (Rei Kim), 36° (Xinyi Huang), Tying the Know, Again (Juan Ye), Karma (Jiaru Li), Entropy Extinction (Aoyun Chen), Iron Steppe (Oleksandra Umanska)
RCA superFUTURES is a research-led unit at the Royal College of Art that focuses on spatialising futures. The team of tutors and creative students collaborate to explore potential futures in architecture and interiors, in preparation for spatial insecurities ahead.
1.11
Digital Performance: The Little Bourgeoisie Fake Rockery by Zhuohan Yang
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
THE FILTER LIGHT(Baizhen Pan), HYPOXIA (Jiayi (Leo) Lin), Beyond the Frost (Rei Kim), 36° (Xinyi Huang), Tying the Know, Again (Juan Ye), Karma (Jiaru Li), Entropy Extinction (Aoyun Chen), Iron Steppe (Oleksandra Umanska)
RCA superFUTURES is a research-led unit at the Royal College of Art that focuses on spatialising futures. The team of tutors and creative students collaborate to explore potential futures in architecture and interiors, in preparation for spatial insecurities ahead.
1.12
Tech x Music: Audiovisual Beat Boxing by Andy Chan and Jonathan Zhu
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
Audiovisual Beat Boxing is a performance that highlights the human voice as a versatile instrument, blending beatboxing, melodic textures, and visual elements into a boundary-pushing, multisensory experience. The visual component was created by Jonathan Zhu.
Andy Chan is an award-winning beatboxer known for delivering immersive, cross-cultural performances.
1.13
Tech x Music: “Rhizome” Music Mushrooms by Kevin Lim
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
“Rhizome” Music Mushrooms is an electrical network of mushrooms that produces sound. As the mushrooms respond to human touch, they reveal a hidden underground world where fungal communication becomes song.
Kevin Lim is an experimental scientist turned musician. After a decade of using creativity to solve research problems, he now uses technology to advance his musical explorations.
1.14
Tech x Music: Audiovisual Sound Synthesis Performance by Yiding Zhang
Fire (London, UK), 17th August 2025
Audiovisual Sound Synthesis Performance is an immersive sonic–visualjourney through a space that feels both familiar and uncanny, bridging past and future. The work draws inspiration from urban memory, digital culture, and Eastern philosophy.
Yiding Zhang is a digital artist who creates immersive audiovisual works exploring how technology shapes perception and culture through sound, space, and abstraction.
