Ideally opening this trajectory is Signal in Milano by Strijbos & Van Rijswijk, scheduled for April 30 and May 1 across urban spaces. This itinerant open-air musical performance by these two Dutch artists transforms the city into a perceptual score, inviting audiences into an expanded mode of listening that engages with the landscape and its evolving sonic imagination.At the core of the music programme is Grey Line by SPIME.IM, staged on Wednesday, May 6 and Thursday, May 7 at 9:00 PM at the Cattedrale of Fabbrica del Vapore. The Italian collective—Davide Tomat, Gabriele Ottino and Marco Casolati—presents a live audio-visual performance of striking intensity, where digital aesthetics, media flows and critical reflections on the climate crisis, information overload and the symbolic collapse of the present converge.

Internationally recognised for their transmedia practice and appearances at festivals such as Mutek, Ars Electronica, Club to Club, Lunchmeat, Stereolux and L.E.V., SPIME.IM bring to LIFE one of the most radical and multilayered expressions of contemporary audiovisual research.

The festival’s musical dimension extends into club culture with a DJ set by Nesa Azadikhah, scheduled for Friday, May 8 at 10:00 PM at Le Cisterne. A DJ, producer, and musician born in Tehran and now based in Paris, Azadikhah stands as a pivotal figure within the Middle Eastern and diasporic electronic music landscape.

Founder of Deep House Tehran and the labels Apranik and Makhunik Records, her practice intertwines sonic research, cultural activism, and a distinctly transnational perspective. Her sets navigate seamlessly through trance, techno, and house, articulating the club as a space of freedom, resistance, and collective formation.

The programme also features “Dein und mein Dasein und das Dasein der Welt / 言外之意” by Chongyan Liu, a sound and video immersive installation presented from May 3 to 17 at Fabbrica del Vapore – Cisterne.

Conceived as a reflection on cyclical time and socio-political forces, the work reinterprets water as a metaphor for historical transformation and instability. Visitors are positioned between two monumental projections—a Chinese aircraft carrier and a tsunami—engaged in a dynamic visual and sonic exchange.

Through a layered soundscape combining archival materials, political rhetoric, and natural elements, the installation unfolds as a fully kinesthetic experience, evoking the complexity of perception within a hyperconnected world.

Born in Guizhou, China, Chongyan Liu lives and works between China and France, developing a multidisciplinary practice that spans film, installation, painting, and sculpture. Educated at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and the Beaux-Arts de Paris, she is currently a resident artist at Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains. Her work has been presented and recognized across international festivals and institutions, including Berlinale Talents and IDFA.

About LIFE – Theatre Arts Media Festival 2026Alongside its music programme, the second edition of LIFE – Theatre Arts Media Festival, running from April 30 to May 21 across Fabbrica del Vapore, ZONA K, and other venues throughout the city, unfolds through an articulated programme of performances, dance, installations, talks, lectures, workshops, and roundtables.

The festival hosts a diverse constellation of international artists and collectives, including Studio Julian Hetzel, Elina Kulikova and Dima Efremov, Cie JIL Z / Mehdi Dahkan, Émilie Rousset & Louise Hémon, Sophie Anna Veelenturf / BERLIN, Ontroerend Goed / NTGent, Francesca Mannocchi and Rodrigo D’Erasmo, laGeste | Stereo48, and CORPORA.

A significant exhibition programme brings together installations and multimedia works by Shereen Abedalkareem, Pier Giorgio De Pinto, NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, and the Prospekt Palestine Project / Activestills, reinforcing the festival’s visual and conceptual dimension.

This landscape is further expanded by a series of discursive and public formats, including Tempi polarizzati, the two sessions of Dialogo, the lectio magistralis by Joan Subirats, and contributions from TrovaFestival, Ateatro ETS, cheFare, DIG Festival, and the LIFE Table Talks, extending the festival’s reach into political reflection, participatory practices, media theory, and contemporary cultural discourse.

TICKET INFORMATION – MUSIC EVENTS

SPIME.IM – Grey Line
May 6 and 7, 2026, 9:00 PM
Cattedrale, Fabbrica del Vapore
Full price: €15.00
Reduced (Under 26 / persons with disabilities): €10.00

Nesa Azadikhah – DJ set
May 8, 2026, 10:00 PM
Le Cisterne, Fabbrica del Vapore
Single admission: €10.00

Signal in Milano – Strijbos & Van Rijswijk
April 30 and May 1, 2026, 6:30 PM
Urban spaces
Free admission

Tickets and full programme: https://zonaklife.it/