VASTLAB Announces VLX 7.4: A Working Night in a Small Room
Chicago, IL — VAST LAB announces VLX 7.4, the first of two Chicago transmissions in the VLX series: a one-night program of twelve short experimental films from eight countries, paired with intimate live response through the VLX LIVEscore format.
The event takes place Wednesday, July 29, at Material, located at 2025 West Belmont Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618. Doors open at 7:30 PM. Capacity is limited to 20 seats.
VLX 7.4 is designed as a working night in a small room. It is not a conventional screening and does not pretend to be one. The program brings together international short works across fiction, animation, and non-fiction, presented inside a gallery setting that allows image, sound, audience, and live response to meet at close range.
VLX LIVEscore
Each VLX program includes a LIVEscore segment: an intimate, live response to selected moving-image works, created in the room and shaped by the charged immediacy of the screening environment. Rather than treating sound as a fixed accompaniment, LIVEscore opens a space where film, performance, audience, and venue can briefly become part of the same unstable signal.
For VLX 7.4, the LIVEscore artist will be announced in mid-June.
“VLX exists to create space for experimental film and live response without forcing artists into a polished, commercial, or pay-to-play model,” said VAST LAB. “This Chicago program continues that work: small room, limited seats, direct contact, and a format that lets the films stay alive in the room.”
Event Details
VLX 7.4
Date: Wednesday, July 29
Doors: 7:30 PM
Format: Lab night
Capacity: 20 seats
Venue: Material
Address: 2025 West Belmont Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618
RSVP: Wednesday, July 29
Press list / press inquiries: hello@vastlab.org
Program
12 films · 8 countries
01 — How Do You Move In This World?
dir. Brian Padian
Short Fiction
United States
02 — Externalities
dir. Dan McHale
Short Animation
United States
03 — On a clear day you can see forever
dir. Ian Haig
Short Animation
Australia
04 — The Dream Portal
dir. Samuel Karow
Short Non-Fiction
United States
05 — hurricane
dir. Héctor Almeida
Short Non-Fiction
Cuba
06 — London Quick City
dir. Mark G Lonsdale
Short Fiction
United Kingdom
07 — Buses don’t stop here anymore
dir. Penny McCann
Short Non-Fiction
Canada
08 — Sandia
dir. Mélissa Faivre
Short Non-Fiction
Germany
09 — Calibrating
dir. Aby Isakov
Short Fiction
United States
10 — You’re finally home
dir. Hanna Viktoria Abrahamsson
Short Fiction
Sweden
11 — Wherever Street Piece
dir. Panu Johansson
Short Non-Fiction
Finland
12 — La noirceur souterraine des racines / The subterranean blackness of roots
dir. Charles-André Coderre
Short Non-Fiction
Canada
About VLX
VLX is an artist-first experimental film and live response platform produced by VASTLAB. The series creates small-scale, high-intimacy environments for moving image work, sound, performance, and audience encounter. VLX supports emerging and experimental artists through direct presentation opportunities and collaborative programming.
About VAST LAB
VAST LAB is a creative platform focused on experimental film, sound, story, and technology arts. Through live programs, screenings, artist collaborations, and research-driven cultural projects, VAST LAB creates spaces where rough edges, unfinished signals, and unconventional forms can remain visible.
For press inquiries, artist information, or to join the press list, contact: