Gazaebal, UN/Readable Sound, 2025. Live audiovisual performance, 45 minutes. Courtesy of the artist.
Curated by C-LAB’s Taiwan Sound Lab, the 2025 C-LAB Sound Festival: DIVERSONICS centers on contemporary music and sound creation through performances, installations, international forums, lectures, workshops, and masterclasses, forming a cross-generational, multi-sensory celebration of sound art. It is presented by the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, running from October 23 to November 30, 2025.
This year’s festival features six major sections and more than 40 events, bringing together sound creators and performers from Germany, France, the United States, Argentina, Luxembourg, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam. Nearly 70% of the works are premieres or re-creations, demonstrating the forward-thinking and diverse nature of contemporary sound art.
Martin Matalon, C-LAB Sound Festival x Kuandu Arts Festival Chaplin Factory Ciné-Concert, 2025. Photo by Hervé Veronese. Courtesy of Centre Pompidou, Paris.
From classics to contemporary creation
The section Contemporary Masters/Classics includes several Asia and Taiwan premieres, such as Chaplin Factory, conducted by Argentine composer Martin Matalon and performed by artists from IRCAM (France). The work reinterprets Charlie Chaplin’s silent film imagery through live electroacoustic performance.
To mark the centenary of Pierre Boulez, C-LAB presents Boulez 100 in Taipei, performed by the New Music Workshop of Taipei National University of the Arts. Complementary programs include the Boulez Project: A Journey through Solos by Studio Acht and Time Art Studio’s performance of electroacoustic pieces by Philippe Manoury, a composer influenced by Boulez.
20° dans le noir, Trompe-l’œil—Labyrinthe Sonore, 2025. Live performance, 75 minutes. Photo by Jean-Christophe Déhan.
New contemporary music/sounds
Focusing on emerging creators, Trompe-l’œil—Labyrinthe Sonore by French trio 20° dans le noir merges extended instrumental techniques and electronic sound to construct audio illusions. Forest of Bamboos by Wu Wei and Alexis Baskind immerses listeners within the 37-reed sheng’s internal resonance. The French research collective GRM also holds performances, workshops, and lectures.
TPMC-Tout Pour la Musique Contemporaine, Forest of Bamboos, 2025.
Live performance, 15 minutes. Photo by Pierre-Gondard.
EEL’s World—Live Electric Acoustic: Catadromous, derived from filmmaker Chu Chun-Teng’s feature EEL, reinterprets the film’s soundscape with artists SHENG and Tôn Thất An.
Liu Wei-Chih’s Burst Forth II explores illusion and perception, while Shuanghsi Music Forum’s Co-creation and Dialogue between Musicians and AI presents experimental compositions using AI music tools. Cutting-Edge Contemporary Music & Sounds features creators Chen Chia-Hui, Huang Ling-Hsuan, Cheng Dao-Yuan, Wu Ping-Sheng, Wang Chih-Yun, XTRUX, Huang Yung-Jen, Chen Po-Hao, and Tsang Jing-Shiuan & Wen Hungkai of C-LAB’s Sound Lab.
Ting-Ting Chao x Anarchy Dance Theatre, KINGDOM, 2025.
XR live performance combining VR, 3D scanning, motion capture, and multi-screen collage, 45 minutes. Photo by Wei-Chi Lin.
Cross-domain explorations
The section Dance & Music/Sounds highlights Anarchy Dance Theatre’s KINGDOM, created by Chao Ting-Ting, which fuses VR, 3D scanning, and dance. SoMO: Sound & Movement Experience, curated by Melting Part, blends street dance and improvisational sound within circular creative exchanges.
The MR: New Soundscape section, co-produced with the National Taichung Theater, presents Coco Chen’s Cleo, inspired by the French film Cleo from 5 to 7, and Hung An-Hsu’s His Elsewhere, exploring belonging and displacement through VR.
Motion Capture & Animation Tech Lab, Dept. of Digital Multimedia Design, China University of Technology x Hoyi Dance Crew x Sherwin Yang, The Five Martial Gods of Wealth Virtual-Real Fusion Performance, 2025.
Installation and immersion
The Sound Installation & Performance section features the exhibition Reverberation of Survival, showcasing Hsu Studio, Chi Po-Hao, Ken Ueno, WHYIXD x KLING KLANG KLONG, and ULTRACOMBOS x Cicada. The work Echo Chamber by Chen Yi, Wang Chung-Kun, and Wu Ping-Sheng integrates multichannel sound fields, laser optics, and AI synthesis. Other highlights include Samson Young’s Pavilion at the New Taipei City Art Museum and Chang Yen-Tzu’s In the Abyss, Once Again as a Perceiver at Nuit Blanche 2025.
HSU Studio, Between II Dissonant Consonant, 2025.
Mechanical and human-computer interactive sound installation with video, dimension variable. Courtesy of the artist.
Education and collaboration
The Academy section bridges academia and creation with works by faculty and students from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and National Taiwan Normal University, including programs of Interlaced Sounds and Images, Mysterious Sound Realm, and Echoes of Understanding.
C-LAB also co-hosts its first international forum with IRCAM, welcoming 25 sound creators from Germany, France, and Japan. This year’s festival also involves National Taipei University of the Arts, National Taiwan Science Education Center, New Taipei City Art Museum, Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs and other institutions to jointly extend contemporary sound art creation and performance platforms, establishing an innovative cross-domain ecosystem of art.
Chu Chun-Teng, August 15, 2025. Audiovisual installation, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
About the Exhibition
C-LAB Sound Festival 2025: DIVERSONICS
Dates: October 23–November 30, 2025
Venue: Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab
Address: No. 177, Section 1, Jianguo South Road, Da'an District, Taipei 106084
Courtesy of Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab, edited by CAFA ART INFO.
