Instagram Story Save

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

The Spring 2026 lineup for Conversations at the Edge is here! Join us for a season of genre-defying animation, archival excavations, 16mm experimentation, and immersive film performance with @saic_cate.

Thursdays, Feb 12–April 16 at @filmcenter.
FREE for SAIC students.
Tickets on sale Feb 2.
Info and tickets at saic.edu/cate.

Images:
2. Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass, 1987.
3. Kioto Aoki, If pinholes were right side up, I would be doing handstands, 2024.
4. Victoria Vincent (vewn), Snooze Fest, 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
5. Malena Szlam, Archipelago of Earthen Bones — To Bunya, 2024.
6. Jiayi Chen, See Through the Hollowed Blue Hellabore, 2026.
7. Maryam Tafakory, Mast-del (2023). Courtesy of LUX.

For her first Chicago appearance, Maryam Tafakory presents a live film performance of her new work, GOL[E] SORKH, on April 16 at the @filmcenter.

GOL[E] SORKH traces the censorship of the word gol, or “flower,” in the final tumultuous years of imperial Iran just before the 1979 Revolution. Drawing on this history, Tafakory examines the role of women in leftist movements and their ultimate suppression by Iran’s pre- and post-revolutionary governments, as well as the CIA and MI6. Rooted in archival research, her work resists the register of documentary truth-telling, instead unfolding through poetic essay and collage.

AN EVENING WITH MARYAM TAFAKORY is one night only—tickets available at the link in our bio.

@maryamtafakory @saicpics @saic_fvnma

“I try to imagine a new archive…to highlight stories and bodies that have been erased.” —Maryam Tafakory

Working at the intersection of cinema and live performance, Maryam Tafakory draws on imagery from post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, personal archives, and fragmentary materials to dissect concealed acts of erasure—of bodies, intimacies, and histories.

The 2024 Jarman Award–winning artist has presented her work at the Barbican Centre (London), BOZAR (Brussels), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (Los Angeles), among others. Her films have screened at major international festivals including the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and have received numerous awards, including the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Tiger Short Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam.

An Evening with Maryam Tafakory
Thursday, April 16
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@maryamtafakory @saic_fvnma @saicpics @filmcenter

“I try to imagine a new archive…to highlight stories and bodies that have been erased.” —Maryam Tafakory

Working at the intersection of cinema and live performance, Maryam Tafakory draws on imagery from post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, personal archives, and fragmentary materials to dissect concealed acts of erasure—of bodies, intimacies, and histories.

The 2024 Jarman Award–winning artist has presented her work at the Barbican Centre (London), BOZAR (Brussels), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (Los Angeles), among others. Her films have screened at major international festivals including the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and have received numerous awards, including the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Tiger Short Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam.

An Evening with Maryam Tafakory
Thursday, April 16
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@maryamtafakory @saic_fvnma @saicpics @filmcenter

“I try to imagine a new archive…to highlight stories and bodies that have been erased.” —Maryam Tafakory

Working at the intersection of cinema and live performance, Maryam Tafakory draws on imagery from post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, personal archives, and fragmentary materials to dissect concealed acts of erasure—of bodies, intimacies, and histories.

The 2024 Jarman Award–winning artist has presented her work at the Barbican Centre (London), BOZAR (Brussels), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (Los Angeles), among others. Her films have screened at major international festivals including the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and have received numerous awards, including the Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival and the Tiger Short Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam.

An Evening with Maryam Tafakory
Thursday, April 16
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@maryamtafakory @saic_fvnma @saicpics @filmcenter

In her first Chicago appearance, Jarman Award–winning Iranian artist Maryam Tafakory brings her striking films and a new live film performance to the Siskel Film Center on Thursday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m., as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Drawing on post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, archival documents, autobiographical fragments, and found sound, Tafakory assembles layered, sensorial works that evoke suppressed histories of women’s lives, intimacies, and activism—reflecting on resistance, erasure, and desire.

Followed by a conversation and audience Q&A.

✨ FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info + tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART)

@maryamtafakory @saic_cate

IMAGES: 1. Maryam Tafakory, Razeh-del, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and LUX. 2. Maryam Tafakory, Daria’s Night Flowers, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Square Eyes. 3. Maryam Tafakory, Gol[e] Sorkh, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Maryam Tafakory. Photo by Oscar F. Orengo.

In her first Chicago appearance, Jarman Award–winning Iranian artist Maryam Tafakory brings her striking films and a new live film performance to the Siskel Film Center on Thursday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m., as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Drawing on post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, archival documents, autobiographical fragments, and found sound, Tafakory assembles layered, sensorial works that evoke suppressed histories of women’s lives, intimacies, and activism—reflecting on resistance, erasure, and desire.

Followed by a conversation and audience Q&A.

✨ FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info + tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART)

@maryamtafakory @saic_cate

IMAGES: 1. Maryam Tafakory, Razeh-del, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and LUX. 2. Maryam Tafakory, Daria’s Night Flowers, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Square Eyes. 3. Maryam Tafakory, Gol[e] Sorkh, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Maryam Tafakory. Photo by Oscar F. Orengo.

In her first Chicago appearance, Jarman Award–winning Iranian artist Maryam Tafakory brings her striking films and a new live film performance to the Siskel Film Center on Thursday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m., as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Drawing on post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, archival documents, autobiographical fragments, and found sound, Tafakory assembles layered, sensorial works that evoke suppressed histories of women’s lives, intimacies, and activism—reflecting on resistance, erasure, and desire.

Followed by a conversation and audience Q&A.

✨ FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info + tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART)

@maryamtafakory @saic_cate

IMAGES: 1. Maryam Tafakory, Razeh-del, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and LUX. 2. Maryam Tafakory, Daria’s Night Flowers, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Square Eyes. 3. Maryam Tafakory, Gol[e] Sorkh, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Maryam Tafakory. Photo by Oscar F. Orengo.

In her first Chicago appearance, Jarman Award–winning Iranian artist Maryam Tafakory brings her striking films and a new live film performance to the Siskel Film Center on Thursday, April 16 at 6:00 p.m., as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Drawing on post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, archival documents, autobiographical fragments, and found sound, Tafakory assembles layered, sensorial works that evoke suppressed histories of women’s lives, intimacies, and activism—reflecting on resistance, erasure, and desire.

Followed by a conversation and audience Q&A.

✨ FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info + tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART)

@maryamtafakory @saic_cate

IMAGES: 1. Maryam Tafakory, Razeh-del, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and LUX. 2. Maryam Tafakory, Daria’s Night Flowers, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Square Eyes. 3. Maryam Tafakory, Gol[e] Sorkh, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Maryam Tafakory. Photo by Oscar F. Orengo.

In Jarman Award–winning artist Maryam Tafakory’s RAZEH-DEL, dense layers of inky newsprint and appropriated footage trace the story of ZAN, Iran’s first women’s newspaper—whose brief run in the late 1990s inspires two schoolgirls to imagine new realities. Amid saturated fields of amethyst, crimson, and amber, images of women emerge and dissolve—overlaid with letters of censorship and solidarity.

Winner, International Competition, Pardi di Domani, 77th Locarno Film Festival
Winner, Gold Hugo, Short Film Competition, 58th Chicago International Film Festival
Winner, Best Short, Montreal International Documentary Festival

See the film at the @filmcenter when Tafakory joins us for AN EVENING WITH MARYAM TAFAKORY on Thursday, April 16.

This is the last program in Conversations at the Edge’s Spring 2026 season.

🎟 Info + tickets at the link in bio

@maryamtafakory @saicpics @saic_fvnma

Jiayi Chen’s MOUNDS ABOVE THE EARTH contemplates ecological cycles, perception, and environmental transformation, anchored in the rare simultaneous emergence of two periodical cicada broods for the first time in more than two centuries.

See a special live performance version of the film Thursday, March 26, with Chen in person using 16mm, 35mm, and glass, followed by a conversation and audience Q&A.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@jiayichen_ @saicpics @saic_fvnma @saicalumni

CW: flashing lights | Tracing a path from Mount Beerwah to the Bunya Mountains and the Gondwana Rainforests of eastern Australia, Malena Szlam’s ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES—TO BUNYA evokes layered geologic and cultural histories through infrasonic and ultrasonic recordings, dazzling in-camera editing, and rich superimposition.

See the film Thursday, March 26, with Szlam in person for a conversation and audience Q&A.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@malenaszlam @saicpics @saic_fvnma @filmcenter

Montreal-based artist Malena Szlam and Chicago/Houston-based filmmaker Jiayi Chen bring immersive films and multi-projector performances to the Siskel Film Center Thursday, March 26, as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Join us for an evening of analog works that create intensely sensuous experiences—reorienting perceptions of landscape and time. A conversation with the artists and audience Q&A will follow.

Presented with support from The University of Chicago @filmstudiescenter and @chicagofilmsociety.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26, 6:00 p.m.
FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info and tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART).

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam, ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Light Cone. 2. Malena Szlam. Photo by Johan Legraie. 3. Jiayi Chen, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Jiayi Chen

@malenaszlam @jiayichen_

Montreal-based artist Malena Szlam and Chicago/Houston-based filmmaker Jiayi Chen bring immersive films and multi-projector performances to the Siskel Film Center Thursday, March 26, as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Join us for an evening of analog works that create intensely sensuous experiences—reorienting perceptions of landscape and time. A conversation with the artists and audience Q&A will follow.

Presented with support from The University of Chicago @filmstudiescenter and @chicagofilmsociety.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26, 6:00 p.m.
FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info and tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART).

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam, ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Light Cone. 2. Malena Szlam. Photo by Johan Legraie. 3. Jiayi Chen, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Jiayi Chen

@malenaszlam @jiayichen_

Montreal-based artist Malena Szlam and Chicago/Houston-based filmmaker Jiayi Chen bring immersive films and multi-projector performances to the Siskel Film Center Thursday, March 26, as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Join us for an evening of analog works that create intensely sensuous experiences—reorienting perceptions of landscape and time. A conversation with the artists and audience Q&A will follow.

Presented with support from The University of Chicago @filmstudiescenter and @chicagofilmsociety.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26, 6:00 p.m.
FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info and tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART).

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam, ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Light Cone. 2. Malena Szlam. Photo by Johan Legraie. 3. Jiayi Chen, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Jiayi Chen

@malenaszlam @jiayichen_

Montreal-based artist Malena Szlam and Chicago/Houston-based filmmaker Jiayi Chen bring immersive films and multi-projector performances to the Siskel Film Center Thursday, March 26, as part of our Conversations at the Edge series.

Join us for an evening of analog works that create intensely sensuous experiences—reorienting perceptions of landscape and time. A conversation with the artists and audience Q&A will follow.

Presented with support from The University of Chicago @filmstudiescenter and @chicagofilmsociety.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26, 6:00 p.m.
FREE for SAIC students
🎟️ Info and tickets at 🔗
This event will include real-time captions (CART).

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam, ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Light Cone. 2. Malena Szlam. Photo by Johan Legraie. 3. Jiayi Chen, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026. Courtesy of the artist. 4. Jiayi Chen

@malenaszlam @jiayichen_

CW: flashing images | In Jiayi Chen’s SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, shot in southeastern Alaska, images of trees, mountains, and glacial terrain “drip, flow and take root in the phonetic textures of the Indigenous Tlingit language and a lush sonic collage of local fauna.” Viewers watch as the landscape becomes greener, correlating to the language and glaciers receding.

See the film on March 26 at the @filmcenter, with filmmaker Jiayi Chen in person for an evening of 16mm and 35mm film and multi-projector performances that reorient our perceptions of the natural world. A one-of-a-kind event you will NOT want to miss.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@jiayichen_ @saicpics @filmcenter @saic_fvnma

CW: flashing lights | “Malena Szlam’s ALTIPLANO ranks among the most striking landscape films of recent years and calls for a revision of how we talk about landscape in cinema.”—Dan Sullivan, Film Comment

Filmed in the Andean Mountains on the traditional lands of the Atacameño, Aymara, and Calchaquí-Diaguita peoples in northern Chile and northwest Argentina, ALTIPLANO unspools across a geological universe of ancestral salt flats, volcanic deserts, and colored lakes. Landscapes pulse and stutter, ground merges with sky, rocky minerals with cloud—expanding our sense of earth and time.

See the film March 26 with Malena Szlam in person in a one-of-a-kind evening of 35mm and 16mm films and live performance using analog technologies to reorient our perceptions of the natural world.

VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN
Thursday, March 26
Info + tickets at the link in bio

@malenaszlam @saicpics @filmcenter @saic_fvnma

Jiayi Chen’s luminous films and multi-projector performances attune viewers to forest ecologies, seasonal cycles, and the reciprocal relationships between flora, fauna, and land.

Originally from Chongqing in southwest China and now living between Chicago and Houston, the artist and filmmaker brings her films and expanded-cinema performances to the @filmcenter Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio

Jiayi Chen is an artist, filmmaker, and projectionist working at the intersection of analog film, performance, and installation. Her practice explores perception, translation, and environmental attunement. Through expanded-cinema and photochemical film processes, Chen approaches filmmaking as a durational and relational act.

Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally at festivals and venues including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, Cineteca Madrid, Fracto Experimental Film Encounter (Berlin), MONO NO AWARE (New York), Chicago Cultural Center, Harkat Studios (Mumbai), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Anthology Film Archives (New York).

IMAGES: 1. Jiayi Chen; 2. Detail, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026; 3. Detail, MOUNDS ABOVE THE EARTH, 2025.

@jiayichen_ @saicpics @saic_fvnma @saicalumni @lightcone_officiel

Jiayi Chen’s luminous films and multi-projector performances attune viewers to forest ecologies, seasonal cycles, and the reciprocal relationships between flora, fauna, and land.

Originally from Chongqing in southwest China and now living between Chicago and Houston, the artist and filmmaker brings her films and expanded-cinema performances to the @filmcenter Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio

Jiayi Chen is an artist, filmmaker, and projectionist working at the intersection of analog film, performance, and installation. Her practice explores perception, translation, and environmental attunement. Through expanded-cinema and photochemical film processes, Chen approaches filmmaking as a durational and relational act.

Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally at festivals and venues including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, Cineteca Madrid, Fracto Experimental Film Encounter (Berlin), MONO NO AWARE (New York), Chicago Cultural Center, Harkat Studios (Mumbai), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Anthology Film Archives (New York).

IMAGES: 1. Jiayi Chen; 2. Detail, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026; 3. Detail, MOUNDS ABOVE THE EARTH, 2025.

@jiayichen_ @saicpics @saic_fvnma @saicalumni @lightcone_officiel

Jiayi Chen’s luminous films and multi-projector performances attune viewers to forest ecologies, seasonal cycles, and the reciprocal relationships between flora, fauna, and land.

Originally from Chongqing in southwest China and now living between Chicago and Houston, the artist and filmmaker brings her films and expanded-cinema performances to the @filmcenter Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio

Jiayi Chen is an artist, filmmaker, and projectionist working at the intersection of analog film, performance, and installation. Her practice explores perception, translation, and environmental attunement. Through expanded-cinema and photochemical film processes, Chen approaches filmmaking as a durational and relational act.

Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally at festivals and venues including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, Cineteca Madrid, Fracto Experimental Film Encounter (Berlin), MONO NO AWARE (New York), Chicago Cultural Center, Harkat Studios (Mumbai), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Anthology Film Archives (New York).

IMAGES: 1. Jiayi Chen; 2. Detail, SEE THROUGH THE HOLLOWED BLUE HELLEBORE, 2026; 3. Detail, MOUNDS ABOVE THE EARTH, 2025.

@jiayichen_ @saicpics @saic_fvnma @saicalumni @lightcone_officiel

“My work focuses on sensorial experience—how we perceive, how we imagine… I try to open up new ways of understanding our often-unknown connections to land.”

Chilean artist and filmmaker Malena Szlam brings her spectacular, award-winning films to Chicago Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio.

Based in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal, Szlam works across film, installation, and photography, exploring embodied perception and the material possibilities of analog film. Attentive to the geopolitics of natural phenomena, her recent projects engage geology, earth science, and volcanology.

Her work has screened internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, Jeonju International Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, Open City Documentary Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Recent group exhibitions include Energy Fields: Vibrations of the Pacific at Fulcrum Arts, Los Angeles and femmes volcans forêts torrents at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Solo exhibitions include Inexistent Time, Los Angeles Filmforum, and Infra— at SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal.

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam; 2. Detail from MERAPI, 2021; 3. Detail from ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024; 4. Malena Szlam, photo by Johan Legraie.

@malenaszlam @lightcone_officiel @saicpics @filmcenter @saic_fvnma

“My work focuses on sensorial experience—how we perceive, how we imagine… I try to open up new ways of understanding our often-unknown connections to land.”

Chilean artist and filmmaker Malena Szlam brings her spectacular, award-winning films to Chicago Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio.

Based in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal, Szlam works across film, installation, and photography, exploring embodied perception and the material possibilities of analog film. Attentive to the geopolitics of natural phenomena, her recent projects engage geology, earth science, and volcanology.

Her work has screened internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, Jeonju International Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, Open City Documentary Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Recent group exhibitions include Energy Fields: Vibrations of the Pacific at Fulcrum Arts, Los Angeles and femmes volcans forêts torrents at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Solo exhibitions include Inexistent Time, Los Angeles Filmforum, and Infra— at SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal.

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam; 2. Detail from MERAPI, 2021; 3. Detail from ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024; 4. Malena Szlam, photo by Johan Legraie.

@malenaszlam @lightcone_officiel @saicpics @filmcenter @saic_fvnma

“My work focuses on sensorial experience—how we perceive, how we imagine… I try to open up new ways of understanding our often-unknown connections to land.”

Chilean artist and filmmaker Malena Szlam brings her spectacular, award-winning films to Chicago Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio.

Based in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal, Szlam works across film, installation, and photography, exploring embodied perception and the material possibilities of analog film. Attentive to the geopolitics of natural phenomena, her recent projects engage geology, earth science, and volcanology.

Her work has screened internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, Jeonju International Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, Open City Documentary Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Recent group exhibitions include Energy Fields: Vibrations of the Pacific at Fulcrum Arts, Los Angeles and femmes volcans forêts torrents at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Solo exhibitions include Inexistent Time, Los Angeles Filmforum, and Infra— at SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal.

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam; 2. Detail from MERAPI, 2021; 3. Detail from ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024; 4. Malena Szlam, photo by Johan Legraie.

@malenaszlam @lightcone_officiel @saicpics @filmcenter @saic_fvnma

“My work focuses on sensorial experience—how we perceive, how we imagine… I try to open up new ways of understanding our often-unknown connections to land.”

Chilean artist and filmmaker Malena Szlam brings her spectacular, award-winning films to Chicago Thursday, March 26 for VOLCANOES, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS: MALENA SZLAM AND JIAYI CHEN.

More information and tickets at the link in our bio.

Based in Tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal, Szlam works across film, installation, and photography, exploring embodied perception and the material possibilities of analog film. Attentive to the geopolitics of natural phenomena, her recent projects engage geology, earth science, and volcanology.

Her work has screened internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, Jeonju International Film Festival, Cinéma du Réel, Open City Documentary Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Recent group exhibitions include Energy Fields: Vibrations of the Pacific at Fulcrum Arts, Los Angeles and femmes volcans forêts torrents at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Solo exhibitions include Inexistent Time, Los Angeles Filmforum, and Infra— at SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, Montreal.

IMAGES: 1. Malena Szlam; 2. Detail from MERAPI, 2021; 3. Detail from ARCHIPELAGO OF EARTHEN BONES — TO BUNYA, 2024; 4. Malena Szlam, photo by Johan Legraie.

@malenaszlam @lightcone_officiel @saicpics @filmcenter @saic_fvnma