Æther Sofia

As part of our group, on Thursday in Tokyo Hven, you have the chance to see the stunning works by @dissociative_dreams Behind it stands Jess MacCormac @jessmacurl ( They/Them) is a queer, mad artist, activist. Their art practice engages with the intersection of institutional violence and the socio-political reality of personal trauma. Working with communities and individuals affected by stigma and oppression, they use cultural platforms and distribution networks to facilitate collaborations which position art as a tool to engender personal and political agency. See you Thursday peeps! @aether_sofia

FUTURE CULTS Curated and organised by @aether_sofia Opening Thursday 14/5/26 7pm. Hven Tokyo With Hanayo, Anna Fuji, PPKK, Kinga Kielczynska, Dissociative Dreams, Farhan

Super thrilled to have with us on board Farhan @farhan.wav this Thursday in Tokyo, for the after party of my new show FUTURE CULTS, at the amazing @hven.tokyo “Born in Toronto, Canada and now living in Berlin, Germany, Farhan gathers his inspiration through shared moments on the dance floor, since this is the place that unites us all. In his DJ sets, Farhan likes to take dancers on a journey through the vast spectrum of electronic music and beyond. While the musical focus is on techno, Farhan does not want to pigeonhole himself into any specific style or genre. As he likes to say: “Variety is the spice of life. A DJ is a vibe-starter. At the end of the day it’s all about the music, so why limit yourself to one dish when you could have the entire buffet?” @aether_sofia

WÆ @aether_sofia are beyond excited to have as part of our Æther’s take over of Hven Tokyo on 14/5/26 Hanayo @hanapooo An artist based in Tokyo. She wears many hats, including those of photographer, geisha, musician and Japanese classical dancer. She creates photographs and collages that capture her daily life in fantastical colours, as well as installations that combine these elements with the body, music and spatial expression. She has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows, including at the Palais de Tokyo. Her photographic collections include *keep an eye shut*, *Hanayome*, *MAGMA*, *berlin* and *Tenko*, whilst her music albums include *Gift / Kenjo* and *wooden veil*.

And the @labiennale golden lion goes to… @martina_yordanova @bulgarianpavilion.arte @marianalbantova @raynateneva @veneta_androva @_gery_georgieva

I’m happy to invite you to a new fold FUTURE CULTS, that will be presented in Tokyo at @hven.tokyo HVEN OPEN STUDIO: FUTURE CULTS 2026.5.14 (Thu) 19:00 - 00:00 Voin de Voin & @aether_sofia invites: Anna Fuji (JP) @fujianna2012 Kinga Kielczynska (PL) @kinga_unofficial Hanayo (JP)@hanapooo PPKK (DE/CAN) @P_P_k_k Dissociative Dreams (CAN) @dissociative_dreams We gather in a time where trust is unstable, narratives move faster than institutions, and invisible systems shape what we see and follow. From this landscape, new forms of devotion emerge-not built on doctrine, but on data, aesthetics, and shared experience. Future Cults is a collective art event unfolding as one continuous environment: a listening session, live performance, and film screening. Expect sound that draws you into algorithmic rhythms, moving images that blur authorship and identity, and performances that question who—or what—we choose to follow. What does belief look like when it is curated? Who becomes the leader when intelligence is synthetic? How do images, sound, and code bind us into communities? Can dreams function as maps? About the artists: Voin de Voin / Ather @voindevoin is a conceptual performance artist blending philosophy, psycho-geography, and live interaction to question how reality and identity are constructed. Anna Fuji @fujianna2012 is a French-Japanese artist working between photography and embodied practice, exploring perception where the real, unreal, and dream converge. Kinga Kiełczyńska @kinga_unofficial is a Polish visual artist working with moving image, reflecting on the relationship between humans and their environment. PPKK @p_p_k_kis a Berlin-founded nomadic lab by Sarah Ancelle Schönfeld and Louis-Philippe Scoufaras, generating complex mythological and technological narratives rooted in local contexts. Hanayo @hanapooo (1t1t) is a Japanese musician, photographer, and artist known for playful, subversive works grounded in Japanese culture. Jess MacCormack @dissociative_dreams (they/them) is a queer artist and activist whose practice explores institutional violence and the politics of personal trauma. Join the cult

Thank you magazine Kultura and @martina__stefanova for the article of our project at @kochibiennale @forplaysociety The Gift That Keeps On Giving For a change buy yourself the printed edition of the April issue, and read about the insights!

Is the Venice Biennale a double standard? Of course it is—like many European cultural institutions that continue to operate within systems of selective ethics and political convenience. And what is the fear behind the refusal to cancel Russia, Israel, and the United States from the network of official presentations? The answer seems painfully clear: the fear of losing the financial power they bring—the vast streams of private and public funding that circulate through the art world while simultaneously supporting wars, occupations, and ongoing genocides. This image was taken in Giardini during the previous biennale in 2024, when @valentina.sciarra (find her in the photo) and I joined forces to speak, intervene, and to create The Feathered One, presented as part of a collateral event during the preview days. In that moment our collaboration became both a gesture of solidarity and a form of resistance within a cultural system that too often claims neutrality while operating through deeply political structures. Lately I have been thinking more intensely about the notion of ownership—about the unsettling, paralysing realization that our lives do not truly belong to us. Instead, they seem increasingly confined to the whims of those who play a ruthless global game of Russian roulette: actors who hold a weapon to the face of humanity, pulling the trigger again and again, while destruction spreads blindly across the world and is perversely reframed as a reward for “the common good.” We challenge the cultural machinery that regulates visibility: the institutional systems that determine who is allowed to be seen, who is permitted to speak, and which narratives are granted circulation on the international art stage. And more urgently—why are these systems still allowed to operate in this way? We hope that @angalliance , along with other agencies, collectives, and political voices, will respond critically to @labiennale ’s decision to continue hosting these tyrants counties, posing a tread to the entire world!

Catching up on overdue documentation. Sofia Art Week opening, October 2025, Doza Gallery @dozagallery First photo: @vvvladimirovv and I, caught being very serious about hammers curated and organized by: @m_lakova @radadechev @voindevoin in partnership with @dozagallery @aether_sofia My participation in the show was supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute @mickiewicz_institute @culture_pl

The Cow and I Performance by @sandrazanetti_ Sandra Zenetti Curated by @aether_sofia at @kochibiennale @forplaysociety assisted by @_joshphilpott_ How might gentleness, presence, and intimacy serve as acts of resistance against the systemic normalization of suffering? The Cow and I is an act of mutual recognition and peace. The cow, often revered and simultaneously commodified within cultural and economic contexts, becomes my mirror, and hopefully, a friend. The interaction unsettles hierarchical structures and opens a space to witness a body without harm—raw, alive, unpossessed. This performance situates itself within broader conversations on ethics, ecofeminism, cultural symbolism, and the relational self, but first and foremost, it is a gesture of peace and attentiveness in a world too often defined by consumption and estrangement.

Some shots of the accumulative platform, informed by dreaming together, sharing skills, and knowledge production by doing together in a group @kochibiennale @forplaysociety curated by @aether_sofia @lambswoolf Galina Dimitrova @mariana_tantcheva @valentina_bardazzi_art @niapushkarova @allnamesaretaken_eventhatone @anton__stoianov @johannah_herr @undogmatisch_mirco_magnani

Durational performance by @kiril.bikov and @thestormfactory Avril Stormy Ungar at the opening of the platform The Gift That Keeps On Giving, curated by @aether_sofia at @kochibiennale @forplaysociety Photography works, installation view by Kiril Bikov @sara_mathiasson and @sjolund.karl