IFFR unveils art program directions for 2026 Festival

Celebrating thirty years since IFFR’s Exploding Cinema ignited a dialogue between digital technology and cinematic language, Art Directions continues to shape the cultural landscape, nurturing bold experiments that stretch far beyond the screen.

Art Directions is IFFR’s transformative programme that presents cinema beyond the traditional screening room – through immersive media, performances, installations and exhibitions.

Originally named Exploding Cinema, Art Directions is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026. For the second year running, Katoenhuis will be the main venue and partner for Art Directions, hosting installations, immersive media and for the first time – the industry extension of the programme, Lightroom, which will unite projects in development and works-in-progress together with a symposium.

As well as a programme of installations and immersive media at Katoenhuis, work is found at cultural spaces across Rotterdam, including Luuk Van Raamsdonk’s My Sweet Elora at Plein in Fenix Museum of Migration, Jacco Gardner’s immersive installation performance Alterity at Brutus and a co-developed experience by Elsemarijn Bruys at V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media.

Eva Langerak, Curator and Coordinator of IFFR’s Art Directions & Lightroom programme, commented: “This year’s constellation of artists and filmmakers explores different dimensions and uses of film: as catharsis, as memory’s vessel, as a map of the subconscious, as a call to awareness. Celebrating thirty years since IFFR’s Exploding Cinema ignited a dialogue between digital technology and cinematic language, Art Directions continues to shape the cultural landscape, nurturing bold experiments that stretch far beyond the screen. With Lightroom, IFFR renews that spirit of inquiry, forging a space where film, art and emerging technologies converge, allowing new forms of storytelling to emerge and take shape.”

Katoenhuis will host four Art Directions installations showcasing IFFR’s commitment to visual and sensory exploration. The works include:

3 Scenes from a Marriage by Leopold Emmen (Nanouk Leopold and Daan Emmen), 2026 (Netherlands) – World Premiere
Café Kuba: Who Dared to Awaken the Dead Memory by David Shongo, 2025 (Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium) – Dutch Premiere
Krakatoa* by Carlos Casas, 2026 (Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, France) – World Premiere
- *This project will also be screened in film form in IFFR’s Harbour strand
Preludio by Silvia Gatti, 2025 (Netherlands) – World Premiere

Additionally, IFFR has inked a partnership with Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen to programme the Kijkmodule together in Rotterdam Central Station. The video artwork at Rotterdam Station will be programmed in collaboration with Boijmans and Mandy El-Sayegh, who is presenting her solo show Figure, Field, Grid in the Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The announcement of the artist for the Kijkmodule will be announced at a later moment.

For 2026 V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media, the interdisciplinary centre for art and media in Rotterdam, will once again collaborate with IFFR on the development of a work that ventures into new creative directions within the crossover between filmmaking and media arts. This year, V2_ and IFFR will co-develop a new site-specific experience by Rotterdam-based artist Elsemarijn Bruys that functions between sculpture and architectural intervention.

IFFR and Brutus will once again collaborate on bringing a performance back into the festival. For this year, IFFR will present Alterity, the first immersive installation performance by multi-instrumentalist and media archeologist Jacco Gardner (2026, Netherlands, World Premiere).

Additionally, from 2026 IFFR has entered into a new collaboration with the Han Nefkens Foundation, as a partner for the Han Nefkens Foundation – South East Asian Video Art Production Grant, which supports Southeast Asian video artists in expanding their international practice. In 2027, IFFR will proudly present a newly produced work in collaboration with partnering institutions. This new collaboration underscores the IFFR’s ongoing commitment to artistic exchange and the promotion of contemporary video art.

The Han Nefkens Foundation – South East Asian Video Art Production Grant is a collaboration with IFFR; Museion, Italy; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark; Rockbund Art Museum, China; The Outpost, Vietnam and Nottingham Contemporary, UK.

IFFR is grateful to its subsidisers, foundations, and the many local, national and international partners and private donors for their long-term engagement and indispensable support of the festival. The 2026 Art Directions programme is made possible through the generous support of these key partners:

Ammodo Art plays a crucial role in supporting the installations and performances, enabling innovative artistic expression at this year’s festival.

Rotterdam Festivals lends its support to the installations, providing a special welcome to the city with the Kijkmodule at Rotterdam Central Station.

The Mondriaan Fund is the public fund for visual art and cultural heritage, providing essential backing for installations, performances and the sound//vision program