ASIFA Austria Forum

Die Konferenz bietet vom 9. bis 13. September 2026 Einblicke in neueste Trends im Bereich der Expanded Animation und interaktiven Kunst.
https://expanded-conf.org

The conference focuses on the latest trends of Expanded Animation and Interactive Art that explore and experiment with visual expression at the intersection of art, technology, and society.

In this lecture performance, 2girls1comp will share an insight into their practice. While navigating the world of “Grand Theft Auto V”, one of the best selling video games in history, they will showcase how the hack, change and reclaim the software of popular AAA computer games.

2girls1comp is a modding duo founded in 2023 by Marco De Mutiis (IT) and Alexandra Pfammatter (CH). Their work changes the logic of video games as an act of creative counter-play, revealing the social and economic fabric in which they are immersed: from reclaiming global digital infrastructures to commenting on free labor within the capitalist ideologies of the gaming industry.

In her talk at the Forum Expanded Animation, Claudia Larcher presents two of her films, both on view in her solo exhibition “No applause, no life, no pain.” at the Francisco Carolinum Linz: “The End” and “Extinction Story.” Both works connect narratives of ecological mourning with questions about the future of cinema and image production in the age of generative AI. “Extinction Story” departs from the inherited bird egg collection of the artist’s grandfather, addressing species extinction, loss and the materiality of the photographic archive, and turning it into a reflection on disappearance and the conditions of future image-making. “The End” continues this inquiry and condenses it into a posthumanist vanitas, in which images, bodies and environments appear as fragile constellations.

Claudia Larcher (AT) is an artist, experimental filmmaker and AI researcher based in Vienna. She treats photography as a socially entangled, politically charged practice and extends the still image through algorithmic animation, video and immersive “phygital” installations. Her research explores the materiality of data, ecological futures and bias-aware artificial intelligence, engaging questions of digital humanism and post-human image culture. In 2026 she presents “No Applause, No Life, No Pain” at Francisco Carolinum, Linz, and a solo show at the Austrian Filmmuseum, Vienna. Other recent solo exhibitions include “Extinction Stories” at Recontemporary, Turin, and “Hallucinations” at Engländerbau, Vaduz. Her work has been shown at Anthology Film Archives, New York; Ars Electronica, Linz; and HOW Art Museum, Shanghai. She received the Austrian Art Prize in 2023.

Danse Macabre is a short animated film about the rise of fascism and the absurdity of war. The film is based on the terrifying Allegro from Shostakovich’ 10th Symphony. Hisko Hulsing started working on the project in 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, and Putin made clear that he wanted to make ‘Russia great again’. In the meantime this concept has been repeated by politicians all over the world and a wave of dangerous populism has been sweeping the nations. Danse Macabre was made by 80 people in 5 studio’s, divided over 4 European countries. Every shot in the film was based on an oilpainting made by Hisko Hulsing. Hisko Hulsing will talk about the content and the historical roots for his film and about the techniques used, that include paintings, 3D animation in Blender and Houdini, styletransfers for the 3D characters using Comfy UI, and 2D animation in TVPaint.

Hisko Hulsing (1971, Amsterdam, NL) directed both seasons of Undone for Amazon Studios, which appeared in Top Ten lists of The New York Times and Time Magazine and won the Annecy Jury Award in 2020. Hulsing also directed the segment of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman called “A Dream of a Thousand Cats” for Netflix and WarnerBros in 2022. Prior to these projects, Hulsing made animated sequences for Montage of Heck, the acclaimed documentary about Kurt Cobain, theatrically released by Universal Pictures and nominated for 7 Emmy’s.
Besides painting, writing, directing, and animating, Hulsing composed orchestral soundtracks for his films Junkyard and Seventeen. These animated films won many awards, including the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF).
He just finished his short film Danse Macabre, an apocalyptic nightmare about war, set to music by Shostakovich, which premiered on June 22th at The Annecy Festival.