Communication is a mystified, mystifying, and highly engaged act…it is always, somewhere, absolutely clear and mysterious at one and the same time. And it is this cold heart I want to touch.
—Hassan Khan, “An Aesthetics of Survival” [1]
But this is the language we met in convenes six experimental shorts to explore the notion of transcendence as a political act. Drawing from contemporary art and experimental film, the diverse lineup comes together to contemplate how moving-image—as an embodied medium—allows us to transcend the limits of singular perspectives tied to geography, culture, and identity.
Borrowing its title from a 2023 work by Shen Xin, But this is the language we met proposes transcendence as a fertile meeting point: a space for being with instead of merely consuming culture, for nurturing relationships to knowledge rather than simply knowing, and for expanding the possibilities of how we communicate between cultures. Here, transcendence can be understood as a journey—blurring the boundaries between here, now, then, and there—and as an opening up, providing a passageway from one positionality to another. Various filmic techniques evoke transcendence: narrative devices of transposing and nonlinear storytelling; editing techniques of splicing, collaging, and superimposing; and structural approaches to framing, editing, and lighting.
By attuning to the various forms of personal and cultural transmission embedded within these six films, But this is the language we met in hones in on the powerful—and at times enigmatic—affective pathways within moving-image. Allowing us to see, hear, and even feel the world through the experiences of others, these works offer departure points from prior states of individuation, and ways coming together constellationally, in and through our differences.
- https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2020/01/an-aesthetics-of-survival/
Hassan Khan
Hassan Khan is an artist, musician and writer. Recent solo exhibitions include: Blind Ambition at the Centre Pompidou (2022); The Keys to the Kingdom (2019) at the Reina Sofia, Madrid; and Host at the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover (2018). Concert appearances include: MAXXI L’Aquila, Aquila; The Louvre Auditorium, Paris; Ruhrtriennale, Essen; Intonal Festival, Malmö; Guggenheim, New York; Maerz Musik, Berlin; DCAF, Cairo; and Portikus, Frankfurt am Main. Khan’s publications include an extensive anthology of his writings, An Anthology of Published and Unpublished Writings (2019), a novella, Twelve Clues (2016), a collection of short fiction, The Agreement (2011), amongst others. He has released two albums of original music, Superstructure EP with The Vinyl Factory, and tabla dubb with 100Copies. Khan is the winner of the Silver Lion at the 2017 Venice Biennale and a Professor of Fine Arts at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt. He lives and works between Cairo and Berlin.
Samira Elagoz
Samira Elagoz is a Finnish/Egyptian transmasculine artist. His work has been shown in various film, visual art, and performance contexts, earning him several awards including the Silver Lion at Venice Biennale Teatro in 2022 and the Spirit of CUFF Prize at the Chicago Underground Film Festival in 2018. Elagoz’s work explores intimate encounters with strangers, combining performance art with film in his unique style of docu-fiction.
Z Walsh
Z Walsh is a Brooklyn-based transgender director, producer, model, and artist. He is known for his raw, full-hearted depictions of both his subjects and himself. Z’s passion lies in elevating trans voices and opposing trans masc erasure.
Shen Xin
Shen Xin was born in Chengdu, China and is currently based in Scotland. They graduated from La Salle College of the Arts in Singapore and earned their MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Their work has been shown at major art institutions around the world including SeMA Seoul Museum of Art (2023) and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2021-22). It has been featured in Art Review, ArtDaily, and Art Asia Pacific.
Sohrab Hura
Sohrab Hura (b. 1981, Chinsurah, India) is a filmmaker and photographer. His films have been shown in various film and video festivals like Berlinale, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, and others. He is currently based in New Delhi, India.
Tao Hui
Tao Hui was born in Chongqing, China and graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute with a BFA in Oil Painting in 2010. His work draws extensively on personal memory, visual experience, and popular culture. Closely studying movements that transcend geographic and cultural boundaries, he examines the relationship between society and the individual, and the disavowed reality of marginalized communities. Tao Hui’s work has been exhibited at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2024-25); Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing (2023); the Shanghai Biennial (2022); K11 Art and Cultural Centre, Hong Kong (2021); bi’bak, Berlin (2022). He lives and works in Beijing.
Theo Jean Cuthand
Theo Jean Cuthand was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1978. Since 1995, he has been making experimental videos and films, and more recently, has expanded to feature films and video game development. He is currently the Indigenous-Artist-In-Residence at Western University. Cuthand’s work has been screened and exhibited at the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Scarborough (2025); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2024); the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2022; the Whitney Biennial, New York (2019); Tribeca Film Festival, New York (2012). He is a trans man who uses he/him pronouns. He is Plains Cree and Scots, and resides in Toronto.