National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Canberra Saturday 14 February, 5–7pm
Tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/stock-grazing-at-the-nfsa/tickets
A two-part immersive event will bring audiences inside the dark, cinematic world of internationally recognised experimental multi-disciplinary artist Embryoroom, combining a rare retrospective film screening with an exclusive audio-visual hybrid live set of film and music.
Embryoroom is the multimedia practice of New York–based artist Edward Quist, whose work has blurred the boundaries between film, sound, installation, and performance since the 1990s. While resistant to simple explanation, his audio-visual art explores themes of power, fear, and systems of control, ideas that unfold against a backdrop that feels uncomfortably familiar.
Known for constructing immersive, sensory-driven worlds, Embryoroom’s presence spans moving galleries, film festival presentations, and collaborations with artists including experimental electronic pioneers, Pan Sonic and the charismatic frontman of the punk band Suicide, Alan Vega. Embryoroom operates beyond dialogue, drawing on the subconscious, urban tension, and sensory overload to create experiences that are felt as much as they are seen.
The evening will unfold in two parts. A curated film-based retrospective will trace more than three decades of Embryoroom’s practice through a selection of archival works. This is followed by ABDUCTOR — a hybrid audio-visual live set featuring deep, cinematic techno alongside early material from the forthcoming feature-length film and album, developed in close collaboration with local Canberran label Stock Grazing.
To mark the beginning of this collaborative project, Stock Grazing has made Canberra an integral stop on Embryoroom’s Australian tour. This event is the only Australian performance to feature exclusive preview material from ABDUCTOR.
Event Overview
The evening invites audiences on an immersive journey from Embryoroom’s early inspirations as a self-taught artist through to exclusive glimpses of his latest New York–born material.
Part A: The Embryo Retrospective (50 minutes)
With screenings at major cultural institutions, including MoMA PS1, (USA, 2011) Museo Yancuic, Mexico City (2024), and the Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki (2021), the Embryo Retrospective traces over three decades of Embryoroom’s practice. Curated without dialogue, the program immerses audiences in Embryoroom’s own music and imagery, revealing the creative mind behind the artist.
Much of the material is unreleased digitally, available only on DVD, or seen in gallery previews, offering attendees an exclusive glimpse of rare footage. Highlights include early projects from as early as 1991, and notable collaborations such as the seminal hyper-documentary Kuvaputki with Pan Sonic. The Milan Film Festival described it as “so essential and hypnotic that it seems to go back to the origins of filmmaking.” Kuvaputki marks a decisive moment in contemporary audiovisual practice and continues to influence artists working across different digital mediums.
The retrospective also provides essential context for ABDUCTOR, giving Australian audiences a unique opportunity to experience the work within the full arc of Embryoroom’s artistic vision.
Part B: ABDUCTOR — Exclusive Hybrid A/V Liveset (50 minutes)
ABDUCTOR is the latest project by Embryoroom, developed in collaboration with Canberran label
Stock Grazing. The project is conceived as a multi-form work unfolding across sound and film.
The project begins with a record release in April 2026, produced with creative input from Stock Grazing. This is followed by a feature-length film later that year, co-produced with Stephen Rutterford, a producer and sound artist working under his Shadowrunner performing alias for darker, system-driven electronic work.
The film is a neuro-horror hybrid AI work that moves between the perspectives of abductor and abductee. Set within a decaying electronic world, the protagonist Optick can no longer distinguish reality from manipulation. Eluding interpretation, the film explores themes of domination, dread, and structures of control embedded in the everyday. ABDUCTOR is constructed entirely from Embryoroom’s self-generated AI systems, with all visual and conceptual elements derived from original designs.
These ideas extend beyond the screen and into a live setting. The audience will experience a world-first live hybrid audio-visual performance, combining early iterations of the film and album that Embryoroom will perform live in a 50-minute set, situating the work within the broader arc of the artist’s practice. Perfectly aligned with the NFSA as a national forum for experimental film and sound, the evening is designed as a seated, immersive listening and viewing experience.
The event is co-produced by Stock Grazing founders Isaac Bryson and Rory Bolger, based in Canberra, representing a grassroots, self-funded collaboration between local organisers and a globally recognised artist.
“Ancient fears are made modern, and modern fears made ancient. The kind of haunted media archaeology that Embryoroom perpetrates always entails the risk that something will be disturbed or let loose, but in Embryoroom’s case such awakenings are the mission, features not bugs. It abducts the strangest influences and renders them ever stranger.”
— Alexei Monroe, cultural theorist on ABDUCTOR
Event details
What: ABDUCTOR — Retrospective + Live Hybrid A/V Performance
When: Saturday 14 February, 5–7pm
Where: National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Canberra
Tickets: Limited capacity (110 seats)