London Short Film Festival

As part of the London Short Film Festival’s Industry Programme, we hosted a Liquid Light Show Workshop, exploring the art of analogue projection and its relationship to experimental film. This workshop was one of many events featured in LSFF 2025’s largest-ever industry programme, which ran from January 20th to 25th at Rich Mix, London. The festival’s industry strand included six full days of events, screenings, and networking opportunities, covering key topics such as alternative distribution paths, transitioning from shorts to features, and securing funding for independent filmmaking.

In the lead-up to the release of Sophia Satchell-Baeza’s book Sensual Laboratories: Light Shows, Experimental Film, and Psychedelic Art (August 2025), this session offered a deep dive into the fascinating world of liquid light projection, its countercultural history, and its practical applications in contemporary visual art.

Liquid Light Show Workshop

Workshop Leaders

Sophia Satchell-Baeza

Dr. Sophia Satchell-Baeza is a writer, film programmer, and arts critic. Her book Sensual Laboratories: Light Shows, Experimental Film, and Psychedelic Art (2025) is forthcoming with Strange Attractor Press.

Julian Hand

Artist-filmmaker Julian Hand explores liminal spaces through film manipulation, light projection, and experimental sound. His work spans cine-film, analogue and digital video, and he has toured the UK and Europe creating immersive light show performances for live music and site-specific installations.

Heena Song

Heena Song is an artist-filmmaker working with analogue film, digital video, and audiovisual installation. Her practice explores the materiality of film and the audience’s relationship to space, memory, and collective experience.

Part One

The session opened with an illustrated lecture by Sophia Satchell-Baeza, guiding participants through the rich countercultural history of liquid light projection. Her talk explored the analogue techniques that defined the psychedelic art movement and the medium’s relationship to experimental film, setting the stage for a deeper understanding of this immersive visual practice.

Part Two

Following the lecture, Heena Song and I led a practical session where participants gained hands-on experience in liquid light projection. We covered everything from selecting the right projectors and rigging setups to experimenting with paints, inks, chemicals, and everyday household products. Participants learned how to craft mesmerising, fluid visuals—organic forms shifting and morphing in real-time—ideal for live music performances, immersive installations, and cinematic special effects.