For Au Sow Yee, what happens in the space of a cinema is just as enthralling as a film itself. She recalls the “magical” childhood experience of seeing a light beam penetrate a projection room’s outer glass pane, illuminate the dust dancing above the theater’s seats, and land on the screen, bringing it to life. Not only did this memory compel the Kuala Lumpur-born artist to pursue an undergraduate film and theater degree at Taipei’s Chinese Culture University, it inspired the live-cinema performances that she subsequently staged during her Master of Fine Arts studies at the San Francisco Art Institute.