Reading the Unreadable: 404 Reading Club’s Sensory Journey into Feminist Horror at Camden Fringe 2025

©️Poster designed by Kailin Xu

“404 Reading Club” is a cross-media performance blending literature, sound, video, material, and physical movement. First developed at the Architectural Association's Interprofessional Studio, the piece returns in a new version for Camden Fringe 2025. Developed by artist-director Kailin Xu, the piece constructs a multi-dimensional “reading session” that draws the audience into a multi-sensory journey exploring feminist body politics and horror.

Starting with three observation logs from a neurospysiologist on his artificial girl, each incorporating different media. Led by a central host（played by Maggie Cai), the audience is guided through a layered journey where the body becomes both the one who reads and the thing being read. A core feature is a coded language system developed by Kailin Xu and her collaborators, inspired by witchcraft symbols. This language is not simply presented; it is enacted, inviting audiences to decode it through listening, watching, and embodied response.

Performers Spring Congfang Xiao, Lu Deng, and Cheng Cheng translate the piece’s coded language into movement, while media artists Shangyu Li and Lucy Wei create the work’s immersive visual and animated landscape.

Rejecting linear storytelling and the comfort of clarity, 404 Reading Club invites sensation over comprehension. It is a collective reading ritual that is unstable, unfinished, and alive.

Ticket Information:

Venue: Barons Court Theatre, London
Dates: 3rd August, 2025 (Sunday)
Time: 1:30 pm (40 mins)

Ticket Prices: £10
Suitable for: Age 16+

For more information, please visit: https://camdenfringe.com/events/404-reading-club/

Creative Team

Director / Set & Costume Designer / Composer: Kailin Xu
Dancer / Choreographer: Spring (Congfang) Xiao, Lu Deng, Cheng Cheng
Actor (Acting as Host): Maggie Cai
Media Designer / Projection Technician: Shangyu Li
Costume Technician: Jieming Lan
Text Composer: Letian Cai, Kailin Xu
Literature Consultant: Freya Shi
Animator: Lucy Wei
Co-Choreographer: Yuchen Wu
Experimental Videographer: Yuchen Zhou
Lighting Designer: Sheron Luo
Photographer: Xiangrong Tang, Rulin Ma
Videographer: Milla (Qiyun) Zheng, Anita (Xizinuo) Wang

©️Photo by Luoyi Xu