Since 2020, MUTEK Montréal and Avatar, an artist-run centre specializing in audio and electronic arts, have been offering a residency call for creation and dissemination projects.

This residency provides a unique opportunity for emerging and established artists to develop innovative projects exploring the intersections of digital art, music, and technology. The call aims to encourage the creation of new works that push the boundaries of interactive art, real-time performance, and generative art.

The selected artist(s) benefit from technical and artistic support, access to specialized resources, cutting-edge equipment, and guidance from experienced mentors. The residency also offers visibility for the artists through the events of the MUTEK Festival, where their works are showcased to an international audience.

2025 Residency Project

Florence-Delphine Roux - Chronique d’Éther

Chronique d’Éther is a project by Florence-Delphine Roux situated at the intersection of sound sculpture and radio art. Through this work, the artist seeks to materialize the invisible, exploring the subtle boundaries between sound capture and emission, as well as the interplay between sound mechanics and radio interference disrupting this process. The project builds on her recent research into very low frequencies (VLF), integrating them into the soundscape while presenting them in an immersive indoor format with a stronger physical presence from the artist.

Using very high frequency (VHF) radio waves, the artist captures fragments of testimonies—sometimes mysterious or unsettling—and weaves them into a constantly interrupted sonic narrative. Chronique d’Éther invites audiences to an auditory experience that blurs the lines between the real and the invisible, creating a dynamic interplay between what is perceptible and what escapes direct perception. Through this exploration, Florence-Delphine Roux questions how listening can disrupt our understanding of the world around us, transforming the ordinary into a sound space of tangible and singular experiences.

This project will premiere at the 26th edition of the MUTEK Montréal Festival, taking place from August 19 to 24, 2025, at Montreal's Quartier des spectacles.

A Look Back at Selected Projects Since 2020

2020 | Alex Tibbitts - The Bionic Harpist

Image: Bruno Aïello Destombes | MUTEK Edition 21
The result of her collaboration with John Sullivan, a music technology researcher and PhD candidate at McGill University, Alex Tibbitts designed a bionic harp tailored to her tactile explorations, ensuring a highly physical and visually captivating performance. Additionally, a custom control interface allowed her to manipulate visual events, creating an impressive audiovisual experience.

MUTEK21 The Bionic Harpist par Bruno Destombes 010

2021 | Ida Toninato & Pierre-Luc Lecours - Inner Seas

Image: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin | MUTEK Edition 22
This first collaboration between Ida Toninato and Pierre-Luc Lecours explores the dynamics between materials, energies, and frequencies. To achieve this, the duo employs a baritone saxophone, an electric guitar, and a modular synthesizer, modified using digital audio tools to create a unified sonic flow. The performance is staged around a video dialogue between two screens, serving as a visual metaphor for the energetic content and movement of the music.

MUTEK22 Ida Toninato et Pierre Luc Lecours credit Frederique Menard Aubin MG 9292

2022 | Olivia Lathuillière - Déliquescence Cosmique

Image: Frédérique Ménard-Aubin | MUTEK Édition 23
Déliquescence cosmique est un projet en développement se situant à la croisée de la science physique et de la chorégraphie des matières et de l’énergie qui obéissent aux lois universelles. Dans cette pièce, un fluide magnétique est piégé dans un châssis, en tant que reflet, où une ombre est manipulée pour agir comme un exercice de façonnage de la représentation de soi et de l’humain, entre mutation, attraction, et fusion dans sa réflexion cosmologique. La recherche consiste à développer la physicalité de la matière pour l’utiliser comme élément chorégraphique en convertissant les variations magnétiques en son. Tous les corps s’attirent entre eux qu’ils soient terrestres ou célestes. Déliquescence cosmique amène la question de notre rapport au post-humanisme et du lien anthropocentrique que nous entretenons avec l’espace-temps.

MUTEK23 270822 Olivia Lathuilliere credit Frédérique Ménard Aubin 1897

2023 | Joël Lavoie & Guillaume Vallée - Champs Vagues

Image: Vivien Gaumand | MUTEK Edition 24
Champs Vagues is a collaborative audiovisual performance by sound artist Joël Lavoie and experimental filmmaker Guillaume Vallée. The artists manipulate soundscapes and visuals in real time, exploring new hybridizations between digital and analog processing and playback systems. Through this project, they delve into the various affective modes that shape and influence our perception.

MUTEK24 20230827 Champ Vague Vivien Gaumand 19

2024 | Technologies of Consciousness - Numinous Machines

Image: Bruno Aïello Destombes | MUTEK Edition 25
With Numinous Machines, Technologies of Consciousness, the duo of Sonya Stefan and Stephanie Castonguay, presents an audiovisual odyssey on the shadowy edges of near-death experiences, inspired by sacred Yantras and the connection between the natural and the technological. This performance incorporates macroscopy and modified turntables, merging sound and image through graphic notation governed by the laws of decomposition. Their approach to turntablism emphasizes physical touch and material transformation in sound reproduction, offering a tangible exploration of auditory art.