MUTEK is collaborating with HELLERAU, one of the most important cultural centres for contemporary art in Germany and in Europe, to present HYBRID ─ Cutting Edge Canada. This joint event brings together more than ten electronic music performances produced in Dresden (Germany) and Montréal, as well as digital artworks, conversations, and a listening room to showcase Canadian creativity. Everything will be available exclusively and for free on the virtual.mutek.org platform.

“The first edition of the HYBRID ─ Cutting Edge Canada festival is the result of a long- standing partnership with HELLERAU.” says Alain Mongeau, General and artistic director of MUTEK. "This is a unique opportunity to strengthen the link between Montréal's artistic communities with the rest of the world and, once again, demonstrate the vitality and innovation of emerging and renowned creators from Canada."

For four days, 20 artists will present—mostly as world premieres—their new creations and reflections on MUTEK's virtual platform, customized for the 21st edition of the Festival last September.

Alexis Langevin-Tétrault ^CA/QC ─ Hypercube (one) / BunBun ^US/QC / Cadie Desbiens- Desmeules & Michael Gary Dean ^CA/QC ─ Previz / Chloe Alexandra Thompson & aesthetic.stalemate ^CA+US ─ Morié / Deadbeat & Fatima Camara ^CA/DE / Gene Tellem ^CA/QC / Line Katcho ^CA/QC ─ Immortelle / Lucas Paris ^CA/QC ─ Light Center Folds / Matt Thibideau & Markus Heckmann ^CA/QC+DE─ Reclusion / Myriam Boucher ^CA/QC / Ouri ^FR/QC / Pierre-Luc Lecours ^CA/QC / Priori ^CA/QC/ Sabrina Ratté ^QC/FR ─ Floralia / Sahar Homami ^IR/QC / T.Gowdy ^CA/QC

A series of unprecedented live performances, recorded at HELLERAU and The 7 Fingers Studios, will be broadcast on the virtual stage of the MUTEK platform. Musical styles will merge and evolve into unpredictable sound explorations with the unbelievable performances of Gene Tellem, Ouri, and Deadbeat & Fatima Camara. Drawing inspiration from their recent compositions, Line Katcho, Pierre-Luc Lecours, and T. Gowdy will unveil new musical experimentations, while Sahar Homami will expand their live poetic cinema. The programming also highlights various innovative technologies, such as real-time augmented reality with Chloe Alexandra Thompson & aesthetic.stalemate, or 3D modeling with Cadie Desbiens-Desmeules (Push 1 Stop) & Michael Gary Dean (Wiklow). Two other projects that premiered at the 21st edition of MUTEK will complete the performance lineup: the kinetic choreography of Alexis Langevin-Tétrault, and a memorable set by Priori.

Three digital artworks will also be accessible in the interactive gallery of the MUTEK virtual platform. While Lucas Paris is inspired by video games to develop a unique real-time audiovisual universe, Matt Thibideau and Markus Heckmann compose soundscapes from industrial environments, as Sabrina Ratté simulates new ecosystems born from the fusion between technology and organic matter in her latest creation, Floralia, which has just had its world premiere at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

A dedicated space will host 7 short films from the New Nature project, presented by Goethe-Institut Montréal, which brought together climatologists, technology experts, and artists to discuss the need to rethink our relationship with nature. Screened together, these films interrogate the inherent anthropocentrism of cinema, often ripping or subverting the conventions of nature films.

Finally, the listening room with audio archives from the last ten years of the Montréal edition of the MUTEK Festival will complete this audiovisual exploration.

All programming will be premiered for free between Thursday, March 11 and Sunday, March 14 on the virtual.mutek.org platform. A simple registration starting Wednesday, March 10 will guarantee access to the HYBRID ─ Cutting Edge Canada event and to the on-demand replay of all content from Monday, March 15 to Wednesday, March 31.

HYBRID - CUTTING EDGE CANADA is part of MUTEK’s strategy to develop, promote, and distribute innovative content in digital creativity and electronic music. In addition to hosting the 2021 edition of the MUTEK Festival and MUTEK Forum from August 24 to 29, 2021, the virtual.mutek.org platform will host several events in collaboration with our international cultural partners and the MUTEK network throughout the year.

HYBRID - CUTTING EDGE CANADA is part of Canada’s cultural program and national participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2020/21, in collaboration with MUTEK and with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of Canada.

New Nature is an initiative by the Goethe-Institut Montréal, realized with the support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, and curated by Canadian documentary filmmaker and independent curator Samara Chadwick.

Photo Credit: Myriam Ménard, Cadie Desbiens- Desmeules & Michael Gary Dean, Kane Ocean, Line Katcho, Lucas Paris, Matt Thibideau & Mark Heckmann, Myriam Boucher, Sabrina Ratté, Stacy Lee.