Photo credit by Sean Vadaru

After two-hybrid local editions, the MUTEK festival of electronic music and digital creativity is back with a fully international 23rd edition, celebrating the return of artists and audiences to Tiohtia:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal, from all over the world from August 23 to 28, 2022.

For six days and six nights, MUTEK festivalgoers will be able to enjoy more than 80 performances in the heart of the city. This year, the Festival will take place in a variety of locations that are all within walking distance from one another, to promote a relaxed yet optimized journey of discovery: the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT], MTELUS, Place des Arts’ Théâtre Maisonneuve—with the new esplanade Tranquille as its epicentre, which, for the first time, will be home to MUTEK's free outdoor stage.

View our programming schedule below:

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The Festival : Performances

From Tuesday, August 23 to Sunday, August 28, 89 artists will be presenting 77 electronic music and digital art performance projects/performances in three venues and on an outdoor stage at at Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. Come and enjoy 4 unique series, our associated programs and a special event on our opening night.

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Special event: Max Cooper & Architecture Social Club

Tuesday 23 August 2022 - MTELUS

Designed in 2015 and since presented on both sides of the Atlantic, Aether is a 3D audio-visual installation created through a collaboration between Max Cooper and the Architecture Social Club studio. This immersive musical experience, layered on an interactive light matrix, plays on the emotional relationship with forms, colours and sounds that surround us, engulfing the audience in a sensory experience both lavish and intangible.

Tickets here

Play (3 programs)

Play invites the discovery of well-known MUTEK artists, most of whom will present World or North American premiere projects. A true immersion into the deeper and more hypnotic sounds of techno, the inaugural evening of the Play series explores the underground world of infrabass listening. This series will be presented at the Society for Arts and Technology

Nocturne (5 programs)

The Nocturne series is dedicated to the more rhythmic and bewitching forms of electronic music with an original and immersive scenography. This series will be presented at MTELUS

A/Visions (2 programs)

At the heart of the A/Visions programmes are large-scale audiovisual creations that merge images, sound and technology. The most impressive series of the festival, it is a wise choice for an epicurean audience in search of novelty and escape. This series will be presented at Théatre Maisonneuve.

Experience (6 programs)

Every day from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., the free outdoor stage of the Experience series accompanies Montrealers and tourists under the sign of celebration, eclecticism and the meeting of musical styles. A true panorama of current electronic music presented indoors, the selection is accessible to all and promises radiant and memorable memories on the new esplanade Tranquille.

THE ESSENTIALS OF IN-PERSON PERFORMANCES

WHEN: Tuesday, August 23rd to Sunday 28th, 2022, at Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.

IN VENUES: Théatre Maisonneuve, MTELUS, Society for Arts and Technology

OUTDOORS: Esplanade Tranquille.

MUTEK22 Martyr Bootyspoon credit Myriam Menard 23

MUTEK22 Yu Su credit Frederique Menard Aubin MG 9524

MUTEK22 Debbie Doe credit Frederique Ménard Aubin MG 0547

MUTEK22 Nick Schofield credit Frederique Menard Aubin MG 9244

MUTEK22 G L O W Z I credit Myriam Menard 21

MUTEK22 Echönymphia credit Sean Vadaru 8

The Forum: Panels & Workshops

Adopting a hybrid format again in 2022, the Forum will take place over four days at the Coeur des sciences in Montreal: some 30 conferences, workshops and networking activities will involve approximately 100 Canadian and international speakers. A fine selection of the content presented will also be transmitted online. A great success in the 2020 and 2021 editions, the virtual market component will be in its third edition and will once again be presented on an online platform, bringing together artists, creative companies, producers, cultural organizations, and broadcasters from around the world for business development purposes.

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Conferences + Workshops

On Tuesday 23, the program will address a variety of the Forum’s recurring, essential topics. Of particular note will be the panel moderated by American composer and media artist Peter Kirn (CDM) who will discuss the “genrefication” of artificial intelligencewhile there will be a presentation on best practices for digital creativity clusters from around the world.

Extended reality (XR) will be in the spotlight on Wednesday 24 with the 8th edition of the XR Salon. To kick things off, the Canadian Media Fund will present a discussion between producer Ingrid Kopp, the co-founder of South African organization Electric South, and Sandra Rodriguez, a Québec director and producer who is the author of the study Crafting a Market for Independent XR. MUTEK will then unveil the three XR projects in its Immersive Collection, in the presence of the works’ creators, after which point it will give the floor to other organizations that are traditionally digital art presenters but now exploring content production and distribution. Finally, Greg J. Smith (HOLO) will interview artists Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones (Fractal Fantasy) who are pushing the creative and technological limits of audiovisual performance.

On Thursday 25, the morning will begin with a conversation between Felix Koberstein(ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe) and Véronique Paradis (Society for Arts and Technology) who, each in their own way, explore virtual spaces that facilitate the production, distribution, and mediation of the arts. The ties that bond research, creation, and the industry will then be dissected by experts from renowned local institutions such as Eastern Bloc, SYNTHÈSE – Pôle Image Québec, and Hexagram.

The last day of the Forum on Friday 26 will specifically focus on the place of marginalized communities within electronic music, with a presentation by Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson, the founder of Dweller festival and co-founder of Discwoman, an agency grounded in representing and promoting female and non-binary talents working as DJs or producers. In addition, one panel will explore the “musicverse” and how music is adapting to Web3, while another will discuss strategies for a more sustainable and accessible future of live music.

Throughout the week, various workshops will be held in parallel with the main activities that will deal with, for example, the future of festivals, eco-responsibility, intellectual property, and even WebVR

THE ESSENTIALS OF THE FORUM

WHEN: Tuesday, August 23 through Friday, August 26 at the Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.

Venue: at l'Agora Hydro-Québec of the Cœur des sciences de l'UQAM

MUTEK20 220819 Cocktail Ashutosh Gupta 00110

MUTEK20 220819 Cocktail Ashutosh Gupta 00118

The Virtual Exhibition

The virtual platform showcases a selection of new digital art, past festival performances, thought-provoking talks from the MUTEK Forum, and sound archives from the last decade. Designed to give you a taste of artists, programs and topics of the upcoming Montréal edition

MUTEK's third virtual exhibition will be presented on virtual.mutek.org from August 9 through September 9. This 2022 edition brings together a selection of games and video pieces, by 12 artists from Québec, Canada, and abroad, that are interactive, immersive, or feature artificial intelligence. In addition, there will be a series of podcasts, past performances and a residency program presented by Amplify D.A.I, available for viewing.

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Road to MUTEK

MUTEK On Air: Podcasts

MUTEK On Air gathers radio and podcast segments from Montréal media diving into the backstages and projects of this year’s Festival and Forum. This selection of interviews unpacks different facets of our programming, shining a light on different facets of an event rooted in local talk.

MUTEK x Eastern Bloc: Immersive Collection
Liliane Chlela
MUTEK Dialogues

Listen here

Performance Archive: Shows to (re)discover

a selection of past performances by artists returning for the Montréal 23rd Edition.

CMD
Gabber Modus Operandi
T.Gowdy
Korea Town Acid
NSDOS
Le désert mauve
Automatisme

States of Existence

The artists in this exhibition didn’t see themselves represented in the virtual environments at their disposal, so they sought to fill the gap by populating these spaces with images of their own, representations of augmented versions of themselves, and personal stories, thus playing with notions of hybridization and the fluid line between the real and the artificial.

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Baron Lanteigne CA/QC / Cadie Desbiens-Desmeules CA/QC / Giovanni Magaglio & Leonardo Rubboli IT / Maize Longboat CA/QC / Marilou Lyonnais A. CA/QC / Marion Schneider FR/QC / Nancy Lee & Kiran Bhumber TW/CA+IN/CA / Natalie Paneng ZA / Neilson Koerner-Safrata CA / oOps.50656 Gyuchul Moon & Hwang Sunjeong KR / Yarli Allison CA/UK

Fractal Fantasy Gallery

Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones interactive online portal Fractal Fantasy feels like a futuristic imagining of fully integrated human-machine music and visuals, a place where flesh and code harmoniously meet.

Following a concept-show to unveil their live adaption of VIRTUA earlier this summer, Fractal Fantasy rekindles with the MUTEK universe and presents a hand-picked selection of works for our virtual platform.

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Amplify D.A.I

The Artlab Artistic Residencies program by Amplify D.A.I present a selection of works carried out within its second edition between December 2021 and March 2022.

The AV pieces that make up this virtual exhibition are the result of a joint collaborative process between artists from Argentina, Canada, the UK and Brazil, who belong to the Amplify D.A.I. network.

Developed face-to-face, virtually or in hybrid form, in the studios of the Argentinian arts and technology platform Artlab, each production of work had the support of mentors who provided different tools according to the needs of each artist and the monitoring of a curatorial team. The final works are presented in exhibitions and festivals of digital creativity around the world.

View here

THE ESSENTIALS OF VIRTUAL MUTEK

WHEN: Tuesday, August 9th till Friday, September 9th.

WHERE: Online at virtual.mutek.org

MUTEK Immersive Collection

Five artists have stepped up to the challenge of reinventing a past festival performance into an XR artwork. The result is an eclectic yet coherent set of three different XR projects ranging from contemplative to surreal to dynamic: Entanglement XR by France Jobin & Markus Heckmann, House of Moiréby Chloe Alexandra Thompson & Matthew Edwards (aesthetic.stalemate), and Immortelle by Line Katcho

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Entanglement

Entanglement is a dazzling work that distills quantum physics theories into a swooping sensorial experience. It interprets the concept of entanglement: when two or more particles link up, and no matter how far apart they are in space, their states remain linked. It is an uncanny phenomenon in quantum physics, one that defies explanations.

France Jobin^CA/QC is an audio and installation artist, as well as composer and curator. Markus Heckmann^DE/CA is a visual artist and Technical Director at Derivative, the maker of TouchDesigner

House of Moiré

House of Moiré invites users into a void-like realm, where one’s experience is defined by the curiosity of their eyes and ears. In self-directed exploration, the viewer advances through a succession of rooms dressed in optical patterns, audio-visual programming, and minimalist spatial design.

Chloe Alexandra Thompson^CA/USand Matthew Edwards^US (aka aesthetic.stalemate) are interdisciplinary artists and collaborators.

Immortelle

Immortelle is an atmospheric and figurative work illustrating the flights and falls of psychological endurance. Featuring a cathartic flux of sonic and visual fragments, this unpredictable piece opens a door into how a mind in internal turmoil redefines the outside world.

Line Katcho^CA/QC is a composer and audiovisual artist primarily interested in sound and image as demonstrations of kinetic matter.

THE ESSENTIALS OF IMMERSIVE COLLECTION

Discover the works in-person
23_28.08.22 | esplanade Tranquille