Celebrate electronic music and digital art with MUTEK
It’s August, and that means summer is still in full swing in the Quartier des Spectacles! MUTEK, the festival of electronic music and digital art, is about to dazzle downtown Montreal for the 26th straight year, and once again this year the Quartier will host many of the festival’s shows and activities.
In the second half of August, explore the creative circuits of the Village numérique (digital village) and enjoy free outdoor shows at the Expérience stage, on Esplanade Tranquille. Whether you’re into niche electronica genres, fascinated by art installations or just looking for a fun new experience for the family, come check it out!
Immersive and educational circuits in the Village numérique
From August 14 to 28, let your curiosity guide you through the Village numérique, a presentation of MUTEK and Xn Québec. Returning for a second edition, this free exploration of the world of digital art has three components: a series of outdoor and indoor art installations (most of them universally accessible), participatory workshops where you can learn more about this creative field, and a program for industry professionals.
Each evening from 6 to 11 p.m., see the transformation of iconic and unusual spaces in the Quartier des Spectacles: UQAM’s Cœur des sciences comes to life with interactive installations, the Parterre is a giant art gallery and the Société des arts technologiques [SAT] invites you to enjoy creative explorations.
MUTEK, esplanade Tranquille, 2024
The works to discover include Wantastigan – what will remain still, co-presented by the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and projected on the building next to the Saint-Laurent metro station: using photogrammetry to capture images of objects in the collection of the Musée des Abénakis in Odanak, artist Mélanie O'Bomsawin explores our connections with objects held by museums but that we can no longer touch, but that remain the bearers of ancestral knowledge.
Wantastigan – what will remain still
Watch an interactive garment reclaim its materiality in space with In Camera by Ying Gao, a professor at UQAM’s École supérieure de mode; enter the world of insect colonies’ defence mechanisms with NEST: Colony, a project from Montreal-based studio, Iregular; or try your hand at VS AI Street Fighting, a fun installation in the form of an AI-driven street-fighting video game by Taiwan’s Dimension Plus.
Architectural projections, mapping, interactive display windows, AI photography: MUTEK brings countless ways to change your perspective on Montreal. Plus, a mediation team is available each evening to answer your questions. In the daytime on weekends, there are also six participatory workshops for children and teens.
Free electronic music on the Expérience stage
For a fourth year, Esplanade Tranquille hosts local and visiting electronic music artists on the Expérience outdoor stage. From August 19 to 24 from 5 p.m. until late, enjoy 30 shows in a perfect space for audiences, genres and sounds to come together.
There’s a bit of everything: the inventive Italian-British percussionist Valentina Magaletti (August 19), a set by the acclaimed London DJ Al Wootton (August 20), techno experiments by Newfoundland and Labrador’s Cleo Leigh (August 21), syncretic dub from Bengali-Canadian Raf Reza of Toronto (August 22), the atmospheric flute sounds of Montreal’s Lisa Pulsatilla (August 23), and the reggaeton/experimental pop fusion of Swiss-Guatemalan artist Baby Volcano (August 23). You’re sure to find a show that you’ll love!
MUTEK, esplanade Tranquille, 2022
Music that gets the crowd dancing while exploring new sonic territory, inventive creative processes, high-tech visual art and sites that create memorable family moments: the Quartier des Spectacles delivers all this and more during MUTEK. See you there!