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After two virtual editions, MUTEK Montréal will organize, from Tuesday, August 23 to Friday, August 26, 2022, a new physical edition of its professional component. In the Agora Hydro-Québec of the Cœur des sciences de l'UQAM, MUTEK Forum will offer four days of exchanges and events around digital creation.

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Dive into the fields of expertise covered

Day 1 — Tuesday

Opening Panel: Welcome Back IRL

After two plus years of unplanned pandemic cancellations, turnarounds and experiments the 23rd edition of MUTEK returns to a mainly in-person format. What did we learn during this time and what new or forgotten problems will we need to confront face-to-face at MUTEK 2022? Maybe our virtual festival lives were actually better?

NODE Forum organizer Jeanne Charlotte Vogt and Famous New Media Artist Jeremy Bailey will present their observations as a performative lecture and introduce participants to a new Augmented Reality filter available to help them navigate this new/old reality.

11:00-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL: The Genrefication of AI – From Critical Encounters to Artistic Practice

This panel features Montréal-based Mexican AI artist Isabella Salas; Hexagram artist/researcher and author of MIT Press’s Art in the Age of Machine Learning , Sofian Audry; Sónar+D and S+T+ARTS AI and Music Festival curator José Luis de Vicente; the curator of the first LATAM AI biennale, Julieta Agriano; and will be moderated by MUTEK AI Art Lab facilitator Peter Kirn. Together, they will explore the shifting role of AI in artistic practice, from serving as an object of critical investigation to the proliferation of AI art and music as artistic genres.

13:00-14:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL: Shapeshifting between Physical and Virtual Worlds in (Post-)Crisis Times

This panel discussion on the shifting shapes of cultural encounters brings together curators, artists, and producers that are at the forefront of investigating and driving new forms of engagement in reaction to a world, which seemingly is always in a post-crisis state.

14:30-15:30 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

WORKSHOP : Fest-Forward Imagining Future Festivals

This session invites artists, curators, industry professionals, and the wider public to jointly imagine the changing role of the festival, beyond a platform for artistic practice toward a vehicle for critical investigations of the existential questions of our time.

14:30-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Q&A: HOLO Encounter with NSDOS

Greg J. Smith, editor at magazine HOLO, talks to French multidisciplinary artist NSDOS, aka Kirikoo Des. Together they discuss the latter’s unique practice, which combines music, dance, and digital art to push the boundaries of the medium, all while creating a rich and ambitious \synthesis.

16:00-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Day 2 — Wednesday

WORKSHOP (EN + FR): A Sustainability Toolkit for the Event Industry

Whether your project or organization is in a beginner or intermediate phase of mitigating its ecological impact, this non-judgmental and open workshop aims to share tangible data from national and international case studies, providing both artists and event-industry stakeholders with concrete, customs tools to overcome challenges related to environmental practices. Come with your issues, and leave with positive insights and courses of action.

10:30-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

CONVERSATIONS: Crafting a Market for Independent XR

In Crafting a Market for Independent XR, new-media technology sociologist Sandra Rodriguez, who is also an XR/AI director and producer, offers a fresh look at the current state of the XR ecosystem. She and her team assess the state of emerging business models, while highlighting the distribution challenges within XR. Accompanied by Ingrid Kopp, the co-founder of the organization Electric South—which specializes in the production and distribution of immersive works—Rodriguez takes the discussion a step further, considering the future of independent XR productions and the opportunities for development within this emerging market.

11:00-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

MASTERCLASS: Decentralizing the Music Industry - Community-Led Frameworks in Web3

How can web3 reimagine the music industry? In this masterclass, the core team from the music collective Songcamp demonstrates how web3 ideology can facilitate new frameworks, from distribution and the supply chain to creative collaboration.

In partnership with Resident Advisor, the workshop will be led by Songcamp founder and producer, Matthew Chaim, and its core contributor and ecosystem gardener, Mark Redito.

13:00-14:30 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL: The New Producers - Digital Art Presenters Crossing Industry Lines

This panel brings together Québec and Canadian organizations that have ventured into these new territories, to present some of their initiatives and discuss the challenges and opportunities they face

13:00-14:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PRESENTATIONS: The XR Projects of MUTEK’s Immersive Collection

In this discussion moderated by Claudine Hubert, Culture Director at Thinkwell, these creators reflect on the taming of a new medium through experimentation, the discovery of its possibilities and constraints, and its implications for their practice. They also touch on the challenges of navigating the XR industry, and the support MUTEK has provided them in this regard.

14:30-15:30 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

WORKSHOP: Cripping Music Culture Through Access Riders

This is an introductory-level English-language workshop designed for both artists and promoters who are interested in learning more about access culture and its intersections with music. Its aim is to introduce participants to accessible music technology, musical environments, and music culture. This workshop will engage participants in a discussion exploring the multi-sensory nature of sound from a Crip perspective—that sound is not only auditory, but is a tactile, visual, colourful, and emotional material.

15:30-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Q&A: HOLO Encounter with Fractal Fantasy

Canadian journalist Greg J. Smith editor at magazine HOLO, talks with Sinjin Hawke and Zora Jones, the innovative Montreal artists behind the label and interactive portal Fractal Fantasy. Together they discuss the duo's recent creative ventures, such as VIRTUA; an ambitious reinvention of live electronic audio-visual performance, presented by MUTEK in June.

16:00-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Day 3 — Thursday

MASTERCLASS: Art, Technology, and the Law – IP for Digital Artists

In this masterclass, Eliane Ellbogen (intellectual property lawyer and founder/ex-director of digital art centre Eastern Bloc) will explore the common ground between digital art and IP law. This 90-minute masterclass is aimed at artists, curators, and industry professionals who are keen to learn more about protecting and enforcing their rights in a creative context. Ellbogen will teach the fundamentals of copyright and other IP rights and more specifically how they relate to digital art practices.

10:30-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

CONVERSATION: Beyond Matter – Producing, Curating, and Mediating Art in Virtual Spaces

This conversation uses Beyond Matter—an international, collaborative, practice-based research project led by ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe as its starting point. The initiative takes cultural heritage and contemporary art to the verge of VR and reflects on the increasingly virtual state of art production and mediation. Alongside Véronique Paradis, Chief Innovation Officer at Montréal’s Society for Arts and Technology, ZKM’s Scientific Associate Felix Koberstein will address the online revival and archiving of exhibitions and the delivery of real-time artistic experiences through the use of virtual reality tools.

11:00-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL (FR): Fibres and Textiles - Creating Alliances Between Art, Industry, and Knowledge

The Fibres & Textiles panel takes the eponymous co-creation project carried out in early 2022 as its starting point, and will expand on its premise by discussing the creation of bridges between different actors in the textile industry, bio-manufacturing, smart clothing, materials of the future, digital transformation, and the circular economy.

13:00-14:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

WORKSHOP: Negotiating Contracts for Digital Artists

This workshop is aimed at digital artists and creatives who would like to gain practical experience in negotiating contracts. Eliane Ellbogen (intellectual property lawyer and founder / former director of digital art centre Eastern Bloc) will lay out the basic principles of contract law, explore the most common types of contracts used in the artistic and creative industries, and guide workshop participants in a simulated contract negotiation

13:00-15:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL (FR): Research-Creation and Digital Arts – An Autopsy of Production Pipelines

Hexagram—the international network dedicated to research-creation in the arts, culture, and technology—and SYNTHÈSE—the national and international showcase for Quebec’s expertise and training in computer graphics—in collaboration with MUTEK Forum, are inviting their members and partners to a panel discussion on the various production pipelines that promote digital creation in research, as well as collaborations between the arts and industry.

14:30-15:30 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Q&A(FR): Baron Lanteigne

Author and curator Nathalie Bachand talks with artist Baron Lanteigne about his work and career path: the integration of game engines into his practice, his interest in the "materiality" of the digital and the virtual, the potential of blockchain, and his recent art-game residency at Sporobole.

16:00-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Day 4 — Friday

WORKSHOP(EN + FR): Production, Distribution, and Accessibility Challenges in Emerging Digital Worlds

This discussion workshop follows up on the panel “The New Producers – Digital Art Presenters Crossing Industry Lines”, which takes place on Wednesday, August 24 at 1 pm.

It will allow for a more diverse and in-depth discussion, inviting all artists, presenters, producers, distributors, and other members of the digital arts community to participate in a more informal setting.

9:30-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

KEYNOTE: Doing It Yourself – Elevating Marginalized Communities in Electronic Music

In this keynote, Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson assesses the state of inclusion and accessibility in electronic music and considers how to further develop meaningful and sustainable strategies for elevating marginalized communities. Hutchinson will draw on her experience as a community-maker and the founder of Dweller festival, which platforms Black artists and serves as a site for writings from a Black perspective. Hutchinson is also the co-founder of Discwoman, an agency focused on representing and promoting two men and non-binary DJ and producer talent.

11:00-12:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL: Enter the Musicverse – What’s Next for Music in Web3

This panel addresses the various ways web3 is unlocking innovation within marketing, monetization, and distribution for the music industry at large. Panelists include Inder Phull, the CEO and Co-Founder of music metaverse platform PIXELYNX; Athena Yasaman, Head of Music Discovery at blockchain-powered music platform Catalog; and Cora Novoa, a music producer and researcher who works at the intersection of art and technology, and serves as the creative director of her own record label, SEEKING THE VELVET. The conversation will be moderated by creative producer and music journalist Sarah Mackenzie.

13:00-14:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

WORKSHOP: Intro to Web VR on Mozilla Hubs and Spoke

In this workshop, participants will learn how to build their own collaborative Web VR space on Mozilla Hubs using Spoke, an online 3D scene editor.

13:00-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

PANEL: Where Do We Go From Here? Building a Better Future for Live Music

The metaverse and decentralized web3 thinking have introduced new infrastructure that bridges the gap between physical and virtual musical experiences—raising questions about the wellbeing of its fan communities. From environmentally conscious practices to accessibility and safety, the panel maps out how to build a better future across live music’s current multidimensional ecosystem.

14:30-15:30 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

Q&A: RA Exchange with Gabber Modus Operandi

The Exchange is Resident Advisor's weekly interview podcast—a series of conversations with the artists, labels, and promoters shaping the electronic music landscape.

The New York-based journalist Nyshka Chandran talks with Gabber Modus Operandi, in advance of their first-ever date at MUTEK Montréal.

16:00-17:00 at Agora du Cœur des sciences

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

THE ESSENTIALS OF THE MARKET

This year, for its third edition, the MUTEK Market is coming back with its virtual networking platform that connects local and international artists with industry professionals from around the globe. After a highly successful 2021 edition that brought together more than 550 artists and industry professionals, the MUTEK Market aims to showcase the most cutting-edge projects in electronic music and digital art to both industry professionals and artists alike.

View more here

Key Dates
Online networking: August 16 to August 28
Scheduled 1to1 meetings: August 16 & 17
Forum on-site: August 23 to August 26