At the heart of this edition, MUTEK highlights women in digital arts and electronic music in both the regular performance program and during a free 2-day symposium taking place August 21 and 22 at the Monument-National.
Inspired by our membership as one of the core festivals in the PRS Foundation led Keychange initiative, and with the intersection and support of the British Council’s Amplify network, the festival connects women creators and innovators from Canada, the UK, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and the EU under the umbrella: Keychange :: Amplify.
Symposium
Keynotes, panels, presentations and networking activities—provocative and practical content, the Keychange :: Amplify Symposium and related activities throughout the rest of the week aim to enliven the conversation, embolden creators, and affect real change in the milieu.
Day 1, August 21
Keynotes:
20 Years of female:pressure—Electric Indigo
Sonic (Cyber)feminisms: Strategies, Contestations and Possibilities—Marie Thompson
Panels:
The Breakdown: On Quotas, Biology, the Meritocracy and More
Breaking the Binary: Sound/Noise, Wanted/Unwanted, Masculine/Feminine
(Re-en)gendering the Arts & Industry: Institutional Action
Day 2, August 22
Keynotes:
An Avatar Is Born—Skawennati
What Does Field Transformation Sound Like? Mapping Feminist Movement in Electronic Music & Sound Cultures—Tara Rodgers
Panels:
Signature Visions: Art, Tech & Soul
Beyond the Why: A Diversity in Curation How-To
Gathering The Momentum: Possible Futures
Confirmed Keychange :: Amplify panelists and presenters include:
Amanda Harvey — XX Files (CA) / Cadie Desbiens-Desmeules — Push 1 stop (XX) / Cathie Boyd — Cryptic/Sonica Festival (UK) / Claudine Hubert — curator (CA) / Corina MacDonald — CMD (CA) / Evelyn Cream — FACTOR (CA) / Frankie Teardrop — LIP/Slut Island (CA) / Jann Tomaro — Practice (CA) / Jessica Partridge — PRS Foundation (UK) / Jonathan Sterne — McGill University (CA) / Julia Dyck — XX Files (CA) / Kate Lesta (US) / Kiva Stimac — Suoni/Lux Magna (CA) / Lauren Goshinski — VIA Festival (US) / Lorna-Rose Simpson — Moogfest (US) / Marie Thompson — University of Lincoln (UK) / Myriam Bleau (CA) / Myriam Boucher (CA) / National Film Board of Canada (CA) / Oliver Baurhenn — CTM Festival (DE) / Pierre Kwenders — Moonshine (CA) / Roxanne Arsenault (Donzelle) — Centre CLARK (CA) / Skawennati Fragnito — Skawennati (CA) / Susanne Kirchmayr — Electric Indigo (AT) / Tara Rodgers — Analog Tara (US)
All discursive activities on August 21 and 22, will be streamed and recorded. The schedule of events and speakers is available here
Artists participating in the performance program are here
Free RSVP here
Digi Lab Program
Workshops, Panels, Presentations, Q&As, Technology Showrooms
The festival unleashes another intensive professional daytime program that explores industry-related issues, creative practices, and current concerns in the electronic music and digital arts fields. Running Wednesday through Saturday, free and open to all—the workshops, presentations, panels and onstage interviews provide a rich mixture of activities that cater to the experienced professional, the emerging artist, or the curious observer.
As usual, Digi Lab takes advantage of having some of the most exciting names in audiovisual creation and electronic music in town, providing opportunities for insight into their practice, philosophies, and careers. Fresh from his recent PhD studies, Lawrence English will deliver a public talk called The Radical Listener, combining his own work with field recordings with his prescriptions for hearing—the session culminates in an off-site sonic recording excursion for a limited number of paying participants. Machine Woman will present her personal, occasionally unorthodox production methods. HOLO Magazine editors return with 2 of their Q&A Encounters, privileging artists working at the vanguard of A/V and new media practices.
A series of panel discussions are planned around topics such as blockchain, streaming and new radio services, and political activism inside club cultures and electronic music communities.
Related to this year’s Keychange :: Amplify symposium, a run of short presentations titled, Making It, will take place all afternoon on Thursday, organized into 3 distinct categories: creative practice, industry issues, and organizations, networks and connectors—it proposes a kaleidoscope of experiences, insights and advice.
For skills and capacity building, a rich offering of workshops covering music mastering, live coding, digital workflow, VJing, spatial sound, and new modes of storytelling take place throughout the week.
Music Mastering: Sound Design, Mix and Mastering with Pheek
A Mother of Invention: Strategies and Workflow in Digital and Media Art Practice with Alexandre Burton (artificiel)
Introduction to Live Coding and Sound Synthesis with Algobabez
Re-turning the Gaze: On VJing and Building Original Content with Magdalena Olszanowski
Spatial Sound: More Than Meets the Ear with Electric Indigo
Entering the Multiverse: Immersive Storytelling, Worldbuilding and Spatial Narratives with Maria Laura Ruggiero
Space is limited, but RSVPs will be open Monday, July 30, here
Derivative the makers of TouchDesigner, the software at the centre of many innovations on display during the festival’s audiovisual program, host another two-day workshop. RSVPs are mandatory but sessions are open to casual observers on Monday and Tuesday in the café of the Monument-National.
For aspiring artists and music industry types, FACTOR, the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent On Recordings is offering one-on-one meetings to help kickstart recording and touring careers and explain other opportunities in the industry. RSVPs are open here.
Dedicated to advancing exposure and exportation of Canadian and Quebec-based artists, MUTEK Match will gather curators and promoters for an invitation-only session highlighting this years local talents, while a series of open to the public presentations from international organizations will underline the power of networks and opportunities for artists and creators to present around the world. In addition, we pursue an exciting new format developed at the last festival edition, the Creators Reports, to provide vibrant portraits of city scenes around the world, this year including Saint-Petersburg and Moscow.
Confirmed Digi Lab participants include:
Alexandre Burton — artificiel (CA) / Anastasia Vtorova — Machine Woman (UK/DE) / Chagall van den Berg — Chagall (UK) / Chico Dub — Novas Frequencias (BR) / Isabelle Rousset — Derivative (CA) / Jean-Patrice Rémillard — Pheek (CA) / Joanne Armitage — Algobabez (UK) / Kara Blake — Philtre Films (CA) / Laura Kriefman — Hellion Trace (UK) / Lawrence English (AU) / Leonora Manyangadze — Somerset House Studios (UK) / Magdalena Olszanowski — Concordia University (CA) / Maria Laura Ruggiero — SeirenFilms (AR) / Miroslav Wiesner — Surefire Agency (US) / Natalia Fuchs — ARTYPICAL (RU) / Natalie Mets — IDA Raadio (EE) / Olof van Winden — TodaysArt Festival / Generator Foundation (NL) / Robyn Fadden — MUTEK (CA) / Roxane Halary — Studio XX (CA) / Sandira Blas — Akai Professional (US/DE) / Shelly Knotts — Algobabez (UK)
Participant bios can be found here
Showrooms
The festival’s technological partners represent the cutting edge of new software, instruments and methods. Roland, whose products are synonymous with the birth of electronic music, show-off their contemporary line Friday, August 24 in the café of the Monument-National. Moog Audio again provide another ear-watering, wallet-emptying smorgasbord of modular synthesizers and other products on Saturday, featuring instrument makers: Akai (US), Denon (US), Doepfer (DE), Evaton Technologies (US), Expressive E (FR), Hexinverter (CA), Kilpatrick Audio (CA), Rane (US), and Schlappi Engineering (US).
