You are invited to join us for a very special evening where research and creation merge into innovative entanglements.
This fourth edition features a carefully curated program of student research, performances, and demonstrations, coordinated by Jacqueline Beaumont, highlighting the experimental practices emerging from within the network. She has brought together the works of Shirin Abu Shaqra, Sarah Barone, Shirley Ceravolo, Poki Chan, Kristian North & Mike Cassidy, Hraïr Hratchian, Philippe Vandal, and Celia Vara for the way they articulate connections between human experience and broader systems—whether ecological, political, economic, or metaphysical.
This assemblage invites the public to develop an embodied understanding of these dynamics and their multiplicities. The artists explore our relationship to historical knowledge production through cellular, individual, and collective perspectives, highlighting the persistence of alternative narratives. Diaspora, memory, and techno-critical turbulence reveal the interdependence between human and non-human systems. As a whole, Gala 2025 offers an aesthetic approach to these immaterial relationships.
The evening combines exhibitions and live performances with food and drinks, creating a space for network members and guests to connect and celebrate emerging talents in research-creation.
The GALA is the perfect moment to discover what’s cooking at Hexagram, expand your network, and support your peers.
3: 30 PM Residency restitution at Salle d’expérimentation
(UQAM, SB-4105)
5: 00 PM Cocktail reception
6: 30 PM Welcome speeches
7: 00 PM Live performances
9: 00 PM End of the event
Artists
Shirin Abu Shaqra NAD-UQAC
Shirin Abu Shaqra, a graduate in history and political science from Saint Joseph University (Lebanon) and Le Fresnoy (France), publishes her research and exhibits internationally (Centre Pompidou, Cannes, MAXXI, Dubai…). Trained in immersive technologies, she explores in her thesis at NAD the decolonial visualization strategies of contested museum objects, under the supervision of Yan Breuleux and Luc Courchesne.
Sarah Barone Concordia University
Sarah Barone creates multimedia works blending dance, sound, video, and immersive installations. Inspired by affective ecology, she explores water’s rhythms, reflections, and resonances to examine the connections between body, environment, and industrialization. Her poetic and critical work reveals tensions between materiality, apathy, and care.
Shirley Ceravolo Concordia University
Shirley Ceravolo is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice explores astrophysical concepts through fibres, sculpture, installation, and photography. Holding a BFA in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University, her practice focuses on cosmology, materiality, and our cosmic origins. She has exhibited at InterAccess (Toronto) and Art Mûr (Montréal).
Poki Chan & Zac Zequan Lin Concordia University
Poki Chan is a Hong Kong–born, Montréal-based game designer and 3D artist pursuing a Ph.D. at Concordia University. With a background in multimedia and entertainment technology, she creates immersive VR experiences and serious games exploring cultural memory, social issues, and user-centered design—bridging research, storytelling, and innovation. She collaborates with Zac Zequan Lin, a game developer with over five years of experience creating research-focused games in applied sciences at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Philippe Vandal Concordia University
Philippe Vandal is a Montreal-based new media artist whose practice intersects bio-inspired critical design, environmental chemistry, and site-specific tangible media interventions. His work has been showcased at venues such as Eastern Bloc (2017, 2022), Art Mûr (2019), and during the International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA 2020). He has also contributed to exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou (2021), Ars Electronica (2021), and Montreal’s Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium (2022).
Celia Vara Martin McGill University
With a background in psychology, Celia Vara is an artist, educator, curator, and postdoctoral researcher at McGill’s Moving Image Research Lab. Her work bridges feminist theory, research-creation, and embodied methodologies. Awarded McGill’s 2024 Teaching Excellence Award, she explores feminist performance, corporeal agency, and sensorial archives. Her projects span Canada, Spain, and the Caribbean, with publications in feral feminisms, Performance Research, and other international journals.
Performances
Augurs Wand Concordia University
Augurs Wand is digital artist Mike Cassidy and musician Kristian North. Together, they design and build generative audiovisual systems for live performance. Materially, they are focused on analogue technologies; currently working primarily with laser and sound synthesis. Compositionally, they prioritise aleatory and emergence, influenced by the complexity of nature.
Hraïr Hratchian Université du Québec à Montréal
Since 1995, Hraïr Hratchian has developed an interdisciplinary practice combining music, performance, and experimental cinema. Founder of the Montreal rock groups De la Caucase and La Désunion, he has collaborated as a duduk player with various international artists and groups, including Einstürzende Neubauten. Since 2014, he has been creating experimental films and performing on stage in Canada, the United States, and abroad.
Residency Restitution
Maxime Michaud Université du Québec à Montréal
Maxime Michaud, transdisciplinary artist and PhD candidate at UQAM, explores the cinematic transposition of hypersensitive experiences. His residency concludes a heuristic cycle by experimenting with biofeedback protocols to generate embodied filmic fragments, oscillating between sensory saturation and soothing. His aesthetic and theoretical approach draws from cognitive science, phenomenology, and sensory studies to develop an empathic, perceptual aesthetic.
About the event
The GALA is a recurring event of the Hexagram Network. Since 2021, it has brought together members and representatives from professional, academic, and cultural fields. This event fosters the emergence of new practices at the intersection of arts, culture, and technology, while supporting the advancement of student projects and the dissemination of research outcomes.
