Every summer, key venues of electronic culture come alive under the banner of MUTEK — a major festival of sound and visual experiences. Beyond the dance and music filling the Quartier des spectacles, MUTEK offers a broad program dedicated to professionals and the academic world.
Here’s a short introduction to these spaces where research and experiential knowledge converge.
Village Numérique : A Digital Journey in the Heart of the City
After a resoundingly successful first edition, Village Numérique returns to Montreal from August 14 to 28, 2025, from 6 PM to 11 PM.
Iconic and unusual spaces in the Quartier des spectacles are transformed. UQAM’s Cœur des sciences comes to life with interactive installations. This nighttime path weaves strong connections between technology, the city, and creativity, inviting the public to see Montreal through a new lens.
At the corner of boulevard De Maisonneuve and rue Saint-Urbain, Espace public, espace latent—an immersive installation by Victor Drouin-Trempe [student, UQAM] and Danny Perreault [co-investigator, UQAM]—will be revealed. Co-produced with MUTEK, the piece merges artificial intelligence and audiovisual creation into a novel sculptural environment: a multidimensional cube-shaped screen.
Surrounded by an immersive eight-speaker sound setup, it invites the public into a sensitive space where image, sound, and algorithms interact in real time.
Hexagram at Village Numérique: Three Artists, Three Perspectives on Contemporary Life
Simultaneously, the Chaufferie at UQAM’s Cœur des sciences will host the exhibition Intimate Territories: Reclaiming through Research-Creation, presented by the Hexagram Network as part of the Village Numérique programming. Open nightly from 6 PM to 11 PM, the exhibition features three women artists whose work interrogates relationships between body, environment, memory, and technology.
An Ecology of Vapor and the Invisible
ChamberS by Jihen Ben Chikha [student, UQAM] takes the form of an unstable ecosystem composed of vinyl tubes, glass cylinders, pumps, liquids, and electronic components. The installation explores steam as a physical phenomenon and as a means to reflect on the invisible infrastructure surrounding us.
By circulating fluid and sensitive elements, the artist questions human–nonhuman relations through both ecological and speculative perspectives.
ChamberS, installation view
Female Pleasure as a Video Playground
With CLTRS, Laureline Chiapello [co-investigator, UQAC-NAD] offers an art game centred on exploring the clitoris. The piece unfolds in a baroque landscape where the avatar activates parts of the bodily environment through its movements. The game invites a sensory, non-linear exploration of female pleasure, relying on immersive aesthetics and playful mechanics.
CLTRS challenges cultural norms and taboos around the body by using the videogame medium as a tool for reflection and emancipation.
Still image of CLTS videogame
Following the Sun
Sabina Gámez’s [student, Concordia] work revolves around sunlight, captured through solarigraphs, videos, and maps. The installation is organized around four cardinal directions, associated with seasons and fragments of light, inviting viewers to an introspective journey.
Por si acaso se acaba el mundo todo el sol he de aprovechar (If the world ends, I must soak up all the sun) reflects a personal quest to reclaim the sun as an identity, time, and spiritual marker. Originally from Colombia, the artist evokes the contrast between her homeland’s constant warmth and the long periods of cold and darkness in Canada. In doing so, she questions cultural and geographic hierarchies while offering new ways to orient oneself in the world through light.
Por si acaso se acaba el mundo todo el sol he de aprovechar, installation view
Meet the Artists
A free public presentation under the theme Radical Feminine Rituals will be held on Saturday, August 23, from 3 PM to 5 PM, at the Agora of the Cœur des sciences. Each artist will present their work and creative research process, followed by a discussion panel.
MUTEK Forum: Radical Rituals and Other Alchemies
Under the theme Radical Rituals, the MUTEK Forum offers critical reflection on current social and technological upheavals through conferences, performances, and workshops.
From August 20 to 22, this professional gathering brings together researchers from partner institutions in a space for dialogue around artificial intelligence, the music industry, media arts, video games, quantum art, ecology, and more. Discounted packages are available for students to ensure access to this valuable networking and professional development opportunity.
Reimagining AI Through Student Research
On August 21 in the afternoon at the Monument-National, the Machine Agencies research group will present Machinic Encounters, a student exhibition challenging utilitarian approaches to AI. Led by Ceyda Yolgörmez [student, Concordia], the second cohort of the GenAI Studio will showcase the results of a four-month residency focused on the poetic potential of human-machine collaboration. This activity is supported by the Milieux Institute, the Applied AI Institute, and the Hexagram Network.
Digital Rituals and Data Magic
Finally, the Abundant Intelligences group, led by Jason Lewis [co-investigator, Concordia], will host a Computational Witchcraft Sleepover, a queer-feminist ritual blending games, digital altars, data magic, and collective storytelling. This playful workshop explores alternative forms of intimacy and machinic connection—between humans, algorithms, and unseen forces.
Hexagram: A Catalyst for Research-Creation at the Heart of MUTEK
This edition of MUTEK highlights the richness of contributions from the Hexagram Network, whose members—artists, students, and researchers—play a central role in the dialogue between creation and research. Their projects embody bold forms of experimentation, revealing the critical, poetic, and collective potential of contemporary technologies.
