September 19, 2011 – The SAT (Society for Arts and Technology) is a centre that celebrates the many creative ways in which art and technology coexist. Since its founding in 1996 by Monique Savoie, the centre has been a platform on which innovative projects have been developed and debates on emerging technologies have arisen.
The SAT has connected thousands of artists across the globe through virtual, intellectual, technological, and creative events, like the renowned Pecha Kucha Nights, a series of presentations in which speakers show 20 slides for 20 seconds, and have a total of six minutes and 40 seconds to explain their ideas on an art-related topic. The SAT also hosts a variety of exhibitions, fairs, concerts, and parties throughout the year. In April 2010, the SAT was recognized as the first “Living Lab” in North America and became a member of the ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs).
In 2011, the SAT underwent the completion of a major renovation, with the addition of the Satosphere, a superstructure consisting of a 15-metre-high dome. Designed by Luc Courchesne, director of the school of industrial design at the Université de Montréal, the Satosphere houses MUTEK, a popular annual digital arts and electronic music festival, and the Sensorium, a space entirely dedicated to multi-sensory explorations, bringing together the technological, visual, and culinary arts.
Also in 2011, the SAT initiated the Foodlab, a culinary workshop acting as a platform for contemporary designers and chefs on which to collaboratively produce, explore, and share ideas about the relationships between creative individuals (cook, researcher, and designer) and basic culinary tools. In addition, the Foodlab hopes to activate a network of exchange between rurality and urbanity through the example of local produce.
