The 14th Elektra Festival, May 1-5, unites over 40 audiovisual artists and musicians under the theme of “Anti/Matter,” bringing immersive performances and art installations to some of Montreal’s most technology-driven venues, including PHI Centre, Usine C, Cinémathèque Québécoise, Goethe-Institut, and the Society for Art and Technology.

All Elektra shows go beyond simply watching a screen or listening to music; they aim to surround us with sound and image in one way or another. This year’s opening performances on May 2 recreate nothing less than a solar eclipse in the pairing of French musician Mondkopf (here inspired by Brian Eno’s Apollo: Atmosphere and Soundtracks) and designers from Trafik, as well as an representation of systems theory in Louis Dufort’s Concatenare_IV, and a live analogue-digital collaboration between visual artist Sabrina Ratté and sound artist Jesse Osborne-Lanthier. And Hugo Arcier’s video projection Nostalgia for Nature, created with computer-generated images only, touches on one of electronic art’s biggest paradoxes: representation of the so-called natural through the so-called artificial.

On the evening of May 3, legendary German artist-producer ATOM^TM (Uwe Schmidt) premiers a live and audio-visually enhanced performance of HD, his latest album on the Raster-Noton label. Performances also come from Swedish filmmaker Joel Dittrich, whose White noise/Black noise explores the highs and lows of urban life, and artists Nohista and Tasman Richardson, who use tube television sets and Atari 2600 consoles to merge noise-sound and glitch-image. Elektra’s final night of performances, May 4, is devoted to Japanese electronic music label Atak, featuring acclaimed sound artist Evala and the algorithmic musical flow of Keiichiro Shibuya and Takashi Ikegami – as a bonus, Evala and Shibuya joins forces for Atak Dance Hall.

Sound performances and art installations (many of them free) add another dimension to the evening shows: Nicolas Bernier’s Frequencies, in which a computer program triggers tuning forks; Loco-Dyna-Morphics, a 360° film by Jan Zehn and Stefan Berke, playing at the Society for Art and Technology’s Satosphere; a guided Meteorological Sound Walk; Alexis O’Hara’s playable musical instrument/installation Squeeeeque! L’Igloo Improbable (pictured above); plus sound-art installations at Usine C and more at galleries Oboro, Skol, Occurence and the Phi Centre, also host to the International Marketplace for Digital Arts conference, May 2-3, where professionals scheme to bring us more of the latest and greatest in digital art.

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THE DETAILS

Elektra, May 1-5, 2013

The post Digital Delights at Elektra 2013 appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

From June 1^st to June 5^th, Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles becomes a veritable playground for all things Mutek. A festival that explores digital creativity and electronic music.

An aspect that makes Mutek unique as a digital festival is that 95% of the artists will be playing live, which is a rarity in the digital age. Not only that, but the festival boasts 8 world premieres, 10 North American premieres and 9 Canadian premieres and features artists like Amon Tobin presenting the ISAM world premiere (video below), Four Tet, Richie Hawtin (Plastikman) and Gold Panda, among others. Hot dog!

The festival’s first day, June 1^st, sets the tone with a renegade performance by one of the leading artists of the genre. In cahoots with the STM, UK’s Bowly will perform at the Berri UQAM metro station for free. He will be freaking out the squares and other geometrical shapes during the 4:30pm rush hour. Art, meet life. Now, finish your supper. Here’s a tip: Go to the Berri metro every weekday at rush hour during the festival to catch more performances like this one.

Later that night you can check out The Industrial Evolution at 8pm at Salle Pierre-Mercure, tickets are $25. This event is designed to examine the “intersection between granular synthesis, fabrications of light and image, and the beauty of inherent rhythm and repetition.”  Bristol’s Emptyset provides an atmospheric dose of dubstep bass that melds with digital white noise. Look out for Finland’s legendary Mika Vainio, formerly a member of the industrial minimalists Pan Sonic, making his Mutek debut with brand new audio and visual content. Then Purform, the Elektra Festival founder Alain Thibault and visual artist Yan Breuleux make their Mutek debut. They’ll be performing an original digital composition called Whitebox that includes a large three-screen multi-sensory display.

On June 2, head to Metropolis for Modeselektion at 10pm where $30 dollars will get you into a real party. The event is for lovers of bass in all its incarnations.  Modeselektor hail from Germany and will be DJing in tandem with guests like dubsteppers Anstam, garage revivalist FALTYDL and Jacques Greene, a renowned Montreal bass producer. And for you viewing pleasure, Pfadfinderei and Diagraf create the visual art.

On June 4^th Resident Advisor presents Beyond the Autobahn at Metropolis. The party starts at 11pm and tickets are $35. This is central to the Mutek experience and features visuals by Boris Edelstein, Baillat Cardell & Fils, and Ne1co. The theme, you ask? Live electronics and genre fusion featuring the music of Stephen Beaupre and funky micro house group the Banjo Consorsium. Stay tuned for UK’s Rocketnumbernine who are joined on stage by Fourtet for some improvising. It’s going to be a wild night with Elektroguzzi and minimal techno champion James Holden closing the night.

On June 5^th the biggest party is planned. It’s the Mutek 2011 finale and they mean business. The Curator’s Choice, a co presentation with Piknic Electronik, at Parc Jean Drapeau is an event not to be missed, especially when tickets are only $10. This year the curators invite guests from the Mutek 2011 festival to DJ for a surprise outdoor show.

The festival closes with Nocturne 5 featuring Perpetual E_Motion, co-presented and hosted by Society for Arts and Technology Tickets are $25 and there’s a lot to do. This edition will showcase the more original aspects of house music with the world premiere of Horror Inc’s new live show. Japanese house specialist, RADIQ, graces Mutek for his North American debut while Cobblestone Jazz’s Danuel Tate goes solo to promote his debut album, Mexican Hotbox.  There are tons of events to check out at the SAT, including visuals by MA and Cameron Bros.

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Guest blogger: Sophie Naima Caird

Details:

MUTEK (June 1st – 5th, 2011)

Society for Arts and Technology

1201, Boulevard Saint-Laurent

514-844-2033

Salle Pierre-Mercure

300, boulevard de Maisonneuve E

Montreal, QC H2X 3X6

(514) 987-4691

Metropolis

59, rue Sainte-Catherine East

514 844-3500

Parc Jean Drapeau

1 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

514 872-6120

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