The
Meeting Point
Montreal
2017 marks an auspicious year of anniversaries whirling around this edition of MUTEK.
Canada’s preeminent hub of electronic music and digital creativity has grown up and turns 18, taking the occasion to change its dates, expand its program by a day and refresh its commitment to live performance at the intersection of music, visual art and technology.
In parallel, Canada celebrates its 150th year, Montréal its 375th and Expo 67 the city’s futuristic beacon of innovation, commemorates its 50th; all elements that will form the backbone of this
year’s festival.
The fundamental DNA of the festival will continue to express values of discovery, revelation and community, emphasizing premieres exclusive appearances and artistic ingenuity in felds of creation that continue to mutate and amaze.
Venues Now situated in the beating heart of the late summer, MUTEK expands its free outdoor offerings on the Esplanade de la Place des Arts from Tuesday to Sunday. This edition’s playground will also include the Monument-National as festival headquarters, the Métropolis for a full slate of diverse and big room programming, and the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), the destination for more intimate, cuttingedge works, including events in the dome of the Satosphere..
The
Artists
The 18th edition of MUTEK taking place from August 22-27 in Montréal is finally all dressed up and ready to go.
MUTEK opens the Métropolis on Wednesday night with an exclusive, multi-hour set starring Daphni – the edits, experimental house and afro-funk solo project of Dan Snaith from Caribou.
The sole artist in the room all night, he will conduct the evening from a centre perch on the foor with custom scenography, where he can cast an epic spell with his refned sense of pace and drama
International newcomers this year arrive from all corners of the planet. From Ecuador, Nicola Cruz and his mix of indigenous folk and electrifed cumbia makes his debut in Canada, as does young Australian, souljazz-funk-house keyboard player and producer Harvey Sutherland. From Japan, the festival welcomes veteran producer Kuniyuki Takahashi, also know as Koss, whose formidable discography spans delicate string and piano works, complex and elegant jazz infuenced house, long form improv and techno — and the critically acclaimed downtempo, vintage African infuenced producer Anchorsong, whose live reputation precedes him in the UK where he has been based. German duo AFRICAINE 808 featuring Dirk Leyers ex Closer Musik bring their deferential, globetrotting, polyrhythmic electronic creations and sweaty live show to the festival. In a more experimental vein, British artist Graham Dunning performs his “mechanical techno” using vinyl, turntables and all sorts of other inventive hackery.
And not to forget as part of the official program marking Montréal’s 375th anniversary,four days of programming are dedicated to the cultural metropoles of London,Mexico City, Barcelona and Berlin, exploring the links between Montréal and these capitals. Each city focus includes daytime conferences, a free outdoor stage and evening performances at the SAT.
Inter_Connect London offers a flurry of artist object interactions with hacked vinyl visual animations by Sculpture, spinning luminescent tops by Myriam Bleau and the mechano turntablism of Graham& Dunning. The night concludes with a set of spastic,hand drawn grooves by Mark Fell’s Sensate Focus project.
Inter_Connect México on August 24 presents the subversive edges of Mexico City’s DJ culture with the community cultivating artists of NAAFI as they push peripheral rhythms of techno, hip hop and pop to their musical, cultural and political breaking points.
Avant-Garde artists will invade the city with their amazing work.
Bambooman UK / Beatrice Dillon UK / Ben Shemie CA / BSCLxGroj CA / buffalo MRI CA /
Christian Olsen CA / Dis Fig US / ESB CA / Flandez CA / Forage CA / gonima CA / Helm UK / Imaginary Landscape CA / Jonathan Kawchuk CA / LoticUS Moma CA / N.M.O. ES-NO / Ouri CA Pelada CA / Racine & Wolski CA / Reginald Omas Mamode IV UK / OSBCA Revlux™CA
Sarah Farina DE / Shit & Shine UK-US / Shiva Feshareki UK / Stereo _IMG CA / Teo Zamudio CA Toboggan CA / Tokiomi CA-JP / Valeda CA / You’re Me Band CA and many more.
The
Venues
Venues Now situated in the beating heart of the late summer, MUTEK expands its free outdoor offerings on the Esplanade de la Place des Arts from Tuesday to Sunday. This edition’s playground will also include the Monument-National as festival headquarters, the Métropolis for a full slate of diverse and big room programming, and the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT), the destination for more intimate, cuttingedge works, including events in the dome of the Satosphere.
Red Bull Music Academy x MUTEK Red Bull Music Academy returns as a partner for two major nights on Thursday and Friday at Métropolis. Taking a cue from their Drone Activity in Progress event held last year while the Academy was in Montréal, Thursday night promises serious doses of drone and heaviosity with the full spectrum overtones of Sarah Davachi, claustrophobic atmospheres and grid-resistant rhythm from Fis, with more masterful and dangerous sound designers and noiseniks to be added. As has become Friday night tradition, the program fexes its contemporary techno muscle with live sets that highlight the vivid and transportive power of the form. Already, two RBMA alumni will command the stage: a well road-tested, solo live set from Montréaler Marie Davidson, who’s returning from a serious year of touring — and a hallucinatory unfolding from Aurora Halal that will oscillate between the visceral and blissful. This is only the frst hint at this program with much more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Saturday night at Metropolis The Saturday all-nighter running until dawn at Métropolis is a carefully orchestrated reverie of long-form grooviness and a kind of crescendo point in the trajectory of the festival. Trippy French producer rRoxymore makes her live debut in Montréal, while an exclusive, rare visit from Perlon label head, Panorama Bar resident and notorious DJ, Zip will drive the crowd until lights up.
A/Visions MUTEK’s signature program of performative audiovisual works, taking place in the immaculate theatre setting of the Monument-National once again puts the emphasis on extraordinary, precedent-setting artistic practices. This year exalts projects from several high-ranking wizards in this mercurial and magical milieu. Artist-engineer-mad scientist Robert Henke brings the third iteration of his Lumière performance to the festival, an always evolving build on his unique audiovisual language – articulating the poetic and affecting correlations between data, frequencies and lasers to dazzling and three-dimensional effect. Montréaler Herman Kolgen, himself always inventing new forms of dramatic and conceptual A/V, launches his latest Impakt — inspired by a personal accident, it plays with notions of vulnerability and reactions to shock, using ballistics, virtual projectiles and data. Montréal collective artifciel deliver two different world premieres this year. A commission for MUTEK, Alexandre Burton & Julien Roy unveil their brand new, souped-up, extreme real-time, audiovisual instrument with Three Pieces With Titles. Scenographer Jimmy Lakatos marries his elegant, refective laser forms with new and original music by Mexican composer Murcof in a piece called Nebula. This year the festival welcomes Michela Pelusio & Glenn Vervliet for a mesmerizing performance of their hel.
