Where do Art and Technology Meet? Discovering the MUTEK Festival at La Société des Arts Technologiques

In an age when the line between the actual and the virtual is rapidly dissolving, how and where do we locate ourselves as consumers of visual and digital culture? How does art play a role in the constant integration of our private and public lives? What are the consequences of the ever-expanding technology in how our world increasingly views itself? Through a series of gallery visits, artist talks and group discussions, invited artists and curators will illustrate the relationships between images, sounds, and technologies of contemporary culture and the complexities of our ubiquitous digital landscape.

Thursday June 7, 2012
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Discovering the MUTEK Festival at La Société des Arts Technologiques, 1201 St Laurent
This session is co-presented by La Société des Arts Technologiques
Price: $34.00 - The price listed is for each session. There is a 10% discount if you sign up for both sessions.
Current McGill students and McGill alumni will receive a 20% discount off the session fee. Current McGill staff will receive a 50% discount off the session fee.

MUTEK is an annual international festival dedicated to the dissemination and development of digital creativity in sound, music, and audio-visual art. MUTEK’s programming intends to create a sonic space that can support innovation in new electronic music and digital art. Each year, the festival’s programming includes a public component, with a range of activities happening out of doors, usually in or near the Quartier des Spectacles. As a site of contention within the arts community, the Quartier des Spectacles has created a polarity in Montreal’s cultural offerings. By focusing on MUTEK’s engagement with the Quartier des Spectacles (the festival, while embracing their geographical location, still aims to be critical of the role QdeS plays in the Montreal arts scene), we will explore the veritable connections between art and the public domain, and how these connections can go right or wrong.
Facilitator

Eliane Ellbogen is a Montreal-based curator and Artistic Director of Eastern Bloc, a New Media production and exhibition centre, which she co-founded in 2007. After completing a BA in Art History at McGill University, she involved herself in the local art community as an independent curator, arts administrator and festival organizer. She has collaborated internationally and locally in the organization of Eastern Bloc’s annual audio/visual festival, Sight & Sound, and in recent years has co-curated the monthly Data : Salon series and other exhibits including Faux Lab, The Empty City, Département des Nuisances Publiques, and Clash.