For a time, the organizers of MUTEK Montréal questioned whether the COVID-19 crisis would prevent their 2020 event from taking place at all. The digital art and music festival will indeed move forward from September 8th-13th – although not entirely as planned.
Borrowing elements of the MUTEK.SF digital makeup event, NEXUS Experience, MUTEK Montréal will consist of a partly online and partly in-person event. The travel ban imposed by Canadian authorities last month means that only local artists and musicians such as Maarten Vos, Poirier, Softcoresoft and Artexte have been billed for the gathering. The performances will take place at Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts and the SAT’s SATosphère.
Meanwhile, live streams from the flagship event as well as those of satellite editions in Argentina, France, Japan, Mexico, and other countries will be available through a virtual experience.
As August drew to a close, so too did an event ban that categorically forbid all large gatherings in Quebec. MUTEK Montréal will offer a case study of sorts in how events can be held responsibly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“All festivals everywhere on the planet are asking themselves what to do,” said Mutek Director Alain Mongeau, reported the Montreal Gazette. “Just doing something is an achievement in itself.”
More information is available on the MUTEK Montréal website.
Image credit: Bruno Destombes for MUTEK
