The health and economic crisis that swept through the world this spring forced many events to change their schedule and format.
In this context, the members of Culture Montréal’s Digital Montréal Standing Committee have come together for joint programming that highlights the abundance of events showcasing digital arts and creativity. For the first time, there will be over a dozen events in fall 2020 organized by Montréal’s digital creativity ecosystem. Despite the upheaval, they have worked together to re-imagine everything and offer the world an exceptional display of works, projects and talent.
The world is watching Montréal (virtually)
Almost 120,000 participants and 1,000 speakers from all over the world will come together in the coming months to celebrate and showcase Montréal’s excellence in digital creativity. For example, in September, the PHI Centre will be one of 14 satellite locations across the globe and the only cultural venue in Canada to host Venice VR Expanded, the virtual reality section of the Venice Biennale, which will be presented as part of the Venice Mostra (the 77th edition of the Venice International Film Festival). In November, HUB Montréal will bring together major players in the industry both virtually and in person at an international marketplace for digital creativity companies in the entertainment, culture and experiential marketing fields. Various companies and institutions, such as Paris Musées and MEET Digital Culture Center, and representatives from Paris, New York, Silicon Valley and Israel will participate in order to discover local creators and build business relationships.
Innovation at the heart of the events
Regardless of the themes addressed and the formats chosen, these events have been re-imagined in record time to meet the expectations of a loyal audience. New platforms and hybrid methods have been created to enable the audience to gather and connect despite the current constraints. For the MUTEK Festival, real-time audiovisual performances will take place every evening in front of an audience at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) or at Cinquième Salle (Place des Arts) as well as being broadcast on a new virtual platform designed by the agency Folklore, with the goal of promoting accessibility for all, at all times, throughout the world. Similarly, MTL connect: Montréal Digital Week will be 100% virtual and online. This year, the 26th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA2020) will be part of the Creativity Pavilion’s programming.
Event schedules available now
As the cultural scene begins to recover, these completely redesigned events are proof of the vitality and ingenuity of digital arts and creativity in Montréal. The complete event schedules are now available here and on the Digital Experiences Producers Association’s (Xn Quebec) website. A media kit for each event is available here.
