Edition 2014

ELEKTRA & MUTEK present EM15

Celebrating our crystal anniversaries this year, and recognized as unique events within the multidisciplinary field of cutting edge contemporary digital creation, electronic music, new media and culture, Montréal's venerable digital arts festival Elektra, and electronic music and digital creativity institution MUTEK, have joined forces, synchronized dates and created one powerhouse combined event. This two-festival-in-one affair, christened EM15, runs for six jam-packed days from Tuesday May 27 until Sunday June 1, and showcases more than 100 Canadian and international artists in several new venues.

Extraordinarily this year, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal opens its esteemed spaces to act as the nerve centre and main headquarters for our festival activities. Our occupation of the MACM underlines our shared commitment to seeking out innovation in digital art and music, and taking risks in ways that only specialized, non-commercial festivals can.

Dedicated to live performance and forward-thinking visions in sound and image, EM15 promises festival-goers an expansive and multidimensional experience!

Download the program

Em15 mutek org en

Alain Lefebvre & Sonya Stefan QC / Archie Pelago US / Atheus QC / Audion US / Automatisme QC / Bataille Solaire QC / Ben Frost AU/IS / Chat Noir QC / Chris Hreno CA / Citofono QC / Dinos Chapman UK / Donato Dozzy IL / Egyptrixx CA / Elektro Guzzi AT / Fake Electronics QC / Fluxion GR / France Jobin QC / Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts CA / Harmonious Thelonious DE / Heatsick UK / Herman Kolgen QC / Holly Herndon US / Hooll QC / Intercity-Express & Synichi Yamamoto JP / Iron Galaxy QC / Jean-Sébastien Truchy & Charles Barabé QC / Jesse Osborne-Lanthier & Grischa Lichtenberger QC/DE / Jonas Reinhardt US / JTC US / Kangding Ray FR / Le Fruit Vert QC / Lee Bannon US / LL (Vertigo Inc.) QC / Lucrecia Dalt ES / Magic Mountain High DE/NL / Magnanime QC / Mantra Percussion US / Marc Houle CA / Marie Davidson QC / Markus FloatS QC / Matt Thibideau & Markus Heckmann CA / Matthew Biederman + 4X QC / Matthew Hawtin CA / Max Cooper UK / Metametric QC/FR / Mike Shanon QC / Millimetrik QC / Move D DE / Neel IT / Nicolas Bernier & Martin Messier QC / Nicolas Jaar CL/US / Nonotak FR / Ohm Hourani QC / Oneohtrix Point Never US / P.E.A. | Projet Électro-Acrylique QC / Paul Prudence UK / Pinch UK / Prison Garde QC / Processor CA / Rashad Becker DE / Ricardo Villalobos CL / Ricardo Villalobos & Max Loderbauer CL/DE / Richie Hawtin CA / Robert Henke DE / Robert Lippok DE / Sapin QC / Savan CO / Secret Pyramid CA / Segue CA / Shackleton UK / Stefan / Goldmann DE / The Durian Brothers DE / The Mole CA / Tim Hecker QC / TM404 SE / Todor Todoroff & Laura Colmenares-Guerra BE / Tom Trago NL / Velvet Glacier QC / Voices From The Lake IT / WNDFRM CA / Woulg QC / Xavier Lebuis QC / Xavier Leon QC / Yosi Horikawa JP

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Em15 mutek org en

The Crystal Interface

ELEKTRA and MUTEK have teamed up and synchronized dates to mark their 15th anniversary and created one combined event christened EM15. In this context, EM15 launched an international audiovisual creation contest inspired by the theme: “The Crystal Interface”.

The contest is now over. Our jury, composed of Patti Schmidt (MUTEK curator), Marion Carassou-Maillan (artist and MUTEK's VJ curator), Pheek (artist) and Nathalie Bachand (BIAN & Elektra) has selected 5 finalists for the public to vote on.

EM15 proudly announces Hugues Clement (89 votes) as the winner of the Jury Prize and the People’s Choice Prize. A major congratulations to this young and inspiring talent! Joining him in the list of People's Choice Prize winners are Françoise Provencher (65 votes) and Ferenc Stenton (61 votes) who will all receive awards.

PRIZES AWARDED TO THE WINNERS

To the Public Choice Prize winners:
1st Prize
Live9 Ableton software (a value of 449 CAD)
MadMapper software (a value of 462 CAD)

2nd Prize
Modul8 software (a value of 462 CAD)
• Liquid Rhythm software from WaveDNA (a value of 144 CAD)

3rd Prize
MadMapper software (a value of 462 CAD)
• Liquid Rhythm software from WaveDNA (a value of 144 CAD)

To the Jury Prize Winner:
• Modular synthesizer furnished by MOOG AUDIO (a value of 600 CAD )
Modul8 software (a value of 462 CAD)

PRIZES AWARDED TO THE 5 FINALISTS

• The broadcast of their creation on the EM15 website from May 19 to June 30, 2014
• The broadcast of their creation on screens at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, where the festival takes place from May 27 to June 2, 2014
• Liquid Rhythm Introduction software from WaveDNA (a value of 55 CAD)
• 1 EM15 t-shirt.

The Crystal Interface

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Logos The Crystal Interface

VJ Radiance
The Space Between Us

The Space Between Us Artist Statement: During 2012 and 2013 as I was travelling throughout Europe, the landscape began to speak to me. . Arriving in Tallinn, Estonia to undertake a visual arts residency at Polymer Culture Factory I noticed that the geography was very different to that of my home country Australia and I was inspired to explore it. Walking was my way to engage with the landscape and became meditative— a space for reflection. I pondered the real and imagined distances between locations and also the emotional space and proximity between people separated by geography. My walks became both physical and psychological journeys. With my camera in hand I processed my surroundings, making meaning from my experiences and engaging with the new environment. I was interested in exploring ways to document and combine performance art and actions of physical endurance with digital media and live video. The way in which people navigate the physical landscape has been greatly impacted by new technology with printed maps diminishing to be replaced by screen-based maps. Maps are powerful tools of communication which show a point of view or inspire a journey in a particular environment. As universal instruments they can guide us not only from one destination to the next but provide a unique perspective on the world, selecting information and ‘framing’ the space presenting it in scale. In this work I have used the triangle as a motif to depict the journey from one destination to the next - A to B to C. The geography of a place is mapped through personal experiences, using macro and aerial footage to represent multiple perspectives and ways of understanding In Tallinn, Estonia I felt separated from loved ones by geographical distance. Digital media such as skype, email, facebook make people feel like they are closer through creating the illusion of closeness. It enables us to connect regardless of our physical locations. However it does not replace human interaction and intimacy.

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VJ Radiance

Françoise Provencher
Figés

One instant, individual molecules are randomly floating in the solvent, invisible. The next, they self assemble into large crystals, luminous forms emerging from the dark void. This audiovisual work captures the sense of wonder one has upon looking through a microscope, a witness to this crucial moment between nothingness and being. It bridges the artist's multifaceted occupations : physicist, electroacoustic composer and DIY filmmaker. This work is situated at the interface of nano-science and contemporary art, as it presents images of crystallizing self-assembling molecules used in cutting-edge organic electronics applications. The spectacular birth of these organized structures is captured in real-time by a camera affixed to a cross-polarized microscope. The music aims to make the crystallization phenomenon larger than life. This work is constantly sublimating the objects to see or the phenomena to hear to make them tumble into another dimension, less purely acoustic and more musical, more poetic.

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Figes

Anne-Sophie Mongeau
Crystalline Space

Crystalline Space tente de représenter l'espace en son et en images. La texture cristalline des structures présentées dans cette vidéomusique permet de mettre en valeur la profondeur ainsi que l'espace occupé par l'objet dans un unviers en trois dimensions, du point de vue tant de la hauteur, de la largeur, que de la profondeur et même de son évoution au cours du temps. La musique a été composée en programmation en langage Python, de façon à intégrer une part d'aléatoire dans l'évolution des paysages sonores, grâce à différents types d'algorithmes.

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Crystalline Space

Hugues Clément
Gleam

Coexistence entre formes/mouvements organiques et interventions graphiques, le tout connecté au son. Inspiration provenant des cavernes et cristaux.

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GLEAM

Ferenc Stenton
Refraction Interface

Created solely with the use of practical in-camera effects, such as audio driven projections as the light source and broken prisms, "Refraction Interface" creates a foreign world where scale and depth are impossible to calculate.

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Refraction Interface