We are the robots! 2017 ELEKTRA Festival – 18th edition

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We are the robots!

2017 ELEKTRA Festival – 18th edition

Starting June 28, 2017

First artists announced

Montreal, May 2, 2017 – Written in 1978 by the popular German group Kraftwerk, the words “we are the robots” are prophe-tic of our era of day-to-day control and surveillance, where major corporations know more about us than we know about our-selves, where machines are filled with data to make them more intelligent than humans, and where automation announces an uncertain future for many social groups.

At the same time, staggering possibilities are being created in which human beings need to become one with technology and in which visionaries such as Elon Musk create companies like Neuralink to merge the brain with artificial intelligence.

This is the backdrop against which ELEKTRA continues its AUTOMATA trilogy in 2017 and 2018, this time with the theme THE BIG DATA SPECTACLE.

The first edition of AUTOMATA explored the creative capacity of machines (for a possible audience of machines), while the 2017 edition looks at the promises kept by major advances in fields of artificial intelligence, particularly machine learning, data mining and human-machine hybrids, notably in art.

INFERNO – A participative robot performance

Usine C – June 28-29, 2017

«The danger is that man could actually be transformed into an unfeeling machine.» George Orwell, 1984

“With Inferno, we try to bring the machine as close as possible to the spectator’s body, to create an almost intimate connection between the two.” Louis-Philippe Demers

Opening the festival on June 28 and 29, after a resounding success in 2016, ELEKTRA presents the incredible performance INFERNO by artists Louis-Philippe Demers and Bill Vorn. INFERNO is a participative robot piece where spectators don exos-keletons and become actors in the performance.

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On the heels of a world tour, and before going back on tour in Europe and South America, this show offers 49 audience members a chance to enjoy a unique experience in which their bodies are controlled by the artists, creating improbable choreographies, synchronized with music and light.

“INFERNO is a unique experience.” Digitalarti

Discover the video of performance here

IInverso Mundus – An immersive video installation

Cinémathèque québécoise – June 29 to August 20, 2017

As a second pièce de résistance and a Canadian premiere, ELEKTRA will present, in coproduction with the Cinémathèque québécoise, the panoramic video installation Inverso Mundus by the Russian collective AES+F. Shown at the Venice Biennale in 2015, the piece was etched in viewers’ minds with its absurd interpretation of the medieval carnival in the contemporary world. Inverso Mundus presents emotionless humans, verging on humanoid, living in social utopias like zom-bies.

Stay tuned for the complete program from June 28 to August 20.

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11th International Marketplace for Digital Art (IMDA)

Cinémathèque québécoise – June 28-29, 2017, afternoons

Alongside the ELEKTRA festival, the 11th edition of the International Marketplace for Digital Art takes place June 28 to 29 during two afternoons, once again this year at the Cinémathèque québécoise.

In 10 years, the Market has become the most prominent platform for local digital artists to take their work around the wor-ld. The Market generates significant cultural and financial spinoffs, with many pieces having been presented beyond our borders since 2006. The Market has also been an opportunity for major players from the international digital art scene to form ties. The presentations that take place at the Market are a unique opportunity to discover local creations and internatio-nal programming. The Market has two main streams of presentations: local artists, collectives and organizations showcase pieces they wish to present abroad to international players, and international organizations (producers, presenters, curators, gallerists and journalists) provide an overview of their activities and programming priorities.

Satellite activities

Écosystèmes numériques #Data Montreal educational project Performance/architectural projection

Eastern Bloc – the afternoon of June 3, 2017

On June 3, a performance resulting from the educational activity, Écosystème numérique #Data Montréal – directed by Mickaël Lafontaine, with guest artist Herman Kolgen – will return to Eastern Bloc. This activity falls under the theme of the second edition of AUTOMATA, and the presentation is the result of a series of workshops that introduced students to data mining and techniques for interpreting and visualizing that data. During the performance, the students will create maps of their city. These maps will offer a unique perspective on the city from the encounter between open data from the city and the students’ digital explorations.

Networking activity and conference

#intersections – Montreal Printemps numérique

June 6 at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

In partnership with Montreal Printemps Numérique, ELEKTRA will present at Shaughnessy House installations by emer - ging Montreal artists Adam Basanta, Maxime Damecour and Lucien Page. Initiated by Montreal Printemps Numérique, this networking platform to develop digital creations in Montreal is in its third edition and has brought together members from a range of business sectors that gravitate around digital technology. #intersections is a unique opportunity to reach a new audience that is curious about the creative possibilities of recent technologies made available to artists.

With THE BIG DATA SPECTACLE, the 18th edition of the ELEKTRA festival will look at the role of art and artists in processes and methods that use statistical and deep learning techniques. Data mining and analysis have become essential techniques for businesses to gain a competitive advantage, but they require exponential growth in the capacity of hardware and software technology for analyzing and managing this information. Artists also find avenues for exploration and creativity in these technologies and techniques of control.

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Useful links

Website

Facebook event :

FESTIVAL ELEKTRA 2017

MARCHÉ INTERNATIONAL D’ART NUMÉRIQUE - MIAN 2017

Contact : RUGICOMM

Valérie Grig : valerie@rugicomm.ca

Justine A.-Lebrun : justine@rugicomm.ca

+1 514 759-0494

www.rugicomm.ca

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Acknowledgements:

ELEKTRA would like to thank its partners who make an invaluable contribution to its activities.

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A selection of unique pieces and a large-scale performance

for the 18th edition of the ELEKTRA Festival

June 28 and 29

Complete programming released!

Montréal, June 3, 2017 — The ELEKTRA Festival releases the complete programming for its 18th edition. ELEKTRA will once again delight Montréal with programming brimming with exhibitions, installations and a participative, immersive perfor-mance.

With the theme THE BIG DATA SPECTACLE, this year’s local and international artists explore phenomena emerging from digital technology that affect our social reality, specifically machine learning and data mining, and the use hybrid human-ma-chine devices make of it.

Festival opens June 27

This year the festival will kick off on June 27 at 7 p.m. at Société des arts technologiques – SAT with an immersive pro-jection in the SATosphere, TIM, by Nicolas Noël Jodoin, Joël-Aimé Beauchamp and Marussia Lamy. Audiences will be plunged into tim’s inner world and accompany him in his fall through the dream-like scenery of his world. An imposing space where temporal relations are expressed through powerful, magnificent images accompanied by a gripping soundscape.

Performance and exhibition at Usine C, June 28 and 29, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.: Local and international programming. Local programming

For the 18th edition, ELEKTRA presents incredible programming comprised of robotic performances including INFER-NO, by Louis-Philippe Demers and Bill Vorn. On the heels of its resounding 2016 success in North America and Europe, INFERNO will be the highlight of the 18th edition, presented June 28 and 29 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. This singular performance gives 49 people per evening the chance to enjoy a unique experience in which their bodies are controlled by machines, to the rhythm of electronic music and lights.

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Discover the video of performance here

ELEKTRA audiences can also discover the young Québec artist Adam Basanta and his interactive piece A Truly Magical Moment. Through this piece, Adam Basanta “twists and contorts codes to create a crack in our understanding of technology and its place in our lives.” Adam Basanta explores surprising aspects of the media landscape that surrounds us. This inte-ractive piece takes a humorous look at the hyper-connectivity of the 21st century and the resulting disconnection.

The duo Purform, made up of Yan Breuleux and Alain Thibault, presents Enigma, an audiovisual installation based on the transposition of ideas of encryption in a poetic exploration of the thinking of Alan Turing. The project stages a multiplicity of forms of coding of visual and sound information. Enigma explores issues of artificial intelligence, deep learning, digital identity and systemic modelling.

International programming

International artists will also be showcased on June 28 and 29, presenting a range of inspired digital art productions. Ja-panese artist Norimichi Hirakawa (JP) will be featured with his large-scale audiovisual installation The Indivisible (Proto-type No.1). The observer is immersed in a digital process that creates a constant, rapid stream of pixels and sound interfe-rence. Hirakawa uses this to build a tangible, albeit overpowering, demonstration of data and algorithmic process.

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Jaehyuck Bae and Junbong Song (KR) join us from South Korea with their piece Light Wave. Light Wave is a lumino kinetic installation that produces optical illusions through a matrix of LEDs in movement. Spectators experience different perceptions of space from this ingenious motorized light device.

And, finally, audiences will have the chance to discover the robotic installation Chair Walker 2.0 by Korean artist YoungKak Cho (KR). YoungKak Cho transforms everyday chairs, applying robotic mechanisms to them to eliminate their primary func-tion. When the robot’s sensors intercept an obstacle or a subject, the chairs move away from it, avoiding the human-machine interaction. The piece looks at behaviour, social interaction and intimacy.

For two days, Usine C will move to the rhythm of ELEKTRA, featuring innovative artists exploring creations of today and tomorrow.

Inverso Mundus – immersive video installation

Cinémathèque québécoise – June 29 to August 20, 2017

A Canadian premiere: June 29 at 5:30 p.m. the opening will take place for the piece Inverso Mundus by the Russian col-lective AES+F, which will be exhibited free at the Cinémathèque québécoise until August 20. AES+F is a well-known group of artists, whose pieces are featured in Centre Pompidou collections.

A 38-minute surreal digital show: multi-channel video creates a long image inspired by medieval engravings that presented absurd situations which, at the time, where used as a basis for the creations of Jérôme Bosch. The artists transposed amu-sing and tragic scenes from our times, presenting them with their usual surreal signature set to classical music.