La Nuit des idées de Montréal

Name: La Nuit des idées de Montréal
Start: 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z
Location: Other

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The Consulate General of France in Quebec and the SAT present La Nuit des idées de Montréal : Une nuit en forêt, an evening of art and science designed to encourage reflection on the imagination and the future of our forests.

At a time of climate upheaval, this event will invite participants to immerse themselves in forest ecosystems as night falls, and to explore how science, philosophy, culture, the visual arts and literature enable us to rediscover them in order to better preserve and pass them on.

The evening will take place from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm and will feature several highlights:

The screening of a documentary filmed in France by students from Concordia University;
A roundtable discussion, hosted by Wendy MBOG (Concordia University), bringing together experts from France, Quebec and First Nations;
A screening of immersive short films (Mystic Vale and Metaract) and reading of literary texts in the dome.

La Nuit des idées is an annual event organized by the Institut français and the network for cultural cooperation and action since 2016. Dedicated to the exchange of ideas, it takes place every year in over a hundred countries, centred on a common theme. This year, under the theme ‘Paving the Way’, young people and emerging voices take centre stage at this 11th edition.

La Nuit des idées de Montréal kicks off a series of events that will take place throughout the autumn across Canada.

Speakers and artists

Panelist for the “Une Nuit en forêt” roundtable

Marion Waller

Currently Director General of the Pavillon de l’Arsenal—the architecture and urban planning center for Paris and the Greater Paris metropolitan area—Marion Waller combines her research in urban planning and environmental philosophy with her political engagement at the municipal level. As a member of former Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s cabinet, she oversaw issues related to architecture, public space, and funerary policy, a role that led her to publish Redonner une place à nos morts in 2024. She also worked on urban planning and Greater Paris issues alongside Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Missika at Paris City Hall. In parallel with her political activities and advocacy within the Socialist Party, she conducted research on ecological restoration, culminating in the publication of her essay Artefacts naturels.

Panelist for the “Une Nuit en forêt” roundtable

Hugo Asselin

Full Professor at the School of Indigenous Studies at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), Hugo Asselin’s research focuses primarily on ecology and Indigenous issues. His work has notably explored boreal forest regeneration, in collaboration with several First Nations communities. He leads UQAT’s customized graduate programs in Indigenous Studies, as well as the Observatoire de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the Observatoire de la Baie-James. He also holds the Desjardins Chair in Small Communities Development, a role that reflects his involvement with organizations dedicated to the economic and political sustainability of rural communities. An expert on the impacts of natural resource extraction industries, including forestry and mining, on Indigenous communities, he is co-holder of the Research Chair in Indigenous Science Diplomacy and works to support the environmental well-being of the communities with which he collaborates.

Panelist for the “Une Nuit en forêt” roundtable

Éliane Grant

A Visiting Professor at the School of Indigenous Studies at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and Director of the Natural Resources Department of the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, she specializes in territorial development in Indigenous contexts. She teaches courses on forestry, mining and energy development, as well as Indigenous relationships with the land. As a wildlife biologist, her research focuses on land disturbances affecting cultural practices and wildlife species of importance to the Eeyouch (Cree). She is committed to bringing together traditional knowledge and scientific approaches, while working closely with Cree communities on a range of wildlife and environmental projects, strengthening the connection between science and Indigenous culture.

Visual artist

Manami Sakamoto

Manami Sakamoto is a Tokyo-based visual artist creating immersive experiences at the intersection of sound, image, and light. As a VJ, she has performed at major festivals including Junction 2, Awakenings, Kappa FuturFestival, and Rainbow Disco Club, and is a resident artist at WOMB Tokyo. Her A/V works have been presented at MUTEK Montréal, MUTEK.JP, New Forms Festival, and ACT Festival. In 2023, she premiered her first immersive dome work, Metaract, at the SAT in Montréal, which later toured more than ten cities worldwide. Her practice spans A/V performance, installation, stage design, and collaborations with global brands including Prada, Nike, Calvin Klein, and Shiseido.

See her website

Multimedia artist

Yuri Urano

Yuri Urano is a Japanese artist based in Osaka, exploring sound’s vast possibilities and crafting new soundscapes through her unique approach. Her early works focused on emotionally charged techno, marked by her performance at Prada Extends Tokyo in 2022. More recently, she has ventured into ambient compositions and soundscape design, including AURA, a spatial audio project by Kalkul. In 2023, she co-created the immersive film project Metact with Manami Sakamoto during the SAT residency, premiering at Mutek Montreal. Beyond recorded releases, her work extends to collaborations in audiovisual projects, installations, and live performances. With a deep belief in music’s power, Yuri continues to push boundaries, captivate audiences, and shape a brighter future.

See her website

Multimedia artist

Allison Moore

Allison Moore is a new media artist working in immersive cinema and based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal and holds an MFA in film from Concordia University. Her work has been programmed at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, le Grand théâtre du Québec, Society of Art and Technology (Montreal), Ars Electronica, Tokyo Arts and Space, MUTEK and ISEA. Her recent projects involve thematic inspirations of storytelling narratives in digital arts, video-mapping landscapes and architecture, Fulldome, site-specific public art and performance. Moore's works reinterpret and rebuild the world as a metaphoric landscape in which sensitive beings are in synergy with their allegorical macrocosm. Moore works as a freelance editor, compositor and animator and is currently part-time faculty at the school of cinema at Concordia University.

See her website

Schedule

September 23, 2026 - September 23, 2026
Roundtable + Immersive Exprience

Espace SAT + Satosphere

6:30PM to 10PM

Public

18 +

Immersive short films

Metaract (Manami Sakamoto and Yuri Urano)

Metaract is an exploration of the duality between analog and digital. The artists’ quest for meaning is revealed through the use of natural environments, employed as textures, colors and sounds in their creation, juxtaposed with digital elements. The film features superimpositions of artificial sounds and fragments created using 3DCG (three-dimensional imaging) technology, intensifying the narrative composition. This artistic elaboration could not be achieved through the use of machines alone, but requires the combination of real and virtual world phenomena. With Metaract, Sakamoto and Urano hope to stimulate the public’s imagination and raise awareness of the joys of living in this “coexisting world”.

Mystic Vale (Allison Moore)

Mystic Vale is a forested ravine on Vancouver Island, where the artist grew up. For the past 8 years the artist used photogrammetry techniques to capture the forest environments as a way to document and archive the Douglas fir ecosystem. The photos are processed using triangulation to generate 3D models, which are then reconstructed into virtual environments for animation. The viewer is submerged into a mossy lush temperate rainforest. Original sound composition features field recordings of the forest designed by Arthur Desmarteaux.