MUTEK moves at the SAT!

MUTEK and the Society of Arts and Technology [SAT] are pleased to announce a new partnership that will redefine the face and the presence of digital creation at the heart of the Quartier des spectacles.

MUTEK and the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT] are pleased to announce a new association that will redefine the face and presence of the digital arts in the heart of Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. Taking shape immediately, this budding relationship between the two organizations has been set into motion with the relocation of the MUTEK team and offices into a permanent space at the recently renovated and expanded SAT. A veritable center of experimentation housing new studios dedicated to artist residencies, two multi-functional performance spaces, a permanent 360-degree immersive theatre, and a culinary research lab, the new and revitalized SAT is ready to host MUTEK as a privileged partner in the development, distribution and curation of the digital arts.

By inviting MUTEK to join in the development of its new infrastructure, the SAT has reaffirmed its goal to guide the growth of digital culture in Montreal. The SAT, with its new building, has realized a vision first elaborated in 2005: the creation of an urban hub capable of housing a multi-faceted network of individuals and organizations involved in the high-quality creation, production, and dissemination of the digital arts. Meanwhile MUTEK, a recipient of the 25th Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal, is already recognized as a global leader among digital-arts and electronic-music festivals. The festival organization will provide valuable expertise in the areas of international dissemination and curation.

The beginning of a new era

With both organizations still moving forward with their own respective visions and independent mandates, this unique alliance poses many opportunities for MUTEK and SAT to undertake new initiatives at both the local and international levels. For Alain Mongeau and Monique Savoie, who co-directed the 6th International Symposium of the Electronic Arts – ISEA95 Montreal – before founding the SAT together in 1996, this strategic alignment comes as a logical and natural extension of both their organizations’ trajectories :

« By moving to the SAT, we touch down in a context ripe with enormous possibilities and open to all sorts of new perspectives. This new identity-enhancing location permits MUTEK to anchor its development and to manage its international network in a new and sustainable manner. Our ideal is put our resources and know-how to common use in order to cultivate a strong and unprecedented environment for digital creation in Montreal, and to continue our role as key players in maintaining the city’s position in this field internationally »
-Alain Mongeau, MUTEK’s General and Artistic Director

« Through this association, MUTEK and SAT are going to be building a strong center for digital culture. Once a new generation of digital practitioners actively redefines its approach to the use of global networks, we must construct these new centers of creative communication to connect the national and international spheres. To this end, SAT offers a collectivist infrastructure, one where cross-sectional exchanges between artistic, scientific and technological enclaves can evolve the dynamic of participation that will consolidate Montreal’s leadership as a creative and innovative metropolis in the digital domain. »
-Monique Savoie, SAT’s President and Artistic Director

It’s the beginning of a new era! Together, MUTEK and SAT will become a formidable duo that will no doubt alter and strengthen the environment in which digital creation thrives. Just as the SAT will furnish the setting and stimulation necessary to develop new alliances on an annual basis, the twelfth edition of the MUTEK festival will serve as the international housewarming for the new SAT: from June 1st to the 5th, 2011, artists from around the world will join festivalgoers, researchers, and industry in converging upon Montreal for this essential rendezvous. On its side, SAT will be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year.