This summer, Milieux will once again pulse to the rhythm of the MUTEK festival.
Earlier this week, the festival unveiled the program for its Forum, “a platform and gathering for bolds ideas.” From August 20 to August 22, the Forum will invite over 100 creators to reflect on this year’s theme: Radical Rituals.
This edition invites bold perspectives on navigating rapid technological change and socio-political instability. The Forum will unfold over three acts—Storytelling, Technology, and Practices—offering distinct entry points into the rituals of digital creation and guiding participants through evolving modes of inquiry, expression, and transformation.
This year, Milieux Institute will play a significant role in the Forum’s programming.
The Village Numérique Returns!
From August 14 to 28, the Quartier des Spectacles will host an urban art circuit dedicated to digital arts. This year, Hexagram will present “Intimate Territories: Reappropriation Through Research-Creation”, an all-female exhibition highlight the talent of the Hexagram Network. Presented at the Chaufferie du Coeur des Sciences, the exhibition showcases ChamberS by Jihen Chikha, CLTRS by Laureline Chiapello and Por acaso se acaba el mundo todo el sol he de aprovechar by LePARC’s Sabina Gámez Ibarra.
Por si acaso se acaba el mundo todo el sol he de aprovechar (2023) is a multimedia installation that explores our emotional and ancestral connection to the Sun through solargraphs, maps, and video. Coming from Colombia, where sunlight is a constant presence, the artist experienced a stark contrast upon arriving in Canada, where long, dark seasons shaped a new sense of absence and longing. This work emerges from a desire to hold on to the Sun, not just as light or heat, but as a guide, a memory, a vital force.
The installation embraces circular forms to evoke time as a cycle, not a straight line. Inspired by ancient solar rituals, the artist reimagines the Sun as a compass, one that helps navigate not only space, but emotion and identity in uncertain times.
At the center of the installation, four solargraphs aligned with the cardinal directions track the Sun’s journey. In front of each projection, circular fabrics symbolizing the seasons reflect and release the Sun’s imprint, embodying the artist’s effort to preserve its presence. Visitors are invited to move through the space, to weave between layers, and to find their own orientation, a poetic path back to the Sun as source, memory, and hope.
This third iteration will also invite the public to participate in the conversation through panels, hands-on workshops, demonstrations of AI tools and networking activities.
🗓 August 14-28, 2025
🕒 6-11 PM
📍Chaufferie, Coeur des sciences UQAM
Leading up to the Forum: The ArtIA Symposium
Preceding the MUTEK Forum, the ArtIA Symposium will be held on August 19 at Espace SAT. As part of the Art AI Project, an initiative dedicated to researching and exploring the impacts of AI on the artistic sector, the symposium convenes key players of the cultural scene to envision “an alternative future that is both ethical and creative—where AI becomes a common good at the service of culture”.
Developed in partnership with Sporobole, SAT and Projet Collectif, the ArtIA Symposium will gather professionals, artists and researchers to discuss inspiring projects, tools, and perspectives emerging at the intersection of art, science, and collective commitment.
This third iteration will also invite the public to participate in the conversation through panels, hands-on workshops, demonstrations of AI tools and networking activities.
🗓 August 19, 2025
🕒 10-5:30 PM
📍SAT
Milieux’s Contributions to MUTEK Forum 2025
The Institute is one of the leading institutions collaborating in the MUTEK AI Ecologies Lab, an “interdisciplinary residency fostering innovative and sustainable approaches to the cultural sector”. Launched in April in collaboration with the Applied AI institute, the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) and Abundant Intelligences, this new initiative helps artists co-develop tools and methodologies that explore a more sustainable future for digital arts. Earlier this month, Milieux hosted the artist cohort, inviting them to engage in a series of activities centered on creative AI and sustainability and introducing them to the Machine Agencies research group. The first day of the Forum will conclude with a public showcase of the MUTEK AI Ecologies Lab.
🗓 August 20, 2025
🕒 10-6 PM
📍Quartier des Spectacles
The second day of the Forum will focus on technologies and their impact on reshaping creative expression across disciplines. Indigenous Futures (IFRC) affiliate member Suzanne Kite will present work from the Wíhanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI as part of the Abundant Intelligences program, sharing projects that translate Lakȟóta epistemologies into responsive artworks. She will also perform an excerpt from Wičhíŋčala Sákowin, a cosmological soundwork rooted in Indigenous story, stars, and ceremony.
Supported by Milieux, the Applied AI Institute, and the Hexagram Network, Machine Agencies will present Machinic Encounters, a student-led exhibition challenging utilitarian views of AI.
Curated by postdoctoral researcher and IFRC member Ceyda Yolgörmez, the second cohort of the GenAI Studio will present the result of their four-month residency, exploring the poetic potential of human-machine collaboration.
🗓 August 21, 2025
🕒 12-5 PM
📍Studio Hydro-Quebec, Monument National
Day 2 will also feature Orange Pekoe, a video game created by IFRC member and SKINS Workshop coordinator Vanessa Racine, and winner the New Artist in Digital + Interactive Award at the imageNATIVE festival.
Finally, Abundant Intelligences will present Computational Witchcraft Sleepover, a queer-feminist ritual blending games, digital altars, data magic and collective storytelling in a playful workshop. Participants willexplore alternative forms of machinic intimacy and connection—between humans, algorithms, and the unseen.
Radical Rituals in the Feminine Panel
On Saturday August 23rd, Hexagram and the Village Numérique will shine the spotlight on the three artists featured in the “Intimate Territories: Reappropriation Through Research-Creation” exhibition.
Artists Jihen BenChikha, Laureline Chiapello, and Sabina Gámez Ibarra will present their work, followed by a panel moderated by researcher Oriane Morriet. The discussion will explore how the MUTEK Forum’s theme resonates with their artistic practices.
🗓 August 23, 2025
🕒 3-5 PM
📍Agora Coeur des Sciences
