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.
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.
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 Mechanic Encounters, a student-led exhibition challenging utilitarian views of AI.
Under the leadership of 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.
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.
