Discover our first three XR artworks
As a festival presenting cutting-edge audiovisual performances — works that innovate to create a new language of sound and images — we have always strived to accompany artists across new boundaries of technology. 2022 opens up a new chapter for MUTEK, marking our first steps as an Extended Reality (XR) content producer. Five artists have stepped up to the challenge of reinventing a past festival performance into an XR artwork. The result is an eclectic yet coherent set of three different XR projects ranging from contemplative to surreal to dynamic: Entanglement XR by France Jobin & Markus Heckmann, House of Moiré by Chloe Alexandra Thompson & Matthew Edwards (aesthetic.stalemate), and Immortelle by Line Katcho
Published by MUTEK on several online content stores, starting with Steam, the Immersive Collection will also join the catalog of Astrea, the largest international distributor of immersive productions, and be presented at select festivals and spaces worldwide.
See below for more information about the artists and their projects.
Experience the Immersive Collection in Québec (free)
World premiere during the MUTEK Festival: August 23-28 — esplanade Tranquille, Montréal
VR Garden Newmont Éléonore at Festival de musique émergente (FME): September 1-4 — FME Hub, Rouyn-Noranda
Meet the artists
XR Salon at MUTEK Forum: August 24 — Agora du Coeur des sciences, Montréal
PRESENTATIONS: The XR Projects of MUTEK’s Immersive Collection
NETWORKING COCKTAIL: XR Salon
Download the Immersive Collection onto your VR headset
Optimized for Quest 2, Quest + Link, Rift.
Publication on Steam coming up in October 2022, the three works can be wishlisted as of now (links below).
Publication on further content stores to be announced.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Entanglement – France Jobin & Markus Heckmann
Entanglement is a dazzling work that distills quantum physics theories into a swooping sensorial experience. It interprets the concept of entanglement: when two or more particles link up, and no matter how far apart they are in space, their states remain linked. It is an uncanny phenomenon in quantum physics, one that defies explanations.
The piece oscillates between four theories: the fluidity of time, the multiverse, the Copenhagen interpretation and decoherence. These complex notions are translated into a visually and sonically stunning experience guided by science, technology, and the sensitivity needed to illustrate what cannot be visualized. The viewer contemplates these revolving realms, composed of intricate graphics and audio.
France JobinCA/QC is an audio and installation artist, as well as composer and curator. Markus HeckmannDE/CA is a visual artist and Technical Director at Derivative, the maker of TouchDesigner
“We started by asking artists to adapt their work for VR but in the end its not an adaptation, they are like new pieces that will have their own life, three parallel universes that we dive in.”
– Alain Mongeau, MUTEK artistic director
House of Moiré – Chloe Alexandra Thompson & Matthew Edwards
House of Moiré invites users into a void-like realm, where one’s experience is defined by the curiosity of their eyes and ears. In self-directed exploration, the viewer advances through a succession of rooms dressed in optical patterns, audio-visual programming, and minimalist spatial design. The result is an odd and inquisitive trip through transforming sonic and visual architecture. House of Moiré is the culmination of various iterations of Moiré, a series of A/V works which employ custom audio software, depth cameras, motion capture, and interactive design principles to investigate psycho-acoustics and sensory illusion.
Chloe Alexandra ThompsonCA/US and Matthew EdwardsUS (aka aesthetic.stalemate) are interdisciplinary artists and collaborators. Chloe is a composer and sound designer interested in the physicality of sound and mediation of technology in installation and performance, and Matthew blends installation art, performance and virtual reality.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into, which is something I like. If I’m in the unknown, I’m happy.”
– France Jobin, artist
Immortelle – Line Katcho
Immortelle is an atmospheric and figurative work illustrating the flights and falls of psychological endurance. Featuring a cathartic flux of sonic and visual fragments, this unpredictable piece opens a door onto how a mind in internal turmoil redefines the outside world. The viewer travels through different scenes and seasons, paves through evocative empty structures, wades through waves and mountain peaks, encounters a presence in a vacuum.
Immortelle evokes how visceral perceptions of our environment mirror our own transformations, showing both the softer and fiery sides of a fighter spirit.
Line KatchoCA/QC is a composer and audiovisual artist primarily interested in sound and image as demonstrations of kinetic matter. Through motion and gestures, she aims at creating a provocative sensory experience, leaving the viewer charged yet liberated.
