Concordia research-creation takes the spotlight at MUTEK 2025

Researchers, students and collaborators bring art, research and critical tech conversations to Montreal’s premier digital festival

August 11, 2025

By Christian Durand

Two presenters stand on a dimly lit stage facing an audience, with multiple laptops and audio equipment set up on tables. The audience, seated in casual arrangements, watches attentively. The presenters, one holding a microphone, appear to be leading a workshop or demonstration involving digital audio or music production software displayed on the laptop screens.

Bart Simon: “We’re showing what research-creation can do in public.” Photo credit: Maryse Boyce

MUTEK is set to transform Montreal into a global stage for digital creativity from August 19 to 25. As part of the annual festival, Concordia’s Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology, the Applied AI Institute and the Hexagram Network and are stepping into the limelight through a series of provocative and playful exhibitions.

Whether rethinking artificial intelligence (AI), building ritual spaces or mapping memory through light, Concordians at MUTEK 2025 are pushing the boundaries of how art and technology intersect — and making space for new voices in the process.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a sleeveless gray vest over a black top, stands smiling in front of a small house with a grass-covered roof and wooden beams. Lush green plants and trees are visible in the background.

Ceyda Yolgörmez, PhD 23, is a postdoctoral researcher with Milieux’s Indigenous Futures Research Centre and Abundant Intelligences research program.

Rethinking AI in public

On August 21, the Machine Agencies group, supported by Milieux, the Applied AI Institute and Hexagram, will present Machinic Encounters. It’s a student-led exhibition at the MUTEK Forum that is inviting audiences to explore AI beyond techno-optimism or fear. Curated by Ceyda Yolgörmez, PhD 23, a postdoctoral researcher with Milieux’s Indigenous Futures Research Centre and Abundant Intelligences research program, the event features works by ten emerging creators.

“To me, this is about creating a space for people to form their own relationship with these technologies,” says Yolgörmez, who earned her doctorate in sociology at Concordia. “There’s so much discourse around AI, but very little space to experience it outside of hype or panic. Machinic Encounters gives the public a way to engage with these tools through playful, poetic and critical perspectives.”

A city reimagined through digital experimentation

From August 14 to 28, the Village Numérique will turn urban spaces into immersive experiences. One of its flagship exhibitions, Intimate Territories: Reclaiming through Research-Creation, is taking over

The Chaufferie at UQAM’s Coeur des Sciences. Among the participating artists is Sabina Gámez, a recent graduate of Concordia’s Intermedia MFA program. Her piece explores sunlight as a poetic lens on migration and memory. The exhibition runs nightly and includes a public conversation, Radical Rituals in the Feminine, on August 23.

Feminist rituals and collaborative tech

Professor of computation arts Jason Edward Lewis is also contributing with his group Abundant Intelligences, presenting Computational Witchcraft Sleepover — a queer-feminist workshop blending digital altars, data magic, games and storytelling. The event invites participants to explore machinic intimacy through care, resistance and creativity.

Toward more inclusive digital futures

The Milieux Institute is also a core partner in the MUTEK AI Ecologies Lab, a new initiative focused on sustainable digital creation. Developed with the SAT, Abundant Intelligences and the Applied AI Institute, the lab will showcase its first outcomes at the MUTEK Forum from August 20 to 22.

A natural fit

Bart Simon, director of Milieux, says Concordia’s interdisciplinary approach makes it a natural partner for MUTEK.

“Milieux and the Applied AI Institute launched this partnership with MUTEK to spotlight student-driven research-creation in AI. This is our second year running, and last year’s success showed just how much public impact Concordia can generate through projects like this. We’re building something lasting.”

New student pricing

This year, MUTEK is introducing more accessible pricing for students. The MUTEK Forum Passport is available for $90 (plus service fees and taxes), with a day pass option at $35 per day.

Find out more about Concordia’s Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology, the Hexagram Network and the Applied AI Institute.

Visit the Muktek website to explore the full festival schedule.

The operations and facilities of the Milieux Institute and of the Applied AI Institute are supported notably through funding that Concordia receives from the Research Support Fund (RSF). The RSF helps Concordia maintain modern labs and equipment, provide access to up-to-date knowledge resources, secure research from threats, provide research management and administrative support, meet regulatory and ethical standards, and transfer knowledge from academia to the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors.