The latest edition of MUTEK Montréal has just wrapped, bringing the festival back to the city where it all began twenty-five years ago. For one week, Montréal became a living playground of sound, vision, and technology, where digital art, live performance, and underground club culture constantly collided.
Musically, the programme read like a map of today’s electronic underground. Hyperpop, post-dubstep, global bass, and noise all found their place, with live performance taking an increasingly central role on the dance floor. Standouts included Kevin Saunderson & Dantiez as E-Dancer, Yu Su, Ramzi, Martin Bootyspoon, while dub’s deep echoes ran through sets by Aurora Halal, Shackleton, Holy Tongue, Hodge and Sim.
The city’s venues amplified the experience. The brutalist Théâtre Maisonneuve, the SAT Dome’s immersive architecture, an open-air stage in the downtown core, and a takeover at Piknic Electronik each shaped their own atmosphere within the festival’s larger flow. On the AV side, highlights included Quayola’s lush reinterpretation of the Luce film archive, Max Cooper’s dazzling holographic premiere Lattice, 3D/AV Live, Ash Fure’s visceral Animal, and dome-filling journeys into memory and digital identity by Motia and Nait Saves.
Meanwhile, the Forum programme, under the theme Radical Rituals, brought together more than a hundred speakers from music, publishing, science and art. Talks included Mackensie Wark presenting Raving, Liz Pelley dissecting media dynamics with Mood Machine, and a closing keynote from Cristobal Tapia de Veer, composer of The White Lotus.
Now that the 2025 chapter has closed, MUTEK is already looking ahead. Montréal will host the 27th edition from August 25 to 31, 2026, with passes already on sale. Until then, here is a gallery of images capturing how it all unfolded.
