ELEKTRA , the digital arts festival, will take over your senses, digitally. For this 7 th edition, the event promises to astonish, both thanks to its bold digital arts works and gripping audiovisual performances. Over the course of six days, the festival proposes unusual, at times edgy experiences combining electronic music and visual creation. On the menu, laser and sound performances, interactive installations, dance and technology, electronic music and live performances. This counter-culture gathering blurs the frontiers of music, design, cinema, video, dance and architecture. Whereas ELEKTRA placed the term “audiovisual” on the map in 2005, this year will mark the exploration of the third dimension of audiovisual . The works selected place a common focus on the relationship between sound and image as it relates to the object and body in a technological perspective.
Extreme performances
Among our guest artists, Edwin Van der Heide will present an astonishing and immersive experience. In LSP, Laser Sound performance , the image is composed of lasers projected on a thin layer of smoke. Immersed in an environment as much made up of sound as image, the visitor loses their usual points of reference.
On the same evening, Quebec duo Skoltz_Kolgen , renowned on the international scene, present the ultimate version of their “retinal diptych,” FLÜUX:/TERMINAL . After having travelled the world with this performance, a new “terminal,” or definitive, version of this piece will be presented at Elektra, in an optimal audio and visual context last ever chance to attend this extreme dialogue on two screens.
Dance and technology
Lovers of dance will be served thanks to Man in e.Space by Belgian collective LAb[au] in partnership with French dance company res publica . The spectator moves around an interactive setup composed of four screens. The dancers, immersed in the dark, are only perceptible via light-reflective lines sewn on their costumes. Their movements are captured and processed live, then projected onscreen.
Interactive installation
The Spatial Sounds (100dB at 100km/h) installation by Marnix de Nijs and Edwin Van der Heide has the visitor enter the “personal space” of an interactive speaker set up on a robotic arm. Apparently calm, it detects visitors nearby and reacts intensely to their presence. The rotation of its arm can reach a surprising speed of 100 km/h and its range of sounds and effects a stupefying 100 decibels. This work was awarded the 1 st prize in the Art Future ( Taiwan ) media arts contest and special mentions at Prix Ars Electronica ( Austria ) and at Transmediale ( Berlin ).
Electronic music
Kangding Ray (David Letellier) presents a minimalist and textured musical performance . His presentation is highlighted by projections signed by Japanese graphic artist Nibo. The sound waves and structures of his compositions are drawn on two screens. Kangding Ray is part of Raster-Noton , the German record label helmed by Carsten Nicolai.
At the frontiers of film
S cenes From Out of The Labyrinth , the live cinematographic performance by Vancouver collective Computational Poetics ( Kenneth Newby, Aleksandra Dulic, Andreas Kahre) leads the audience into a fantasy realm. Animation drawings, digital puppets, visuals and electronic music are the raw materials used for this performance an astonishing and spontaneous cinematographic moment.
Videomusics
The Schwelle I: Bardo piece for three screens by Chris Salter (QC) , artist and researcher at Concordia University and Hexagram, will use the latest technologies to have visitors experience the emotions and physical sensations that can be felt at the threshold of death.
Mélik-Alexandre Farhat (QC), an up-and-coming your artist, takes an intimate look at anonymous faces with his work, Portraits . As a background for this videomusic for three screens, an urban landscape oscillating between the concrete and the abstract is deployed like a painting in motion.
1024 design in movement
1024, design in movement , design tier of the Festival, welcomes Geneviève Gauckler (FR). As a graphic artist, illustrator and art director, she has worked with Björk, Etienne Daho, Brigitte Fontaine and French label F Com (Laurent Garnier). For this conference/presentation, she will introduce her vivid and jubilatory universe and her contribution to the collective Pleix, where she deploys her magnificent graphic creations at the service of memorable videos.
On their part, the collective LAb[au] , made up of architects and urban planners, will discuss their digital arts projects, among others, the Man in e.Space piece presented as part of Elektra. Their creative lab is built around an original approach where theoretical research, design and architecture overlap. Their pieces will undeniably inspire those who combine profession and creation.
Launch of new Incidences DVD
Perte de Signal will take advantage of this 7 th edition of Elektra to launch their new DVD, Incidences, and showcase projections and performances in the image of the works compiled for this DVD. Perte de Signal and terminus1525.ca join forces on for this launch, where it will be possible to appreciate the work of these artists that illustrate emerging creation approaches.
Pure Data Workshop
A unique opportunity to benefit from training on the Pure Data open-source software. For two days, Dutch artists Sara Kolster and Derek Holzer will host this workshop before a limited group of 15 people. Focused on teaching the basic notions of Pure Data, this training is sure to please creators interested in the new media and interactivity. In collaboration with Vidéographe .
Alpha_Elektra
Young people 17 or under have entered works whose creation entailed the use of a computer and integrated audio and visual elements in the Alpha_Elektra contest. The awarding of the prizes highlights the merit of four young creators who have stood out in this new digital arts contest. The visual and audio creations selected by the jury will be unveiled in order to demonstrate the creative vitality of these up-and-coming young artists. In partnership with Centre des Scieces de Montréal.
Alpha.Lab
Alpha.Lab is a creation workshop intended for young people 25 or under. Thanks to the Pure Data open-source software, they will learn how to create interactions between visual and audio elements. This workshop is facilitated by artist Alexandre Quessy , notably active in the Pure Data Montréal user group. In collaboration with terminus1525.ca.