MUTEK and Zú reveal participants for the MUTEK Montréal AI Art Lab

For their inaugural partnership, MUTEK and Zú are holding an international multidisciplinary laboratory using artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of audiovisual works. The AI Art Lab is the first of its kind in Montréal; following the first two iterations in Saint Petersburg (Gamma_LAB AI, Russia) in May 2019 and Tokyo (MUTEK.JP, Japan) in November 2019, the Montréal laboratory will be held at Zú from March 1 to 10, 2020.

Spearheaded by Natalia Fuchs from Moscow (ARTYPICAL), the creator and curator of the project, the Lab also welcomes facilitators Tokyo-based Maurice Jones (MUTEK.JP) and Berlin-based Peter Kirn (CDM). The Lab sets to unpack concepts about artificial intelligence, break down stereotypes and explore our connections with this cognitive science and its growing place in our daily lives.

The ten-day program will include conferences, practical workshops and masterclasses by renown professionals, curators, and digital arts and scientific experts. A day of public conferences and artist talks with all participants is planned for Saturday, March 7, 2020. More information will be available in the coming days.

Over 70 artists and creators from across the world responded to our open call, revealing the depth of interest among artists for AI as a tool for creative practice, and confirming Montréal as a recognized hub of innovation and research in the field. The selection committee is thrilled to have assembled a rich and diverse group of 13 individuals:

Montreal Artists:

Alexandre Burton ^CA/QC

Artist and digital luthier, Alexandre Burton's interest for new media technology stems from a desire to reveal new forms of expressivity through digital processes. His practice conveys an essential concern for the relationships created between audio, visual and somatic phenomenon. His works are regularly presented at international digital art and music festivals. In addition to his activities as part of artificiel, he collaborates with other artistic and cultural bodies as an generative sound and visual designer, as well as R&D consultant.

Edith Viau ^CA/QC

Edith Viau is an artist based in Montréal (Qc) interested in digital arts, algorithms, programming, mathematics and finance. She is the founder of the ARTificial (artificial.st) project and of finartcialist, a finance-meets-arts project. This project was made possible thanks to the support of the Initiatives collaboratives art-industrie-savoir en créativité numérique from the Ville de Montréal (via the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal), in collaboration with the Gouvernement du Québec.
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Gabriel Vigliensoni ^CL/QC

Vigliensoni, aka Gabriel Vigliensoni, is a Montréal-based musician and producer from Chile. His artistic work is informed by formal musical training and extensive studies in sound recording, music production, new musical interfaces, and music information retrieval. Vigliensoni has been involved in a variety of projects during his lengthy musical career as a performer, producer, and composer. He was a founding member of the post-punk band Lucybell and the electro-acoustic band Mismos, among many other collaborations. In all these projects, Vigliensoni constantly embedded his trademark sound of edgy synth melodies, interlocked rhythms, and sonic experimentation.
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Hugo Boujut-Burgun ^CA/QC

Originally from France, Hugo Boujut-Burgun is currently Director of Research at Thinkwell Studios, in Montreal, where he oversees research and development of methods for automating video-projector mapping and blending, 3D interactions and ambient intelligence in the context of creative experiences. He was previously R&D engineer/Postdoctorant at Institut Mines-Telecom/Telecom SudParis, where he implemented an Al method for facial feature tracking from live webcam video and development of an end-to-end Al approach for the automatic rigging and animation of arbitrary 3D faces.

Isabella Salas ^MX/QC

Born and raised in Mexico City, Isabella moved to Montreal, Canada in 2001 to follow her major in Film Production at Concordia University. Her curiosity and method drive her work into an organic relationship between storytelling, archetypes, nature, filmmaking and technology. Having produced large scale visuals for the Opening Ceremony for the 2015 Panamerican games, the Another Brick in the Wall Opera and MGM Macau immersive theater visuals, she decided to step down and start creating her ideas surrounded by unique artists since 2018. She started her career as Artistic and Visual Director for Human Instrument at the Societe des Arts et Technologies in 2018 where it was presented to over 900 people with retakes on the winter 2019 for another 500 people. This same project was also part of the programming for Immersed London UK 2019. Currently, Isabella has founded Robot Jaguar studio with Mark Ó Fearghaíl. As duo the share big ideas and wild visions to create meaningful engagement. Together they are prototyping the Fundamental Frequencies and Human Rx - The “Apple TV” of AI content to help treat neurodegenerative conditions with sonic and visual immersion treatment.

Line Katcho

Line Katcho ^CA/QC

Line Katcho is a Montréal composer and audiovisual artist primarily interested in sound and image as demonstrations of kinetic matter: gestures, forces, or motion—she distinguishes herself by her experimental approach and affinity for perceptual playfulness, as well as a profound talent with affect. She holds a master's degree in Electroacoustic Composition from the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, and leans towards a mixing of styles, genres and applied methods. Her work has been presented in international festivals and events such as MUTEK, Scopitone, Intonal, Sonica, Totem électrique, iX Symposium and Elektra. She collaborates with choreographer and dancer James Viveiros, the Paysage Primitif collective, and also performs as a VJ under the moniker La Hyèna.

Lucas LaRochelle ^CA/QC

Lucas LaRochelle is a multidisciplinary designer, artist and researcher whose work is concerned with queer geographies, critical internet studies, and community-based archiving. They are the founder of Queering The Map, a community generated counter-mapping project that digitally archives queer experience in relation to physical space. They are currently working on an essay entitled “Queering The Map: Designing Queer Space in the Digital” which will be included in Queer Sites in Global Contexts: Technologies, Spaces, and Otherness, forthcoming from Routledge. In 2019 they were the inaugural Curatorial Fellow at The Curatorial and Public Scholarship Lab, and were artist-in-residence at Studio XX, where they began developing an artificial intelligence trained on the data of Queering The Map. Their project Queering The Map was awarded an Honorary Mention for the 2018 Prix Ars Elecronica, nominated for the Lumen Prize for Digital Art and the Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards, and is included in the Library of Congress LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive.

International Artists:

Albena Baeva ^BG

Albena Baeva is a visual artist who specialises in interactive design for installation, experimental video, and live theatre, dance and sound performances. In her interactive installations for urban spaces and galleries, she uses different technology, creative programming and DIY practices. She has over 10 years of experience with physical computing and the development of custom electronic interfaces. Baeva is the co-founder of Reaktiv, a boutique studio for interactive design, as well as Runabout, a platform for interdisciplinary performance art, and router gallery Gallery in Sofia.

Damian T. Dziwis ^PO/DE

Damian T. Dziwis was born 1986 in Chorzów (Poland). The Düsseldorf (Germany) based composer and engineer creates the majority of his multimedial work with audiovisual, generative algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence, live coding or DIY electronics. He began his artistic education in instrumental composition under David Graham, followed by electronic composition under Christian Banasik and finalized it with his master studies in electronic composition under Michael Beil in Cologne. Damian’s compositions and installations were played and exhibited at various festivals, for example the CTM Festival in Berlin, Music Tech Fest Stockholm, inSonic Festival at the ZKM Karlsruhe. Beside his artistic works he has an engineer’s degree in media technology and is doing a PhD in virtual acoustics, developing applications for art expression.

Joseph Kamaru ^KE

Nairobi based producer and field sound artist, Joseph Kamaru (KMRU), is notable for making intelligent atmospheric and emotionally evocative electronic music. KMRU works to inject a dose of experimentation and space in his music. Giving a personal touch using everything from gritty indigenous sounds to field recordings or intricate sonic landscapes. Already earmarked by Resident Advisor as one of ’15 East African Artists You Need To Hear’, KMRU is truly pioneering in the East African experimental music scene and breaking borders with his ambient sounds. He is a regular of the legendary Nyegenyege Festival since 2017 to date and has also presented his live performances at CTM festival and Gamma Festival. Aside from his music production, KMRU has also been presenting a monthly show on Bloop, guesting on NTS and Rinse FM and now runs the Nairobi Ableton User Group as well as composing for films, documentaries both locally and internationally and currently developing on sound installations.

Moises H. Valenzuela ^MX/DE

Moises Horta Valenzuela (Tijuana, 1988) is a sound artist, electronic musician and creative coder based in Berlin. He is currently an MFA candidate for Sound Studies and Sonic arts at the Universität der Kunst, Berlin. His work deals with the socio-cultural context of growing up in a border context, Tijuana (MX/USA) while also being part of a generation exposed to the consumption of information via the Internet. His artworks deal with the ways in which the mind is continuously transformed by the flow between the virtual/physical dichotomy, while his sound works and compositions are also characterized by exploring the aesthetic tensions arising from the juxtaposition of opposing concepts such as cultural tradition and global hypermodernity, dystopia and utopia, low resolution and high definition analyzed from a decolonial theory perspective and crafted using new technologies for electronic music and arts, both software and hardware.

Stanislav Glazov & Natalie Golubenko ^RU/DE

Stanislav Glazov is a Russian-born visual artist, musician, and photographer based in Berlin. He has worked in the fields of light and visual art for over fifteen years, and he is constantly searching for innovative opportunities in the intersection of art and technology. Driven by his audiovisual expertise and a perpetual desire to create unforgettable experiences that inspire a strong emotional response, he adopts an individualized approach for each of his works, creating unique technical algorithms and synchronizing a sound with cinematic visuals and abstract digital shapes. His large-scale spatial-visual art installations and live performances explore meaning and narration within a self-written audio-visual language. For more than 10 years Glazov has been actively engaged in educational projects, providing online and offline workshops focused on audiovisual technologies and music production.

Natalie Golubenko is Russian-born art director, video producer and multidisciplinary artist based in Berlin. After graduating from university she has worked as a journalist, PR and event manager in Moscow. In 2018 she moved to Berlin and joined visual art studio Licht.Pfad Studio as creative executive director and concept developer. In the year of her collaborative work with Licht.Pfad’s CEO Stanislav Glazov their installations and audiovisual performances were presented at TouchDesigner Summit in Montreal, Lunchmeat Festival, Gamma Festival, Intervals Festival, Science Fest in Russian Railway Museum and many other international events. Natalie is a creative, story-based content producer with a passion for video storytelling. In 2019 she established a video and photo production agency named Myopia Studios, that performs a variety of services including conceptual, scripting, storyboarding, production management, post production, interactive media and video production.

Participants will be supported in their artistic process by experts from MILA – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. They will also be considered for the program of the MUTEK Edition 21, which takes place in Montréal from August 25-30, 2020.