Artificial intelligence takes over the dome, choose your own adventure immersive reading, autumn gastronomy, electro concerts and much more…

The Society for Arts and Technology is proud to announce its 2019 fall-winter programming, where immersion, music concerts, local and creative gastronomy, as well as ongoing training for digital artists blend together. The SAT is putting together an emotionally-charged season. Let us take you through the highlights of the upcoming months at the SAT.

IMMERSION 
Satosphère
Internationally recognized for its role in the
development of immersive technologies (fulldome, virtual reality, etc.) as
well as interactivity, the SAT continues to push the boundaries of immersive
creation by presenting a series of increasingly innovative projects. From
geological data integration to artificial intelligence and immersive
literature, here are some projects to keep an eye on in the Satosphère!

Le parfum du jour est fraise 
LITERATURE

As part
of the Festival international de la littérature, taking place from September 29
to October 12, Le parfum du jour est fraise  – the first literary project
to be shown in the Satosphère – will be presented. This first immersive reading
of Pascale Petit’s book of poetry will be done by none other than director
Christian Lapointe, an important actor in Quebec’s creative theatre. Like in
“choose your own adventure” books, the audience members will find themselves
trapped inside the book by a subtle psychological game, and feel as though they
are being addressed and watched…

 

Las pintas
SPATIALIZATION AND SOUND EXPERIENCES With Las pintas, the Franco-Chilean duo composed of José Miguel Fernandez and Raphaël Foulon present the fruit of their cross residency with IRCAM (the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music). The project focuses on the sound aspect and sound spatialization of the dome. In a rather spectacular way, the artists explore the feedback and bidirectionality effects (sound and visuals simultaneously controlling each other) enabled by the 157-speaker dome. This project will be presented in collaboration with the Akousma concert series, and as a double feature with Cosmic Polarizations, a work by artist Teresa Carasco, who also created an exclusively sonic work in the dome in 2018: Hidden Dimensions. This time, she will present an audiovisual work. Live performances from October 15-19 and broadcast October 22-26 and 29-30.

Empty Vessels
ROBOTICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE   From November 5 to 9, audiences will be treated to Empty Vessels, by Montreal Life Support and Woulg, a performative installation that blends robotics, artificial intelligence, sound and visuals. Three on-site cellos are controlled by artificial intelligence while the two musicians play. We explore the Satosphère’s sound spatialization potential while visuals are generated from the same AI sources creating sounds and manipulating audio.    -22,7°C, Aux confins du Grand Nord 

GREAT NORTH, LANDSCAPE, INTERACTIVITY 
Inspired by the northern landscapes, this piece by Molécule, a French electronic music artist and director of the Mille Feuilles record label, will be presented in the Satosphère from November 12 to 16. After composing and recording in Greenland, he has returned to present his project. Both narrative and interactive, the work invites the audience to live the experience standing up. Their movements are therefore recorded in real time, and influence the visuals as well as the scenographic objects of the space. Collaborators: Molécule, Dirty Monitors (Belgian visual creation collective) and the SAT for scenographic and interactive design.

Mutations
GEOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY A Montreal project on the processing of geological information, artists Myriam Boucher and Maxime Corbeil-Perron offer us a work that draws a parallel between sound, visual and geological stratification. Like in Live-Cinema, the project involves the direct manipulation and processing of visual and sound material coming from rocks and various minerals. The recording and broadcasting will be done using a 360-degree spherical camera, microscopes, magnifying glasses and microphones. Presented from November 19 to 23.
Substrat – Season 3 (#5, #6 and #7) 

NEW SOUND EXPERIENCES
Back for its third season, Substrat invites you to to dive into the universe of sound creators from the Montreal scene on September 28, October 19 and November 9! Through a series of performances in the Satosphère and its 157-speaker dome, Substrat offers you an exclusive listening experience, between sound spatialization, experimental music, electroacoustics and acousmatics. This year, the emphasis is on the originality of the music, which  naturally led the programming towards drone, modular synth, dark ambient and experimental music.

CONCERTS AND CONFERENCE 
ESPACE SAT 

VISUAL ARTS, CONFERENCE
French transmedia and feminist plastician artist ORLAN honours us with her presence during her conference Femme avec tête(s), on October 2. A pioneer of the use of biotechnology in contemporary art (technology applied to the living body), the artist will come discuss her work concerning the aesthetic canons assigned to women!  

MUSIC
This season, the Espace SAT will host concerts by international artists not to be missed: on October 4, LADYTRON, a quartet from Liverpool which, with their vintage synths, show us a fine balance between pop structure and analogue electronic sounds. On October 10, MEUTE, a German techno marching band comprising eleven musicians, will present to the audience their famous acoustic versions of big electronic hits. On October 12, MARC REBILLET, a zany oddball who joyfully tinkers with a keyboard, a sampler and a computer, will come improvise live crazy compositions using loops. MALL GRAB, a young Australian producer and pillar of the new lo-fi house scene, will make the crowd move on October 19.   

HALLOWEEN
As per tradition, the SAT is preparing an immersive Halloween party featuring obscure electronic music from the 70s and 80s, new wave, Italo disco and house. Behind the turntables, you’ll find the founder of Minimal Wave Records Veronica Vasicka (NYC/Minimal Wave), Kehdo (Toronto) and Matt Salaciak (MTL/Temple records).

GASTRONOMY
Labo Culinaire Foodlab

For the autumn season, Labo Culinaire Foodlab chef Timothée Vielajus will do everything possible to work and preserve the last fresh vegetables of the year. Neglecting the quality and richness of our local foods during the coming cold period is not an option. The best arrivals of squash, autumn raspberries, and various varieties of apples and pears will therefore be featured in the creation of new dishes on the menu.  Not to be missed: on November 20, the Labo Culinaire Foodlab team will welcome Le Butterblume for a collaborative dinner. On the menu: dishes that celebrate the end of summer harvests and extend towards those of the holiday season. 

TRAINING
Café SAT
  La SAT is introducing a new FREE program: La Station is a digital arts meetup aimed at stimulating curiosity and creativity, meeting and sharing with creative people from the community, as well as learning in an unconventional way. La Station offers different types of short and spontaneous sessions over a varied schedule in Café SAT’s warm atmosphere.

La Station will begin its activities on October 15, 2019. To participate, people can now register for free by sending an e-mail to campus@sat.qc.ca.

For more details on programing, visit sat.qc.ca