MUTEK’s 27th edition, held August 25-30 in Montreal, drew a record 102,591 attendees, a 42% attendance increase over 2025.
The festival reported 137 artists from 27 countries, 89 performances, four immersive films and 62 premieres. More than half of the programming featured local or Canadian talent, and more than 70,000 people attended the free outdoor stage.
Live electronic music as a real-time practice
Founded in 2000, MUTEK has a mandate to present “live electronic music and real-time audiovisual performance.” The festival treats the stage as a space where sound, image, technology and bodies interact in real time, rather than as a setting for reproducing finished recordings.
Disc jockey (DJ) sets remain part of the program, including an appearance by Ben UFO. The festival also presents sets that involve decisions made during the performance, where sequences can drift, machines can misbehave and images can respond to sound.
Selected performances
- Montreal artist Honeydrip used contact microphones placed against her throat to capture the physical vibrations of her breath and feed them through tubes, loops and electronics, producing bass-heavy music that was deeply physical.
- Japan’s ELECTRONICOS FANTASTICOS! built playable instruments from discarded cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions, electric fans and barcode scanners, forming an “electromagnetic punk” orchestra.
- Mexican producer Debit rebuilt material from Desaceleradas using accordion, modular synthesis and tape decks. Her live audiovisual performance connected cumbia rebajada, decaying magnetic tape and archival footage of Monterrey’s Kolombia dance culture.
- Jump Source, the Montreal duo of Priori and Patrick Holland, reworked their album Fold live rather than reproducing it.
- JakoJako sculpted modular sequences with irregular timing and unstable patterns that left space for surprise.
- Super Galaxy Meow Meow used laser beams to trigger sound.
- Tristan Perich and organist James McVinnie placed the Maison symphonique’s pipe organ in conversation with a 100-speaker system.
- Kali Malone played the Maison symphonique’s pipe organ, working with sustained tones, resonance and the accumulated history of an ancient instrument.
- Ida Toninato explored sensuality and saxophonic rhythm cycles in a shapeshifting performance combining electronic beats, voice and guttural brass soundscapes.
In several sets, the venue functioned as an instrument rather than a container.
