When it comes to discussing the future of festivals, there are few cities more appropriate to host that conversation than Montréal. A city that lives and breathes art and performance, Montréal is home to renowned cultural producers; Cirque du Soleil made the circus arts into a billion-dollar industry, Just for Laughs is a fabled testing ground for up-and-coming comedians, and MUTEK is one of the most revered electronic music festivals on the planet. Nowhere is this more evident than Esplanade Tranquille, where for a week each August, Quartier des Spectacles—a public square right in the middle of downtown Montréal—transforms into a packed dancefloor.

Founded in 2000, MUTEK was launched to celebrate the music-technology avant-garde. Unlike any other festival or club night in North America at the time, in scale or ambition, it brought global figures to Quebec and put Canadian electronic musicians onstage beside them. Coil, Monolake, Matmos, and Plastikman graced its early stages, linking acts featured by Europe’s most progressive clubs and esteemed record labels with the sounds bubbling up from the Canadian underground. Notably, MUTEK programmers pushed back against the (then) larger-than-life figure of the DJ and instead centred live electronic music. Laptops running early versions of Ableton Live, vintage synthesizers and drum machines—MUTEK didn’t just bring the studio onstage, it made it the life of the party.

During the 24th edition of MUTEK’s flagship Montréal edition, these questions were asked around the clock. By night, Tim Hecker blasted haunting soundscapes while enveloped in a cloud of fog, Hatis Noit’s searing vocals melded into uncanny AI imagery, and an all-star cast of dancefloor-focused artists including AUX88, Jennifer Cardini, μ-Ziq kept thousands moving till dawn. By day, MUTEK Forum served up discourse: AI Now Institute’s Sarah Meyers West lobbied for Big Tech regulation and accountability as the only sane response to the explosion of large language models, Winslow Porter shared insights gleaned from a decade of trailblazing immersive VR filmmaking, and Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson opened up about the struggles of running Dweller—New York’s first electronic music festival exclusively focused on supporting and celebrating Black artists. The roster of international artists and thought leaders shared the stage with local talent and industries: represented were Montréal’s burgeoning XR, animation, and videogame producers; students and educators from Concordia University and UQAM; and cultural producers from local galleries and institutions, the DIY scene, and activist communities.