Symposium IX: Immersion and Experience

The Société des arts technologiques (SAT) brings together the digital community for the first International Symposium on Immersive Creativity, Symposium IX. Theory and practice transcend borders and meet to celebrate inventiveness. Creators, researchers, trainers, producers, presenters and enthusiasts gather around works and round tables until May 25, united by a passion for immersion.

The SAT has made a strong impression by attracting the best of the best to Symposium IX. Luc Courchesne, director of the Metalab, explains that as the first symposium, it had to be the best in order to establish credibility. The SAT invited the community into its home, the house of digital culture. Pioneers who have advanced the field for more than thirty years meet a second generation of young creators. Youngpeople canhave directcontact with founders, which is rare in any discipline. The community opens up and ideas are shared in order to innovate and continue Montréal’s tradition as a digital capital. Jeffrey Shaw, Miller Puckette, Michael Naimark, Martin Kusch and David McConville are among the speakers. Fifty participants from about ten countries share their vision of immersion. The

digital events worldwide for inspiration and networking. The symposium complements thosefestivals withan artistic agenda thatdevelops networks around new experiences of space, sensory immersion beyond the frame of television, and interaction in which the spectator is not passive.

Five

presented for the first time at Symposium IX, including Quantum & Nimbes, IRM, Carapace and Fragments. Courchesne notes that the dome is one of the most extraordinary in the world: technologically advanced, recent and easy to use.

SAT founder and artistic director Monique Savoie is enthusiastic. Montréal’s immersive spherical culture is very present, with planetariums, IMAX and Expo 67 as part of its history. International observers identify the city as a

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key hub,

and the symposium arrives at the right moment for Montréal to takeleadership.

The radio program La Sphère is devoted to Symposium IX live from the SAT. The SAT

also announced a first international collaboration agreement with the French technology research institute BCOM. The European Mobile Dome Lab for Artistic Research establishes an international network for exchange and artistic expertise in full-dome technology, and the SAT is now part of it.

Live audio of the conferences is

available online. Symposium IX runs until May 25.