Digital Nocturne at the Musée d'art contemporain

As part of EM15, which brought together the multidisciplinary digital-creation festivals Elektra and MUTEK over the same period, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal came alive during five Nocturnes evenings.

The Nocturnes

have already been held at the museum for several years, when the institution opens its doors in the evening with music, a bar and the opportunity to visit exhibitions in another light. It is an excellent way to introduce the place to a different audience and diversify ways of approaching art.

The MAC fulfilled that mission perfectly this year by joining forces with EM15 and becomingthe event’s nerve centre. EM15 is the fusion of two events celebrating their 15th anniversary this year. Ninety performances, including 47 premieres, made Montréal vibrate from May 27 to June 1. Art and music with a technological flavour have never been so well represented in the metropolis, and the Nocturnes are a perfect example.

It is impossible not to feel a rush of adrenaline and a slight sense of transgression when crossing the museum entrance hall after opening hours. The environment also lends itself perfectly to the musical and visual works that draw peopleirresistibly upstairs: a clean and aesthetic space, stylish visitors, captivating works surrounding spectators led by digital music. The whole creates

an atmosphere that is immediatelyappealing.

I attended Nocturne 2, whose theme was

took turns on stage, carrying contemplative spectators into a digital and sensory universe. And sensory is the right word, because the decibels from the speakers reached deep into our bodies, to the point that we had to leave several times to rest our overworked ears. I looked enviously at more seasoned visitors wearing earplugs.

That Thursday, Le fruit vert from Canada, Holly Herndon from the United States, Rashad Becker from Germany and Ben Frost from Australia created a surreal environment for one evening, from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. It is well worth going simply to discover an unusual atmosphere: to step out of reality, experiment with a new form of art and enter the artists’ experimental world.