This was Mutek.AR 2023, the Argentine version of the international festival of digital creativity

The digital creativity festival born in Montreal in 2000 had its fifth Argentine edition. MUTEK.AR 2023 was held between Artlab, Under Club, Deseo and Arjaus with the days known as Play, Digi Lab and Nocturne and this is a summary of the best of this cultural festival. The Play program at ArtlabThe Play program is characterized by its focus on combining audiovisual elements to create impact in spaces designed for a standing audience. This year it took place entirely at the Artlab Cultural Center, the festival’s production house, on three consecutive nights. On Thursday night two pairs A / V stood out: Trimex (CL) presented Summoning: ambient, techno and drum & bass in a staging of immersive effects with visuals, lighting and coordinated lasers, while the Argentines Esteban González and Fernando Molina offered synthesis, noise, acoustic sounds with telluric fiber and a blinding screen mostly monochromatic with hyper information in what they call Distance / Intersection. as the intellect with the Canadian artist Ali Phi, who presented an A/V of seven movements inspired by the moral notion of makruh, of Arabic terminology. Field recordings of ritual music, digital synthesis, techno-electronics and 3D reactive images, processed 2D video of old religious constructions and circular abstraction. At the end of the night, the duo of young Argentines verrts + pedro999 detonated heads and hearts with an audioluminous presentation of physical power, with enormous sound, agitated beats in the form of breaks, dubstep and techno. On Saturday it was the turn of the legendary Lito Vitale, who presented an exclusive concert of ambient style and melodic / piano tessitura, with percussion by Facundo Guevara and abstract images by Flo Pasquali. Between ambient and IDM, pianist and producer Julián Tenembaum and visual artist Sofía Córdoba from Uruguay, starred in another outstanding audiovisual crossover, with images composed of synthetic elements, microorganisms, organic materials and other hybrid frameworks, from photographs and videos. The Nocturne program at Under Club and DeseoMUTEK’s Nocturne program proposes experiences that have to do with electronic music in the club environment. It is the celebratory moment of the festival although not all the proposals that can be enjoyed there have to do strictly with dance music. Friday the 29th at Under Club was a real party for techno lovers. The place is known in the musical circuit of the city as a reference club of this style with which it was the perfect place to continue the Play proposal that had concluded in Artlab with the powerful set of vertts and Pedro999. In an atmosphere of harmony and love for the track, the Oscean show stood out, debut in Argentina of the duo formed by Andrés Zacco and Seph, two Argentines linked to Tresor Club of Berlin. And the closing was in charge of the Colombian DJ Adriana López, with the visuals of the Cordovan Elypsis, selected by the Amplify D.A.I. program through its federal call. With fabulous attendance, the second part of the Nocturne program shone in Deseo , which offered a distinctive and varied programming. Jorge Haro planned a conceptual presentation A / V as a correlate of the exhibition FONO-GRAFÍAS that these days can be seen in the Pavilion 4 gallery. Outro and Juli Manarino Tachella performed live the show they premiered in the last edition of MUTEK Montreal, a heated work within the framework of the Artlab x Amplify D.A.I. Artistic Residencies. From the UK, Lauren Duffus arrived who presented an exciting electronica-landscape concert with remarkable vocal arrangements. And the celebrated urban music producer Evlay made his solo debut: dense dark techno. At the closing, DJ Valentina Spirito, owner of an unparalleled personality, shook the booth with waves of techno that the audience could not resist dancing, while on the screens Kardaver wove live codes and offered an indelible visual stimulus. From 2018, this joint initiative of the British Council, Artlab, Williams Foundation and MUTEK connects and empowers an active network of women and dissidents in the digital arts in Canada, Latin America and the United Unido.La Edition 5 of the festival featured 54% M+ artists in its programming. Visual artists selected from a recent federal call and also artists already belonging to Amplify D.A.I. performed live. The line-up also included immersive listening to a compilation of previously unreleased tracks by six network artists and the local premiere of the collaboration betweenand Juli Manarino Tachellay Outro, who worked together in the framework of the Artlab x Amplify D.A.I. Artistic Residencies. In terms of international content, interdisciplinary artist Sian Fan (UK) offered a workshop on art creation in the digital age and explored the interaction between the digital and the physical, and the producer, London vocalist and DJ Lauren Duffus gave an exciting concert at Deseo and participated in an open talk with artists and the festival audience in Arjaus. Evlay and Red Snake in Desire, by Tadeo JonesDigi LabThe Digi Lab segment provides a dedicated space for the display of instruments, hardware, and software, along with a series of talks and workshops. In this space, artists, audience, producers and brands come together, and the epicenter of these activities was developed in Arjaus.Among the outstanding participants in this edition of Digi Lab were Nopia, Lihuel Case, Tercer Brazo, Olivella Modulares, Dbdrums, MLA Labs and AudioStellar, who contribute their experience and creativity to the event. In addition, in Artlab, an international workshop led by the British artist Sian Fan was held, and Futurx presented the launch of a collaborative research on artificial intelligence in the world of music, by Nicolás Madoery. This space demonstrates MUTEK.AR’s commitment to promoting creativity and collaboration in the field of music and technology.

Original source in Spanish