MAPP_MTL festival aims to explore future uses of video mapping in Montreal

The first edition of MAPP_MTL, a festival dedicated to video mapping, will take place in Montreal from October 6th through 8th, inviting local and international artists to participate in a range of meetings and exchanges aimed at exploring the uses and applications of video mapping.
MAPP_MTL’s partners in staging the event include Christie Digital, Ubisoft, le Conseil des arts de Montréal, l’Arrondissement de Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, l’Arrondissement du Plateau-Mont-Royal, Studio Baillat, le Centre Never Apart, Moment Factory, Mutek, Conscience Urbaine, Dumoulin Bicyclettes and BIXI Montreal.
“Mapping is a fascinating medium that uses video projection to reinvent spaces. It’s a form of art that is gaining more and more notoriety, but still has plenty of untapped potential,” says MAPP_MTL co-founder and artistic director Thien Vu Dang. “The festival brings life to a number of structures throughout Mile End and allows the public to reclaim their neighborhoods, see the environment through new eyes and completely reinvent the spaces. MAPP_MTL hopes to propel Montréal to the forefront of creative thinkers in video mapping and bring attention to a new generation of artists with a mastery in both art and technology.”
The festival will be focused in Montreal’s Mile End and Mile-Ex neighbourhoods, launching at the Never Apart Centre on St-Urbain Street on October 6th from 5:00 p.m. onward, as part of the Never Apart 2016 autumn exposition alongside an installation by Quebecois artist Jean-Sebastien Baillat and French artist Philippe Dubost.
The Never Apart Centre is a cultural community centre opened by Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva at the company’s old headquarters.
The Never Apart building contains a 12,000 square-foot space in the Mile-Ex neighborhood, incorporating a gallery, music production and creative space, with a theatre for screenings,  a mezzanine alongside a garden and saltwater pool for gatherings, an archive of 10,000 vinyl records, and both “Sun and Moon Rooms”.
Lightspeed, founded by Dasilva in 2005, is backed by Accel Partners, iNovia Capital, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and Investissement Québec, has raised an investment total of US$126 million including US$61 million last September, and now has offices in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
Other participants in the MAPP_MTL festival include Brazil’s VJ Suave, France’s Delphine Dussoubs, and Studio Christie 360, an experiential studio operated by Waterloo, Ontario imaging pioneers Christie Digital, which offers large-scale projection mapping, interactive video walls, architectural media, and immersive environments.
MAPP_MTL’s other events are:
MINUTES MAPPING HUMAN BODY | October 7th 7PM to Midnight
Studio Moment Factory, 6250 avenue du Parc, Montreal
Minutes Mapping is a central piece of MAPP_MTL inviting creators to propose an idea in the form of a 60 seconds video projected on an unconventional surface. During the Minutes Mapping party, the public will contemplate the original propositions projected on a fascinating structure: the human body.
A MAPPING WALK WITH VJ SUAVE | October 8th 6PM to 7H30PM
Corner of avenue Henri-Julien and rue des Carrières, Montreal
The brazilian duo, VJ SUAVE, had the beautiful idea of putting a projector on a tricycle and presenting their playful animation on the walls of their city. Ygor Marotta and Ceci Soloaga see the city as their playground, where they use urban facades as canvases for their nighttime creations.
VJ SUAVE’s playful, poetic animations touch a wide public. They trace streets and alleys on tricycles equipped with projection equipment through public spaces. This unique interaction between artist and the street itself renders their art accessible to all, inventing moments of imagination and collective amazement. Modern storytellers, their art is situated at the intersections of drawing, technology and architecture.
MAPP SOUS LE VIADUC | October 8th  5PM to 11PM
Corner of boulevard Saint-Laurent and rue Cloutier, Montreal
For less than a year, the space under the Van Horne Viaduct in the Mile End has become an emblematic place of the neighborhood. MAPP_MTL will establish here the center of its outdoor activities with projections on the 1 Van Horne (famous St-Lawrence warehouse), under the viaduct on the long wall of Millions Tapis et Tuiles. Montreal Christie 360 et Normal studios will transform the area while Tupi collective and A-Rock dj will make the public shake on the open air dance floor.
MAPP X MUTEK NIGHT | October 8th 10PM to 3AM
Studio Moment Factory, 6520 avenue du Parc, Montreal
MAPP_MTL in collaboration with MUTEK, has designed a night of electronic music and live projections to close the festival in a symphony of grooves and audiovisual glory, at Moment Factory. Come celebrate the conclusion of this first edition of Montréal’s International Festival of Mapping! Featurings visual talents Delphine Dussoubs, Diagraf, thisisnotdesign and Jean-sébastien Baillat and musical performances from Softcoresoft, Stefan Jós, Magnanime and Flabbergast.