Each year, MUTEK Forum brings together some of the most forward-thinking minds in music, technology, and digital art. For our 11th edition, from August 20 to 22, we welcome a remarkable constellation of creators whose work challenges, expands, and reimagines the ways people engage with sound and society. From Emmy-winning composers to AI poets and cultural agitators, here are a few of the names joining the conversation this year.

Portrait of Cristobal Tapia De Veer. Photo Credit: Pierre Barlier

For the first time, Cristóbal Tapia de Veer joins MUTEK Forum — a name instantly recognizable to anyone who’s been captivated by the haunting scores of Utopia, Black Mirror, or The White Lotus. The multi-EMMY and BAFTA-winning composer, known for blending orchestral composition with electronic abstraction and unsettling textures, has transformed expectations around what music can do in visual media. His soundtracks for Smile (Paramount) and Babygirl (A24) confirm his reach beyond television, positioning him as one of the most influential composers of a generation. At the Forum, Tapia de Veer will reflect on how emotional storytelling, sonic experimentation, and genre subversion converge in his creative process.

Portrait of Madame Gandhi. Photo Credit: Lindsey Brynes

Kiran Gandhi, aka Madame Gandhi, award-winning artist and activist, joins for a fireside chat in collaboration with EarthPercent, the environmental charity founded by Brian Eno, to explore the intersection of music and climate justice. Since making international headlines after running the 2015 London Marathon while free-bleeding to raise awareness about menstrual equity, Gandhi has amplified her mission through electronic music that explores themes of gender justice and personal empowerment. A TED Fellow, Forbes 30 Under 30 alumna, and BBC 100 Women honoree, she was most recently awarded the Abe Olman Prize for songwriting and a SXSW Jury Award for her music video Waiting For Me. Expect a vital conversation on how activism and artistic innovation collide.

Portrait of Sasha Stiles. Image Credit: Kris Bones

A standout voice in the field of generative creativity, Sasha Stiles brings a poetic edge to the Forum's exploration of AI and authorship. A first-generation Kalmyk-American poet and researcher, Stiles merges code and verse in ways that question what it means to write, feel, and remember in the digital age. She is the co-founder of theVERSEverse, has served as poetry mentor to the AI humanoid BINA48, and is a frequent speaker at global forums like Art Basel, MoMA, and Christie’s. Her award-winning work—honored by Prix Ars Electronica, the Lumen Prize, and Future.Art.Awards—will guide an inspiring discussion on hybrid poetics, algorithmic voice, and the future of creativity.

Portrait of Nyambura M. Waruingi. Photo Credit: Alex MacNaughton

Also new to MUTEK Forum, Nyambura M. Waruingi is a multimedia installation artist working across immersive storytelling, gaming, and radical feminist world-building. Based between Nairobi and Montréal, she is the founder of Akoia & Company and La Perle Noire Immersive, and a two-time grantee of Women Win’s ONSIDE Gaming. Her work — including the afro-gothic XR installation The Ground Screams To Whisper — reclaims erased histories through embodied, interactive experiences. Presented at events like Games For Change and XR Women, Waruingi’s installations reframe technology as a tool for imagining otherwise. Her guiding mantra: #imagineradically.

Portrait of Jason Voltaire. Photo Credit: Annie Forrest

Back at the MUTEK Festival this year, and now joining the Forum for the first time, Jason Voltaire — aka Martyn “M.” Bootyspoon — represents the sharp edge of Montréal’s club culture and digital art scene. With roots in the Fractal Fantasy universe and a debut on Sinjin Hawke’s First Opus, Voltaire’s work fuses ghetto-tech, electro, and R&B into finely sculpted, sub-heavy tracks. But his vision extends beyond the club: every beat is in dialogue with a visual idea, every performance a blend of motion, identity, and design. His Forum appearance will delve into the relationship between graphic systems, digital aesthetics, and sound construction.

This year’s Forum invites audiences into a rich, cross-disciplinary dialogue that reflects MUTEK’s ongoing commitment to the future of digital culture. Stay tuned for the full program and don’t miss your chance to connect with the voices shaping tomorrow !

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