The SAT’s 30th Anniversary: Futurs Antérieurs in Montreal

When the Société des arts technologiques (SAT) opened its doors on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in 1996, it opened the city up to a non-profit dedicated entirely to digital culture and technological art. Built on the premise that digital culture deserved the same institutional support as any other art form, it felt genuinely radical at the time.

It still is today: Thirty years later, the SAT has hosted more than 6,000 artists, built its crowning dome of the Satosphere into one of the most technically sophisticated immersive venues in the world, and has over time become one of the reasons Montreal's digital arts scene punches at the weight it does internationally. It's a research centre, a production house, a training ground, and on the right night, one of the best places in the city to lose yourself completely to sound and light. That it has managed to be all of those things simultaneously, without losing the thread on any of them, is an achievement worth marking.

The 30th anniversary celebration of the SAT arrives June 5 and 6, 2026 with Futurs Antérieurs, a two-night takeover—each night running from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.—of all three floors of the SAT by more than 30 artists spanning techno and ambient styles, experimental electronics, live A/V performances, and immersive visuals. Named for the French verb tense for things that will have been (that’s future perfect tense in English for you grammar junkies out there), this is about the past and present being continuously rewritten by what comes next.

Headliners include Ambassade (live A/V), Jacques Greene, Johnny Jewel (live A/V), Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (live), Matias Aguayo, and Misstress Barbara.

Photograph: Nina Gibelin Souchon

Day One: Three Floors, No Hierarchy

Before the doors open at 9 p.m., the SAT's Innovation Department opens its studios to the public for a free Showroom Innovation (reservation required). It's a rare look inside the R&D work that underpins everything the SAT does, from haptic floors and spatialized sound systems to real-time motion capture tools.

June 5 opens with Johnny Jewel anchoring the Espace SAT with a live A/V set. The Italians Do It Better founder and driving force behind Chromatics has spent decades building a cinematic synth language that sits comfortably between the underground and the screen, his music appearing in Drive, Twin Peaks: The Return, and on runways for Chanel and Dior. Sharing the ground floor are Ambassade with their new audiovisual show, Brooklyn selector KYRUH, and Montreal's own Evita. Misstress Barbara, who is herself marking 30 years in electronic music this year, joins them.

Up in the Satosphere, Chilean artist and Cómeme co-founder Matias Aguayo takes possession of the dome alongside PAURRO and sound artist Fabrizio Di Salvo, whose practice treats listening as a method of collective awareness. The second floor lounge activates with Montreal's zi! and Eccina live.

Photograph: Supplied / Vivien Gaumand / William Houde

Day Two: The City Comes Home

The morning of June 6 starts earlier and gentler than the night before. Café SAT hosts Sugar Rush, a free family-friendly event where pastry chef Catherine Lépine-Lafrance, roaster Gabriel Martial of Jungle, and Loïc Bensoussan, Clémence Lafitte, and Léa Manseur of Maison Bonbec x Daddy Roll reinterpret coffee and pastry with the same spirit of reinvention the SAT brings to everything else. It also marks the launch of a special anniversary coffee blend.

The celebrations will also extend beyond the dome this summer: A series of day drinking parties will mark the opening of the SAT’s rooftop terrasse as a summer-long pop-up space featuring open-air DJ sets and sunset gatherings.

Then, from 1 to 3 p.m., Flore—one of the headliners of the night—leads an Ableton masterclass, breaking down her own tracks and workflow for beginners and intermediate producers alike. Tickets are $93.41 (taxes included) and are available here.

As for the night, it opens to Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, whose live set starts the night in the Espace SAT. The award-winning electronic artist has built a body of work that sits at the intersection of ambient, experimental, and dance music, organic and synthetic in equal measure. She's joined by Flore b2b Nahash, Hyd live, Honeydrip, and t-nex.

The Satosphere on night two gets particularly interesting with Jacques Greene, one of Montreal's most internationally recognised electronic artists, playing back-to-back with local Martyn Bootyspoon, whose chaotic, joyful club sets have made him one of North America's most distinctive dance music voices in recent memory. Iranian-born DJ Mozhgan and the live A/V collaboration between sound artist France Jobin and media artist Markus Heckmann round out the dome programming. The second floor hosts Alan Harman, copcarbonfire, and Richard b2b M Salaciak, a pairing of two longtime mainstays of the Montreal underground who co-run Temple Records.

Photograph: Ash KG / subtletherapy.com & Nina Gibelin Souchon

You Can’t Go Wrong

The Satosphere, which has hosted nearly 500 immersive works and over 300 artists since its 2011 inauguration, is built for this programming. At 18 metres wide and 11.5 metres high, with eight 4K projectors running at 34,000 lumens each and 93.5 speakers wrapping the space in precisely spatialized sound, it remains the first permanent immersive theatre in the world entirely dedicated to artistic creation. It’s also the reason the programming of Futurs Antérieurs couldn’t possibly happen anywhere else.

Across both nights, light installations from Aube and Skeletron.tv transform the building itself, while immersive 360° visuals from BunBun and Alex Vlair on night one and SULFATION and al11z on night two extend the experience into the dome's full capacity.

Tickets start at $23.92 for early entry before 10:30 PM, with general admission at $41.31 per night and a two-day pass available for $73.93. All prices before taxes and fees. Tickets are available via the SAT.

Before you go, the SAT has put together a YouTube playlist of the artists performing across both nights. It’s a good way to get your bearings on a lineup this deep.

Keep in mind that the anniversary programming doesn’t stop at the June weekend. From June 30 to July 4, the SAT also welcomes Roman Zavada back to the Satosphere with Résonances boréales, an immersive experience inspired by the Yukon’s northern lights and boreal landscapes, blending mesmerizing piano compositions with vibrant visuals.

And later this summer, from August 20 to September 3, the SAT brings the celebration into the street with Jeu(x) de lumières, a free interactive light installation at Place de la Paix, at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Place du Marché. Created in collaboration with artist Marie LeBlanc Flanagan and developed with the local community, the installation uses the SAT's own PointMapper motion capture technology to turn visitors' movements into light in real time. Everyone’s invited.

Headliners include Ambassade (live A/V), Jacques Greene, Johnny Jewel (live A/V), Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith (live), Matias Aguayo, and Misstress Barbara.

Photograph: Nina Gibelin Souchon