Montreal Is Hosting A Video Game Takeover This May
It should come as no surprise that Montreal is North America’s capital when it comes to all things digital, ranking 3rd in video game production and 4th as a visual arts leader in the world. After all, we are home to Ubisoft, Warner Brothers Interactive, and a plethora of up and coming indie studios responsible for developing the games, apps, and visual effects we are hopelessly addicted to today. So it only makes sense our city also hosts one of the biggest digital arts celebrations and it's going on right now.
A big part of our pop culture today revolves around video games, as I'm sure you're already well aware, and Digital Spring features a variety of awesome events and conferences dedicated to just that, where you can not only learn about the art of gaming, but also take part.
IGDA Demo Nights
When: Tuesday May 26
Where: Société des Arts Technologiques (map)
What: The city’s top gaming developers preview and demo their latest projects while discussing everything that goes into making top selling titles.
NAD’s Elite Workshops
When: May 20 to 22
Where:Centre Nad (map)
What: Video games, visual effects, animation and other multimedia specialists gather under one roof to offer master classes and conferences exploring the latest trends and landscapes of digital imagery of 2015.
Monthly Playtest
When: Thursday May 21
Where: GamePlay Space / L'Espace Ludique (map)
What: Monthly Playtest hosts monthly events where you get to test out the many games currently in development. Developers get to debug their games and you get a sneak peak at new games. It's a win win.
Secrets and Illusions
When: Ongoing
Where: Cinémathèque québécoise (map)
What: A three-part exhibition that delves into the world of special effects and demystifies the various techniques used to create the effects in moving images throughout history.
Effects MTL
When: June 10 & 11 (not in May)
Where: Centre Mont-Royal (map)
What: For those of you mesmerized by all the special effects that go into your favourite games and movies such as X-Men: Days Of Future Past, BATTLE ROYALE!, and Captain America, the effects MTL conference is not to be missed. This is your chance to meet with various VFX and animation industry leaders and see first-hand how all the magic works.
The 2nd edition of Montreal's Digital Spring is currently in full swing all over town, and if you haven't had a chance to check out any of the 150+ highly interactive and stimulating events going on, you seriously need to get on that. In collaboration with some of the city's coolest art festivals like MUTEK, C2 Montreal, MassivART's Chromatic, even Piknic Électronik, Digital Spring showcases some of the top local, national, and international creative talents on the planet.
Don't forget that Digital Spring runs until June 21, 2015, so go while you still can.
