History
Editions:
Edition 01 - 1997
The HTMlles [Maid in Cyberspace] was the first international Web festival to take place in Montreal.
Organized by Studio XX, it took place on May 31 - June 1, 1997 at the PlaywrightsÔ Workshop. During the festival, Studio XX presented the works of twenty artists, including seven Canadian artists. The works explored the technology proper to the Web and the possibilities of the medium. Issues of feminism, identity, sexuality and the uses of technology by women as well as precedents in the history of cyberfeminism were discussed. The public was invited to explore the works as well as theoretical texts presented on the festival site.
The event received more than 150 visitors over two days and its Web site has been visited more than 5,000 times since June 1997.
Edition 02 - 1998
The festival attracted substantial media coverage and public interest, giving purpose to the existence of an annual Web festival in Montreal. The second edition - Encore! - took place from November 6 to 28, 1998 at the Belgo Building in downtown Montreal. Featured were eleven Web artists from the USA, Australia, England, Scotland and Estonia. Five of the artists were Canadian. Nancy Patterson, JR Carpenter, Pascale Trudel and Ingrid Hein presented conferences. Katherine Liberovskaya presented a forum on Russian Web art. More than 500 visitors participated.
Edition 03 - 2000
In February 2000, the third Maid in CyberspaceWeb festival took place at the Cinémathèque québécoise, in the heart of downtown Montreal, it featured ten Web art works, four installations, net based performances and artists talks. Amongst the seventeen participating artists and theorists, twelve were Canadian. Furthermore, every night, the public could attend round tables made up of the presenting artists from Canada and the US.
During the week, more than 600 people visited the Cinémathèque and more than 4800 virtual visitors navigated the festival’s Web site. In the weeks following the event, more than 2000 visitors continued to browse the site, thus demonstrating the interest and relevance of such an event.
Edition 04 - 2001
From February 7 to 11 2001, the festival was once again held at the Cinémathèque québécoise. Its theme was Mutant Identities and Cultures. Maid in Cyberspace 04 presented fourteen Web art works, a multimedia installation, a Web-Jam bringing together sound artists from Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal, three conferences, a digital sound piece, a workshop given by a local artist and an interactive Web site.
Four Canadian artist-run centers collaborated with us by suggesting names of artists from their regions whose work well suited the theme of Mutant Identities and Cultures.
During the week, over 400 people visited the exhibition space, and over 350 attended the conferences, the Web Jam and the closing night. Our Web site recorded 350 000 hits during the week of the Festival and 700 000 during the month of February - an unexpected and unprecedented record!
Edition 05 - 2002
For its 5th edition, Maid in Cyberspace looked at the theme: The Double, The Multiple and Contamination in Web Art. The event took place from February 6 - 10, 2002 at the Société des Arts technologiques (SAT) in Montreal. For the first time, and in collaboration with the Chambre Blanche, the festival travelled to Quebec City where a selection of its programming was presented February 9th and 10th at the Caserne.
Programming assembled thirteen Web artworks, three installations, a series of eight concerts/performances - of which three took place on-line - two conferences and one workshop. Artists from countries such as Quebec, Canada, Argentina, the United States and Australia converged upon Montreal and were visited by a virtual public of impressive numbers - more than 350,000 hits during the week of the festival, and more than 800,000 hits for the month of February 2002.
Edition 06 - 2003
The 6th edition of the festival marked a transition for the HTMlles. The event took place at the Jean-Pierre Perreault Foundation (Montreal) between February 4th 8th, 2003. Satellite presentations also took place in Quebec City in collaboration with the Mois multi (February 7th) and in Hull in collaboration with the Centre de production DAÏMON (February 20th 22nd). With the focus on the relationships that women cultivate with technological realities and the intention to foreground initiatives born out of different contexts and means within a global context, the festival positioned itself in a more critically explicit manner. Artists, activists, professors and publics new to media arts gathered to dialogue and exchange on the theme Active Agent.
Nine Web artworks, two installations and two networked performances demonstrated political and esthetic alternatives that contemporary creation in media arts could take on, pushing the perception of the Web as a dynamic platform. A series of twelve concerts stirred up a polemic around the flagrant absence of women in electronic music, whilst simultaneously celebrating Montreal’s community of musicians who have persisted since several years in a milieu obstinately masculine. A series of conferences incited discussions on political and social actions facilitated by mobile and networked technologies, programming and more subversive initiatives, in order to construct a critiqe and recognition of varying socio-political realities. Countries represented included Albania, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germnay, Italy, Russia and the United States.
Amongst the festival’s new initiatives was its first printed publication bringing together texts by Katherine Liberovskaya (Quebec), Nina Czegledy (Canada) and Marina Grzinic (Slovenia). The event’s Web site acted as a mirror to the theme, offering a dynamic and active framework for virtual visitors. More than 380 000 hits were recorded on the site, during the event, with a total of 000 hits for the month of February 2003.