Pique festival brings together diverse arts communities for the winter edition featuring live music performances, art installations, DJs, an art market, and more.

As the days grow colder, Pique winter edition is heating up the Arts Court with innovative music and arts presentations on December 14, 2024. The 15th edition of Ottawa’s signature underground art party brings together groundbreaking music, visual, and interdisciplinary artists for a building-wide festival at the Arts Court in downtown Ottawa. Experimental and underground music, media art installation, food and artisan vendors and more will be showcased across six stages and exhibition spaces. Admission is pay-what-you-can and all-ages.

Featuring performances and presentations by international and out-of-town artists including punk-rapper and maniacal-electronics-wielder LustSickPuppy, Indigenous-led hardcore unit Indian Giver, raunchy-house DJ Martyn Bootyspoon, transgendered-electronic-body-music duo HRT, afro-futurist trumpeter and DJ SAFARIZMA joined by funk-fusion saxophonists GOLDMENSAX (curated by AMASHOWZA), folding-table-noise act Hidden Attachment (aka Ky Brooks solo performance), genre-bending global club DJ MURDERITH, and experimental post-punk trio VICTIME.

Local artists present dance music for curious ears, performed by genre-fusing hip-hop selector VELVET, deindustrialized cybergrinder Fire Manic, and vibrant Afrocentric DJ PC.

Plus, an exploratory textile installation by local student-run TIG Collective, an interactive and cooperative multi-media game-poem presented by Marie LeBlanc Flanagan, and an art exhibition curated by YANAMINAH. With more than 15 artists and curators, there is so much to experience at Pique.

Broadcasting live from Club SAW during Pique, tune into Cybernetique anywhere in the world. Featuring dynamic performances all evening long, the Cybernetique live broadcast features professional-quality audio and visuals, making it about as good as being there in person. Virtual attendees can also tune into exclusive interactive interviews hosted on Debaser’s Instagram to engage with our hosts and socialize with fellow virtual attendees.

As always, tickets to Pique are pay-what-you-can with a suggested price range of $35-65 (taxes and fees included), or choose-your-own-price. Tickets are available on our Tixtree page.

LustSickPuppy

Martyn Bootyspoon

PROGRAMMING

Featuring a diverse array of sounds, from alternative Afrobeat, ground-shaking booty bass, and abrasive-yet-irresistible baile funk to politically-charged hardcore, deindustrialized cybergrind, folding-table noise, and many styles in between, the music programming at Pique winter edition promises to be as dynamic and eclectic as ever, drawing inspiration from underground music scenes worldwide. Musicians from Los Angeles and New York converge with Canadian and local artists for cross-pollination and discovery.

Guest curators provide Afrocentric perspectives, with live music and culinary artistry presented by AMASHOWZA and a visual arts exhibition curated by YANAMINAH (visual artists and chef to be announced). Building on the principles of AMASHOWZA Live, this multi-venue curation will also feature the global sounds of DJ VIIBZ throughout the night.

VICTIME

YANAMINAH

ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE

As always, Pique is all ages and pay-what-you-can. Radically inclusive, safer, and more accessible, Pique’s programming is designed to cultivate shared understanding, joy, and social impact.

The event site is accessible, and detailed accessibility notes are categorized on our accessibility page.

Our EQUIPE harm reduction team will be on-site to support audience members, and our staff and volunteers are trained with harm reduction strategies to support audience members throughout the event.

PARTNERS AND FUNDERS

Pique is presented in partnership with the Arts Court, SAW, Artengine, Ottawa Fringe, Digital Arts Resource Centre, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa Dance Directive, and Produced by Youth, with support from Dominion City Brewing Company, Kilam Media, Wall Sound, Also Cool, Postering Ottawa, n.10.as, and CKCU FM, and is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, Ontario Trillium Foundation, the City of Ottawa, and the SOCAN Foundation.

MEDIA KIT

Photo: Feza Lugoma

Photo: Peter Wiercioch