Lineup
Across multiple floors of Arts Court, audiences will encounter performances that move effortlessly between experimental composition, contemporary club culture, immersive installation, participatory art, and live performance.
The festival welcomes internationally celebrated artists including DJ Haram, whose uncompromising hybrid of club music, hip hop, experimental electronics, and West Asian musical traditions has made her one of the most vital voices in contemporary electronic music. Lisbon pioneer DJ Marfox, one of the architects of the influential Príncipe Records scene, brings his explosive fusion of Afro-Portuguese rhythms and futuristic dance music, while New York noise trio Kill Alters deliver an ecstatic collision of industrial electronics, post-punk, and ritualistic performance.
Rare performances also come from dream-pop duo You'll Never Get to Heaven, whose lush, intimate sound has quietly earned an international following, and filmmaker, musician, broadcaster, and cultural icon Sook-Yin Lee, who appears with her “anti-band” for a genre-defying live performance blending experimental music and performance art.
Pique continues its commitment to presenting artists reshaping Canada's musical landscape with performances by local Afro-rap innovator Banggz and Montréal-based Caribbean futurist Mani Saint, while Plantains & Caviar, Ottawa's celebrated series dedicated to Pan-African electronic music and diasporic club culture, curates an open-air ambiance that carries those rhythms throughout the evening. Elsewhere, Toronto improviser and saxophonist Karen Ng explores the intersection of acoustic and electronic sound, Ottawa hyperpop trio Los3r channel internet culture, emo, and glitch aesthetics into an emotionally charged electronic performance, and local multimedia artist, DJ, and producer Gette Engine delivers genre-melting club music rooted in Black and queer internet culture. DJs Monib and Mona Monet, keep audiences moving across the festival's many musical worlds.
Contemporary classical music also finds new forms through askiy collective, whose performance of Indigenous contemporary works includes the premiere of renowned Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha' Tate's I̱hollo Taloowa' (Love Songs) alongside music by Indigenous composers that weaves together flute, piano, viola, improvisation, and projection.
Contemporary Indigenous practice is also explored through sadbirthdays, the experimental music project of Tsuut'ina/Amskapi Piikani/Cree multidisciplinary artist seth cardinal dodginghorse. Blending shoegaze, slowcore, indie rock, and field recordings from their Treaty 7 homelands, their deeply personal work reflects on land, displacement, and intergenerational memory.
Throughout the building, visitors will encounter immersive visual art and participatory experiences. Vancouver interdisciplinary artist Nancy Lee presents OSMOSi: 422 Unprocessable Entity (sponsored by Goldblatt Partners), an ambitious multimedia performance exploring artificial intelligence, gig economy labour, and digital consciousness through movement, projection, sound, and interactive costume design. Local artist Kim Farris-Manning invites audiences into a tactile exploration of forest ecologies through sound, storytelling, and environmental stewardship, while experimental filmmaker Nicole Blundell transforms celluloid into a canvas for animation, inviting visitors to create hand-worked 16mm film that will become part of a collective artwork. Ghost Rooster Collective, an interdisciplinary group of disabled Ottawa artists, brings accessibility and disability solidarity into the festival through a joyful, disruptive exploration of costume, movement, and collective celebration.
One of Pique's signature annual celebrations also returns with the third annual Queertopia 3000 Kiki Ball, presented by Legendary Overall Motha Maldita Siriano and Yéila Siriano. Celebrating ballroom culture through performance, fashion, creativity, and chosen family, Queertopia has become one of Ottawa's most joyful queer cultural events, welcoming both renowned legends and new audiences into the world of kiki ballroom culture.
Check out our artist playlist to preview the Pique #21 lineup!
The festival welcomes internationally celebrated artists including DJ Haram, whose uncompromising hybrid of club music, hip hop, experimental electronics, and West Asian musical traditions has made her one of the most vital voices in contemporary electronic music. Lisbon pioneer DJ Marfox, one of the architects of the influential Príncipe Records scene, brings his explosive fusion of Afro-Portuguese rhythms and futuristic dance music, while New York noise trio Kill Alters deliver an ecstatic collision of industrial electronics, post-punk, and ritualistic performance.
Rare performances also come from dream-pop duo You'll Never Get to Heaven, whose lush, intimate sound has quietly earned an international following, and filmmaker, musician, broadcaster, and cultural icon Sook-Yin Lee, who appears with her “anti-band” for a genre-defying live performance blending experimental music and performance art.
Pique continues its commitment to presenting artists reshaping Canada's musical landscape with performances by local Afro-rap innovator Banggz and Montréal-based Caribbean futurist Mani Saint, while Plantains & Caviar, Ottawa's celebrated series dedicated to Pan-African electronic music and diasporic club culture, curates an open-air ambiance that carries those rhythms throughout the evening. Elsewhere, Toronto improviser and saxophonist Karen Ng explores the intersection of acoustic and electronic sound, Ottawa hyperpop trio Los3r channel internet culture, emo, and glitch aesthetics into an emotionally charged electronic performance, and local multimedia artist, DJ, and producer Gette Engine delivers genre-melting club music rooted in Black and queer internet culture. DJs Monib and Mona Monet, keep audiences moving across the festival's many musical worlds.
Contemporary classical music also finds new forms through askiy collective, whose performance of Indigenous contemporary works includes the premiere of renowned Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichcha̱achaaha' Tate's I̱hollo Taloowa' (Love Songs) alongside music by Indigenous composers that weaves together flute, piano, viola, improvisation, and projection.
Contemporary Indigenous practice is also explored through sadbirthdays, the experimental music project of Tsuut'ina/Amskapi Piikani/Cree multidisciplinary artist seth cardinal dodginghorse. Blending shoegaze, slowcore, indie rock, and field recordings from their Treaty 7 homelands, their deeply personal work reflects on land, displacement, and intergenerational memory.
Throughout the building, visitors will encounter immersive visual art and participatory experiences. Vancouver interdisciplinary artist Nancy Lee presents OSMOSi: 422 Unprocessable Entity (sponsored by Goldblatt Partners), an ambitious multimedia performance exploring artificial intelligence, gig economy labour, and digital consciousness through movement, projection, sound, and interactive costume design. Local artist Kim Farris-Manning invites audiences into a tactile exploration of forest ecologies through sound, storytelling, and environmental stewardship, while experimental filmmaker Nicole Blundell transforms celluloid into a canvas for animation, inviting visitors to create hand-worked 16mm film that will become part of a collective artwork. Ghost Rooster Collective, an interdisciplinary group of disabled Ottawa artists, brings accessibility and disability solidarity into the festival through a joyful, disruptive exploration of costume, movement, and collective celebration.
One of Pique's signature annual celebrations also returns with the third annual Queertopia 3000 Kiki Ball, presented by Legendary Overall Motha Maldita Siriano and Yéila Siriano. Celebrating ballroom culture through performance, fashion, creativity, and chosen family, Queertopia has become one of Ottawa's most joyful queer cultural events, welcoming both renowned legends and new audiences into the world of kiki ballroom culture.
Check out our artist playlist to preview the Pique #21 lineup!