Pique #21

Pique returns with its most ambitious edition yet—and for the first time ever, admission is FREE. Transforming Arts Court into a vibrant playground of adventurous music, immersive art, performance, and unexpected encounters, Pique #21 brings together boundary-pushing artists from across disciplines, genres, and geographies. Featuring artists from across Canada and beyond, this season's programming spans genre-defying electronics, contemporary Indigenous practices, ballroom cultures, futuristic experiments in sound, multimedia installation, unexpected creative interventions, and more.  Presented as part of Nuit Blanche Ottawa and the Ottawa 200 anniversary celebrations, this landmark edition is free to attend for the first time, inviting audiences to experience one of the city's most eclectic cultural events. EXPLORE THE LINEUP Across multiple floors of Arts Court, Pique #21 brings together an expansive mix of experimental music, contemporary club culture, live performance, immersive installation, and participatory art. The program spans electronic, noise, hip hop, hyperpop, ambient, contemporary classical, improvisation, and global club sounds, with artists drawing from Indigenous, Black, and queer cultural traditions. Audiences will encounter everything from live a/v, film, and multimedia production, to participatory performance, immersive installation and collective art-making. The program moves between intimate and ecstatic, analog and digital, traditional and futuristic—centering artists who use their practices to explore identity, land, technology, disability, memory, community, and new forms of cultural expression. QUEERTOPIA 3000 One of Pique's signature annual celebrations also returns with the third annual Queertopia Kiki Ball 3000, 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. TOPIQUE Running alongside the festival, Topique, Pique's artist-led symposium exploring equity, sustainability, and creative practice, returns on September 26 with a dedicated day of conversations, workshops, and knowledge exchange. This year's program will explore themes including community-led world building, music distribution in the age of platform capitalism, and the role of archives, memory, and cultural stewardship in shaping independent creative futures. Admission to Topique will once again be pay-what-you-can, ensuring accessibility for artists, cultural workers, and the public. The full symposium program will be announced in the coming weeks. ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE As always, Pique is all ages. Arts Court is an accessible building, with elevator access to all levels. Check out our full accessibility guide for more info, and contact us at hello@debaser.ca to request support. The EQUIPE harm reduction team will be on-site to support audience members and hand out free supplies thanks to our partners at MAX Ottawa. Pique staff and volunteers are trained in bystander intervention and harm reduction strategies to support audience members throughout the event.