What to do in Montreal today: It’s Nuit Blanche!

It’s Nuit Blanche in Montreal! For our list of Top 21 recommended events happening today and tonight, look here. See our Top 11 below.

Firstly, Phi Centre’s annual Nuit Blanche party is the Cult MTL co-signed Simulation/Accélération. Expect DJsets by NDN (aka former Tribe Called Red member Ian Campeau), Zandoli II (aka Tonton Osman and GLOWZI) and Sies Marlan (aka Anne Bertrand) and Juju Le Moko, as well as participatory installations and performances. 407 St-Pierre, Montreal, 9 p.m.–3 a.m., free

Next door at Phi Foundation, Eva & Franco Mattes and Phil Collins exhibits will also be open until midnight, with Eddie Jude Hareven facilitating a conflict management workshop, one proposing we use the “principles and foundations of transformative justice and prison abolition in our everyday relationships.” Soul Summit will end the evening with a DJ set. (Note that reservations are required and space is limited. Contact education@phi-foundation.org.) 465 St-Jean, Montreal, 8–10:30 p.m., free

Sheuetam is an interactive and immersive 24-hour performance by Soleil Launière (Innue, Mashteuiatsh) a graduate from the National Theatre School’s Artistic Residency Program, in which the sonic accompaniment is created by the electric charges generated both by her body and by plants. National Theatre School (5030 St-Denis), 2 p.m. Feb. 29–2 p.m. March 1

Also on the marathon tip, Music Is My Sanctuary’s annual 24 Hours of Vinyl will rock around the clock at Agora de la Danse. The event’s 20th edition promises over 20 DJs and a record fair on Sunday. 1435 de Bleury, 9 p.m. Feb. 29–9 p.m. March 1

A Night Under the Peruvian Sun! Check out Nuit blanche at Pointe-à-Callière in Montreal and see the amazing The Incas, Treasures of Peru exhibition for free! 350 Place Royale, Montreal, 8 p.m. – 2 a.m., free

Additionally, the annual art fest Art Souterrain, which uses Nuit Blanche as a launching pad (and runs, this year, through March 22), hypes their Journey to the Centre of the Earth as the world’s biggest escape game. After all, it stretches the length of the Underground City. Through puzzles and interactive games by Échappe-toi Montréal, whose crew of actors will be on hand, audiences of all ages will see artworks of all kinds and familiarize themselves with Montreal’s history and contemporary art. Starting point at Place d’Armes metro (960 St-Urbain), 6 p.m.–12 a.m., $25

Billing itself as the “trashiest sleepover in town,” SPASM also promises a line-up of weird short films and a line-up of drag performances at none other than Café Cléopâtre. 1230 St-Laurent, 2nd floor), 7 p.m.–3 a.m. $5

The converted dance of our ancestors is “a multimedia choreographic performance…inspired by the ancestral dances of Mexico” that will integrate mapping software and projections with not only dancers’ movements, but those of the public as well. The Cultural Institute of Mexico Montreal (2055 Peel), 7 p.m.–12 a.m., free

The Canadian Centre for Architecture and Fantasia International Film Festival have teamed up to present a Soviet double bill called A New World in One Night, featuring Planet of Storms (1962) and Per Aspera Ad Astra (1981), both enchanting and kitsch sci-fi gems. 1920 Baile, Montreal, 8 p.m.–2 a.m., free

The 12th edition of the Massimadi Afro LGBTQ film fest also wraps with the Dance the Revolution party at la Sala Rossa. On the bill: queer Montreal rapper Backxwash and a “mystery DJ.” 4848 St-Laurent, Montreal, 8 p.m.–3 a.m., free

Finally, Peikutipishkua promises an evening of short films by Indigenous artists as a celebration of Indigenous knowledge and to “honour the voices that have protected and will protect the water, air and land.” (NR) Monument National (1182 St-Laurent), 10 p.m.–1 a.m., free

To read the latest issue of Cult MTL for more to do in Montreal, click here.

For our latest To-Do List for things to do in Montreal, please also click here.

Additionally, to vote for your favourite Montreal people and things in the Best of MTL readers poll, click here.

Montreal Listings

You can also check our Listings for more Montreal events in nightlife, and things to do. Similarly, for more concert recommendations, see this week’s edition of Hammer of the Mods.