DJ Haram, DJ Marfox, Banggz, Sook-Yin Lee anti-band, You'll Never Get to Heaven, the return of the Queertopia Kiki Ball, and more will participate in the first-ever free edition of Pique as part of Nuit Blanche Ottawa
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Debaser is proud to unveil the full lineup for Pique #21, a landmark edition of Ottawa's leading multidisciplinary arts festival taking place Saturday, September 26, 2026, at Arts Court. Presented in partnership with Nuit Blanche Ottawa and Ottawa 200, this year’s festival marks a first for Pique: free admission for all, made possible with support from the Ottawa Nightlife Office and Downtown Rideau. With this support, Pique transforms Arts Court into an all-night free celebration of adventurous music, art, performance, installation, and community, expanding access to underground culture and inviting the whole city to take part.
Building on the momentum of its fifth anniversary earlier this year, Pique returns with one of its most ambitious programs to date, bringing together internationally acclaimed artists, boundary-pushing local creators, immersive installations, participatory projects, contemporary performance, experimental music, ballroom culture, and club sounds from across the globe.
"For five years, Pique has been dedicated to creating space for artists who challenge convention and audiences who are eager to discover something unexpected," says Rachel Weldon, Founder and Director of Debaser and Pique. "This lineup reflects everything we love about the festival: artists who blur disciplines, communities coming together across different scenes, and experiences that invite curiosity, participation, and joy. Making this edition free means more people than ever can experience the creativity that exists in our city alongside remarkable artists from across Canada and beyond."
PROGRAMMING
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.
TOPIQUE RETURNS
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.
A CITY-WIDE CELEBRATION
As part of Ottawa 200 anniversary festivities and the long-awaited return of Nuit Blanche Ottawa, Pique #21 contributes to a city-wide celebration. By making this edition free for the first time, Debaser will welcome thousands of residents and visitors to discover artists working at the forefront of music, visual art, performance, and creative experimentation.
From internationally recognized innovators to emerging local voices, Pique continues its mission of connecting Ottawa's independent arts community with groundbreaking artists from across Canada and around the world while transforming Arts Court into one of the country's most distinctive cultural destinations.
EVENT DETAILS
What: Pique #21
When: September 26, 2026
Where: Arts Court (entrance at 10 Daly Ave, Ottawa, ON)
Admission cost: FREE
RSVP: thisispique.com
LINEUP
ABOUT PIQUE
Launched in 2021, Pique is Debaser's flagship multidisciplinary festival series, presenting adventurous music, visual art, installation, performance, and participatory projects from local, national, and international artists. Pique transforms Arts Court into a vibrant meeting place for artists and audiences through accessible, artist-driven programming that celebrates experimentation, collaboration, and creative discovery.
ABOUT DEBASER
Since 2013, Debaser has been one of Ottawa's leading independent music and multidisciplinary arts presenters, championing underrepresented artists and creating inclusive spaces for artistic experimentation, collaboration, and community connection.
PARTNERS AND FUNDERS
Pique is presented in partnership with Arts Court and its resident organizations –– SAW, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa Dance Directive, Ottawa Fringe, Digital Arts Resource Centre, Artengine, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Canadian Film Institute, Produced by Youth–– as well as Downtown Rideau, Dominion City Brewing Company, Goldblatt Partners, Voix Visuelle, The Embassy of Finland, Exclaim!, FEST, and is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada, City of Ottawa Nightlife Office, Ontario Creates, FACTOR, and the City of Ottawa.
