Luxembourg Sets Sights on Strengthening Cultural Cooperation with Quebec

As part of his official visit to Quebec to participate in the fifth Conference of Ministers of Culture of the Francophonie, Luxembourg's Minister for Culture, Eric Thill, travelled to Montreal on Sunday 25 and Monday 26 May 2025 to strengthen cultural ties between Luxembourg and Quebec, Canada.

Accompanied by Jean-Claude Kugener, Luxembourg's Ambassador to Canada, and Guy Daleiden, Director of Film Fund Luxembourg, Minister Thill conducted a series of interviews and field visits focused on developing cooperation in the fields of audiovisual production, digital innovation and immersive works.

As reported by Luxembourg's Ministry of Culture, the visit included discussions with Luxembourg cultural professionals working in Montreal, including Martine Dennewald, Co-Artistic Director and Co-Executive Director of the Festival TransAmériques, and Suzan Noesen, artist and filmmaker.

The ministerial delegation also visited the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, led by Jacques Des Rochers, Chief Curator of Quebec and Canadian Art, and his assistant, Elisabeth Otto, for a discussion on curatorial practices and the role of collections in public outreach.

The ministry said a central part of the visit was devoted to studios specialising in immersive technologies. At the DPT studio, Minister Thill met with Nicolas Roy, President and Creative Director, to strengthen existing cooperation and explore new opportunities for collaboration. DPT is notably one of the studios behind Oto's Planet, a co-production between Quebec and Luxembourg that has won several international awards. The delegation then visited Felix & Paul Studios, an award-winning creator specialising in virtual reality (VR), where Minister Thill discussed future avenues of collaboration with co-founder and CEO Stéphane Rituit.

At the PHI Studio and the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, Luxembourg's Culture Minister met with founder Phoebe Greenberg and Myriam Achard, Head of Partnerships and Public Relations. The Culture Ministry noted that Luxembourg has already collaborated with PHI on several projects in recent years, although these discussions identified new avenues of cooperation in the digital field, immersive creation and the mediation of these artistic formats.

Minister Thill commented: "Quebec is particularly inspiring as a cultural landscape at the crossroads of artistic creation, technology and international exchange. Building strong ties with such creative ecosystems reinforces our ambition for Luxembourg's creativity in the international environment."

The visit continued at the Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) and OASIS Immersion, two major players and spaces in the presentation of immersive works. The ministry reported that discussions with officials about their innovative models for public communication of digital art are directly linked to the ongoing discussions in Luxembourg on the role of culture in urban public spaces.

The ministry concluded that Minister Thill's working mission strengthened Luxembourg's cultural presence internationally and identified concrete opportunities for collaboration in the areas of audiovisual co-production, artist residencies and innovative exhibition formats.