DEFRAG: Archive of Synthetic Dreams

DEFRAG: Archive of Synthetic Dreams

November 18–19, 2026 · The Permanent · Vancouver

The archive remembers. The machine dreams. DEFRAG brings the fragments together.

DEFRAG brings artists, researchers and audiences together through moving images, generative installations, live audiovisual performance and creative AI workshops.

In computing, defragmentation gathers scattered pieces of data. Here, it becomes a way to think about cultural memory: images, bodies, sounds and histories broken apart and recombined through digital systems. What do we preserve, what do machines invent, and what emerges between the two?

Presented by Ministry of Next, in collaboration with SFU’s Metacreation Lab and Internet Archive Canada, inside The Permanent—home to servers preserving the internet’s past.

Exhibition + Screenings

Explore synthetic environments, shifting identities and fragments of networked culture through:

Dreamscape — Erica Lapadat-Janzen and Philippe Pasquier

Ensemble — Arshia Sobhan and Philippe Pasquier

SlowCore — Bingmiao Zheng and Philippe Pasquier

Model of Me — Carla Gannis

Am I the Machine? Am I the Home? — Carla Gannis, in collaboration with Cleveland Adams

Petting Zoo: Epic Biblical — Lorna Mills

November 18 — Workshops + Exhibition Preview

An afternoon of shared experimentation with creative AI, alongside a preview of the exhibition.

Workshop and demonstration topics include:

AutoLume

Kiln — model bending

MIDI-GPT, with Paul Triana

Fragmenta, with Misagh Azimi

The evening includes a screening of Ways of Something, Episode 1, compiled by Lorna Mills with participating artists, alongside exhibition preview viewing.

November 19 — Exhibition + Live Program

6:00–11:00 p.m.

An evening of exhibition viewing, conversation and live audiovisual performance, featuring:

Carl Faia: Shelley’s Dream — Study I: A Strange Multiplicity of Sensations

A collaborative audiovisual performance by Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Philippe Pasquier, Paul Triana and Misagh Azimi

A techno set by Misagh Azimi

Tickets

All prices in Canadian dollars.

Early bird: $25 per day / $40 two-day pass

Regular: $30 per day / $50 two-day pass

Supporter: $75 two-day pass, with an additional contribution toward artist fees and production

Student and community discounts will be available.

Location

The Permanent330 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC

For accessibility questions, contact [email protected].

Curated and produced by Erica Lapadat-Janzen / Ministry of Next.

Developed with SFU’s Metacreation Lab and Internet Archive Canada, with support from the FCAT Knowledge Mobilization Activity Fund.