Work has been accumulating for several years at Place des Arts, whether it is the renovation of the Esplanade in 2018 or the current transformation of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art. While these projects aim to bring the sixty-year-old cultural complex up to date, a new exterior work inaugurated on Tuesday intends, on the contrary, to celebrate its original brutalist architecture.
Titled Orbsthe spherical installation by SpY, a pioneer of urban art in Spain, is made up of 90 polished steel mirrors. This is the first work on Canadian soil by the artist, who remains anonymous in the manner of Banksy.
Clothilde Cardinal, director of programming at Place des Arts, is pleased to revitalize the complex with this monument which will be installed there for five years. “Located in the fountain in the heart of the Esplanade,” she underlines, “the sphere echoes the modernist architecture of Place des Arts, thanks to its industrial materials and its mirrors which reflect the surrounding buildings.”
Its retrofuturist style also recalls the period of construction of the complex (1961-1963), evoking the Biosphere or the works of art of the Montreal metro.
The project was born at the initiative of Nicolas Munn Rico, president and founder of the Mural Festival. It was his team who chose the work in collaboration with the artist and who made sure to find the necessary financing. Mural raised around half a million dollars for the occasion, with the help of Tourisme Montréal and the Quebec government’s Signature Metropole Fund.
“Objects of urban life”
Contacted by email to maintain his anonymity, SpY claims to have wanted to “reinterpret objects of contemporary urban life, in this case convex traffic mirrors”. “Familiar to everyone, but generally ignored,” continues the artist, “these objects have been recontextualized in order to place the viewer in a fragmented reflection that transforms over the hours. »
“When the Place des Arts was proposed to me for the installation of the sculpture,” adds SpY, “it seemed to me to be the ideal place, both for its cultural content, its social symbolism and its precise location in the city of Montreal. »
Orbs was not, however, tailor-made for Place des Arts. Originally, the work was born as part of a project installed in front of the pyramids of Giza, in Cairo. “It was an incredible challenge to work in such an important environment, surrounded by such cultural and historical heritage,” says the artist. I knew I had to create a dialogue with space that was respectful enough not to generate friction with the geometry and materiality of the pyramids and the desert. »
When the Place des Arts was proposed to me for the installation of the sculpture, adds SpY, it seemed to me to be the ideal place, both for its cultural content, its social symbolism and its precise location in the city from Montreal.
Mural thinks big
It was therefore the Mural team which then had the idea of transposing Orbs in the Quebec metropolis, where it will be presented exclusively for the next five years.
“This is our most important non-festival project to date,” says Cindy Audrey, programming manager at Mural. We are gradually expanding our activities throughout the year, first with taking on mural projects, and today with this sculptural installation. […] In the longer term, we even dream of opening our own permanent exhibition space. »
The festival, founded in 2013, attracts thousands of visitors every summer to Saint-Laurent Boulevard, which becomes pedestrian for the occasion, in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal. If the festival’s paid concerts were presented at the Peel Basin last summer, because of the work that was taking place on the “Main”, they will return to Saint-Laurent next August, assures Cindy Audrey.
Clothilde Cardinal hopes to collaborate again with Mural, emphasizing the importance of urban art for efforts to revalorize Place des Arts: “Both tourists outside and visitors to our rooms will be able to see this work which promises to become an emblem of the city of Montreal. »