The five new stations of the blue line of the Montreal metro will each have their work of art, yet to be imagined, created and laid. The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) announced on Wednesday the five artists chosen to work closely with the architects in order to enrich the artistic heritage of the métro. Nadia Myre will create for the Anjou station, Jocelyne Alloucherie at Viau, Alain Paiement at Lacordaire, Marc Séguin at Langelier and Ludovic Boney at the next Pie-IX station.
“Our intention was not to select works, as is traditionally done, but to choose this time rather artists, so that they can work on the design hand in hand with the architects”, explained to the To have to Maha Clour, director of the extension of the blue line.
Will the works be monumental? Or will it be small, discreet gestures integrated into the environment, to be discovered over time, like the 32 vertical strips of textured aluminum on the walls of the Mont-Royal metro, signed by Charles Daudelin in 1966? It will be a surprise, because if the artists have made known to the jury the main lines of their visions, “the work of design and reflection of the five new works of art is starting. We’ll find out more in the coming months.”
Art with great constraints
The design and production budgets for the works vary between 1 and 1.5 million dollars. They are determined by the Policy for the integration of the arts into architecture, according to the volume of the stations where the works will be nested — the Anjou station thus having a better envelope, because it will be larger.
The artist selection committee was led by the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC). The jury was made up of experts chosen by the MCC, the former president of the STM Philippe Schnobb, who represented the users, a representative of the STM and another speaking on behalf of the designer architects.
“We started from a bank of more than 600 artists to make a pre-selection of 20 of them”, explained Mme Clour. These 20 artists then presented “the guidelines of their vision”. The criteria with which the jury juggled “had a great deal to do with the durability of the works”, recounts the director.
“The STM, over the past 50 years, has developed expertise in durable materials that last and require minimal maintenance in the network. They are integrated into a big book, Metro design standards and criteria, transmitted to the artists, which they had to respect. And all of that comes with an architectural order that the artists are also aware of. »
Are the chosen artists aware of the lineage and the artistic history in which they belong? “Yes, we are most likely inspired a lot by the heritage aspect of our metro network in Montreal,” breathes the director.
All the artists chosen have confirmed careers and notoriety. They are established, and there is no surprising member of the next generation, as observed by Laurent Vernet, art historian and specialist in public art. “There is clearly a concern for representativeness, both in terms of parity and diversity. These five artists all have their place in the metro. »
Engineering, safety, aesthetics
“The idea of pairing artists with architects is really interesting,” says Laurent Vernet. We come back to a modus operandi closer to creation than to the search for an object to integrate into a metro station. »
However, continues the guest researcher in art history at the University of Montreal, we must think about how this collaboration will happen to be fruitful. “The metro is part of the major metropolitan facilities, and serves a large community. Working there comes with major engineering and safety issues, which often go beyond the artistic issues. »
“If we want there to be a real space of freedom of creation, a real collaboration between artists and architects, we have to make sure that this freedom is protected, or circumscribed. It requires both on the part of the owner to be vigilant in this regard; it is up to the architect to fully welcome the creative gesture and make it navigate through the other processes; and the artist, probably, having to claim his place at certain times…” believes the specialist.