This text is part of the Summer of Museums special booklet
More than ideal family outings, the exhibitions offered by Espace pour la vie and the Science Center offer the youngest a start in understanding the world around us, and the oldest an opportunity to “create an emotional contact with nature. “.
Over the past fifteen years, Space for Life, the largest natural science complex in the country, has increased its investments. The objective behind the $200 million deployed since 2008-2009 is clear: to enable the museum complex, which includes the Biodôme, the Botanical Garden, the Biosphere, the Insectarium and the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, “to better accomplish its mission experience nature”, explains Julie Jodoin, acting director of the organization.
“We all share a great desire to act in the face of the climate emergency, and Espace pour la vie has a key role to play in the citizen mobilization necessary to accelerate the socio-ecological transition,” says Julie Jodoin. Each of our experiences and our actions aims to create an emotional contact with nature, to make people want to protect it, to love it and, ultimately, to act to preserve it. »
On the scale of nature
Space for Life’s latest investment, the new Insectarium recently completed its metamorphosis. Three years of work and a budget of 38 million dollars have transformed the first museum dedicated to insects in North America into a new immersive experience. Today, a visit promises to reinvent our relationship with insects, “in order to better understand the essential role they play in biodiversity”, explains Julie Jodoin.
The building, designed by the firms Kuehn Malvezzi, Pelletier de Fontenay and Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes, has already received an award for excellence in architecture since its unveiling. Open since April 13, it is full daily. A success that can be explained by the fact that the place, from its development to its mandate, invites us to rethink our relationship with insects, then to value and develop respect for their role in ecosystems, believes Julie Jodoin.
“The pandemic has opened our eyes to the importance of science and the protection of biodiversity, underlines Julie Jodoin. We must preserve it more than ever, and Space for Life wants to mobilize citizens, but also to equip them, and show them the role they can play. We take the bet that living an immersive experience, entering into a relationship with nature, then makes you want to take action and change your behavior. »
Between education and action
The same approach guides all the redesigns of the five institutions of the museum complex. In 2020, the new Biodôme opened its doors, a makeover at a cost of 37 million. The large white walls, which coat the ecosystems, offer a walk in the heart of the fauna and flora of the Americas, while revealing the rich heritage of the place, the former Velodrome designed by Roger Taillibert for the 1976 Olympic Games And the success is undeniable, while visits have been attracting young and old since the fall.
Currently, the Biosphere, the youngest of the Space for Life museums, is undergoing a facelift. Called the Museum of the Environment, the place aims to become more anchored in the community, in order to become “a place of meeting and call to action in the face of the urgency to act in the face of climate change”, reveals Julie Jodoin.
“It’s a change of posture. Our objective, with the Biosphere, is to prioritize concrete actions. The great ecological transition will not take place between us, between researchers from a single museum: it must mobilize all the players in society. »
The administration of the Biosphere is currently developing a citizens’ room, where Space for Life will hold educational workshops and the dissemination of knowledge, particularly in terms of conservation and research.
“We want the Biosphere to host discussions on socio-ecological transition. If we really want to respond to the aspirations of the community, it has to feel involved,” says Julie Jodoin.
On the menu: understanding what challenges citizens about climate change, and collectively determining promising themes that can encourage them to take concrete action as citizens.
Cultivation in the garden
Space for Life’s flagship institution, the Botanical Garden, for its part, is getting ready to adorn itself with its finest finery, with the flowering season in May. A moment, spring, when the visit is memorable, and which remains so from year to year thanks to the budget reserved for the maintenance of this heritage site which will celebrate its 100 years in 2031.
“The Botanical Garden is anchored in the hearts of Montrealers, illustrates Julie Jodoin. But it is also a meeting place, where three cultural gardens allow us to connect with communities, and where the arboretum offers us a different perspective on what makes up Quebec”.
Various events, such as the Great Gardening Weekend at the end of May, National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, and the series The arts come to the gardenwhere artists and musicians will offer performances in the heart of nature this summer, will also punctuate the meeting aspect that animates the institution.
But the Botanical Garden is also a vibrant place of technological research, “because plants offer innovative ways to solve environmental problems”, specifies Julie Jodoin. Unknown to the public, this function of the museum, which is duplicated in a high place of knowledge and research between researchers, botanists and university partners, allows the Botanical Garden to remain anchored in its time, believes Julie Jodoin.
Moreover, the Garden proved its usefulness when everything was closed. In the midst of a pandemic, the Botanical Garden experienced an increase in its attendance, going from 250,000 visitors in 2020 to 1 million in 2021, a result obtained despite severe health restrictions. Year after year, it’s nearly 2 million visitors a year, with a proportion of about 40% foreign tourists. This is the goal that Space for Life has set itself for its five museums this year, which corresponds to revenue of around $30 million.
“One of the lessons of the pandemic is that humans and nature are intrinsically linked, concludes Julie Jodoin. Climate change threatens biodiversity, as we know. We therefore have a duty to act for its protection, and Space for Life has more than ever a unifying role to play. Our mission is to restore the power to act. We bring together five heritage institutions, which are custodians of prestigious collections, and we have a duty to mobilize civil society around what makes the beauty of the world around us. »
A scientific world
The world around us is also a world of curiosities, which are mostly explained by science. That, the Montreal Science Center has understood, and this summer is offering two temporary exhibitions aimed at families. From May 12 until September 5, the only Science Center in Quebec will offer a new interactive exhibition on the science behind world records.
Through fun activities focused on strength, balance, speed and dexterity, the museum will invite young and old to break certain records, but above all to understand the logic behind the impressive.
Another temporary exhibition, Beyond human limitsdevoted to extreme sports, is added to the summer programming of the Science Centre, which still relies on its permanent offers, in particular Fabric, Human, Mini Mondo and Explore — Big science.
Ensuring that scientific content becomes “so fascinating that we want to know more” is at the heart of the Science Centre’s DNA, believes Cybèle Robichaud, director. Open since 1er May 2000, the establishment of the Old Port of Montreal was able to “develop expertise in raising awareness” and a capacity to “generate the interest of families for scientific content. »
“What’s fantastic is that after 22 years of existence, we are beginning to see the return of those who visited us when we first started,” concludes Cybèle Robichaud. Parents today who were in a school group in the past, and who tell us that their interest in science began here. We have made it our mission to be a first contact for young people with science. »
With a host of new interactive activities for families, we can bet that a new generation of future researchers will form within the walls of the Science Center this summer.