This text is part of the special notebook Center of Montreal Memories
“Here and there / scattered across the grid / of alleys and thoroughfares / of this city / these people who in their own way / are its pulse. » It is with these verses from Pierre-Étienne Locas that the Detours. Urban meetings, one of the two inaugural exhibitions of the new Montreal Memories Center (MEM). Titled Celebrate Le Chaînon. 90 years of dedication to womenthe second underlines the 90e anniversary of this organization well known to Montrealers. Visit to a museum that lets you discover “Montreal” through the voice and eyes of its citizens.
There is a hidden cave in a park in the Saint-Léonard district. In Pointe-Saint-Charles lives an enthusiast whose garage is filled with fossils of marine animals from Montreal. In the courtyard of the house of this lady of Sicilian origin, Italy grows in every corner in the form of a fruit garden so abundant that the Forbidden Fruits organization gets its supplies from it.
“ Detours is an immersive experience that immerses us in meeting 18 Montreal citizens through video capsules, explains the creative director of the audiovisual production of the exhibition, Nicolas Saint-Cyr. She sees Montreal from another angle. » Literally, since, to view certain capsules, you have to climb a staircase or bend over to get inside a box.
“The scenography,” explains Geneviève Larouche, responsible for exhibitions at the MEM, “reproduces urban wandering from which beautiful discoveries due to chance can emerge. »
Unusual, diversity and resilience
The exhibition itself can be visited at random since “the room rolls independently. It is the visitor who activates the capsules,” explains Mr. Saint-Cyr. Except that every 12 minutes, everything turns off to make way for projections audible to all visitors. “In all, there are 90 minutes of individual and collective encounters with a unique Montreal that are offered thanks to a collaboration with incredible creators,” underlines Mme Larouche.
“We hope that visitors come away with greater pride in their Montreal identity,” explains the museologist. How, in fact, can we not be seduced by this lady who sees spiritual meaning in her success in growing banana trees in her Montreal backyard? “We filtered more than 200 profiles. With a team of researchers assembled by Urbaniawith whom the collaboration was such that we ended up forming a single brain, we chose the unusual, diversity, resilience,” she mentions.
Eco-responsibility and feminism
Reflecting the values of the Montreal Memory Center, the two exhibitions were developed with eco-responsibility in mind. For example, underlines Geneviève Larouche, the structures of the sets were assembled mechanically, without glue, which means that they are easily dismantled and reusable. Furthermore, Écoscéno, an NPO promoting the circular economy in the cultural sector, accompanied the team of the second inaugural exhibition, Celebrate The Link, in its eco-design. “The panels are printed on recycled and recyclable cardboard and are displayed on a modular system that can be easily modified for future exhibitions,” comments Mme Larouche, who affirms that these actions are only the beginning and that the MEM wishes to go much further.
It was Sylvie Bourbonnière, general director of La Fondation Le Chaînon, who proposed to the Center the idea of an exhibition retracing the history of her organization. “In particular, memories of volunteers who have been present since the beginning are on display,” explains M.me Bourbonnière, like those evenings spent listening to a volunteer play the accordion” and whose instrument is presented in a window. We also watch interviews given by these “urban missionaries” and recount key moments in the evolution of the Chain.
“We also wanted to emphasize that if Le Chaînon still exists, it is largely thanks to the support of citizens,” emphasizes Sylvie Bourbonnière. This inaugural exhibition “is part of the MEM’s desire to tell the history of Montreal through a plurality of voices,” recalls Geneviève Larouche, who leaves the final word to the general director of La Fondation Le Chaînon , according to whom “the little history of the Chaînon is part of the great history of Montreal women”.
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