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MAJOR WORKS FROM THE QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES EXHIBITED ABROAD
Impulsion by Lateral Office and CS Design. Photo: Ulyse Lemerise/OSA Images
Montreal, October 4, 2016 - Impulsion and McLarena, two works created in Montreal and produced by the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, have been travelling to enchant audiences in London, Lugano and Indianapolis.
THE ILLUMINATED SEESAWS BY LATERAL OFFICE AND CS DESIGN WIN FANS WHEREVER THEY GO
Impulsion, the installation that delighted visitors to the Place des Festivals last winter during Luminothérapie, will soon charm audiences in London and Lugano. The travelling version of the interactive work will feature 15 illuminated, sound-producing seesaws. London residents and visitors can try them out from October 5 to 27 in Leicester Square, as part of the city’s Pause and Play Festival. The project is sponsored by the Heart of London Business Alliance. Lastly, it will visit the Swiss city of Lugano, on the main square of the LAC – Lugano Arte e Cultura festival, from December 1, 2016 to January 8, 2017. These are not the final stops for the popular interactive installation created by Lateral Office and CS Design: several other cities are in the process of making arrangements to host it soon.
Luminothérapie is Quebec’s largest competition for temporary installations. It is aimed at producing original interactive winter experiences for visitors to the Quartier des Spectacles, and at stimulating creativity in urban installations and digital art.
McLarena by Daily tous les jours. Photo: Martine Doyon
DANCING WITH McLAREN AND DAILY TOUS LES JOURS
The McLarena installation, created by Daily tous les jours, was presented at the Indianapolis light festival, IN Light IN, in August this year. This playful participatory work is inspired by the film Canon, made in 1964 by Norman McLaren and Grant Munro. The installation invites visitors to enter a shipping container converted into a studio and imitate the dance of the character in the film. A continuous video is created and projected on the side of an adjacent building.
The work was first presented in the Quartier des Spectacles, from April 11 to June 1, 2014, as part of the McLaren Wall to Wall event co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada and the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership.
“Works like Impulsion and McLarena put Montreal in the spotlight, and boost our city’s brand image. The Partnership’s work helps Montreal and its artists shine around the world, and presents our city as a world-class cultural destination,” said Mr. Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montreal.
A HIGHER PROFILE FOR THE QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES AND QUEBEC’S ARTISTS
The international recognition of the Quartier des Spectacles is the result of the Partnership’s efforts to promote its creators, productions and expertise on the international circuit. In recent years, the Partnership has ramped up its exchanges with other cultural cities and joined major international networks including the Connecting Cities Network and Lighting Urban Community International (LUCI), as well as the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN), an association of cities that have pooled their efforts and expertise on the management of cultural districts.
It is wonderful to see that the artworks and installations by artists and creators who work with the Partnership are providing inspiration for cultural districts elsewhere. We applaud their excellence and boldness,” said Mr. Jacques Primeau, chair of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership’s board of directors. “The Partnership is known for its innovative character, and it has emerged as a leader in the design and animation of open-air sites. We thank the Ville the Montréal for having decided to invest in programming for its public spaces.”
Left: 21 Swings in Colorado (Photo by Daily tous les jours). Right: Iceberg in Brussels (Photo by Eventattitude).
This is not the first time works created for the Quartier des Spectacles have attracted international interest. Installations such as 21 Swings, created by Montreal-based studio Daily tous les jours, have won international awards and generated significant media coverage in several countries. A version of 21 Swings was installed in Colorado for the Green Box Arts Festival. Other works, such as the Trouve Bob video projection by the Champagne Club Sandwich collective, and the monumental Iceberg installation by ATOMIC3 and Appareil Architecture, have been much appreciated in Europe.
ABOUT THE QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES
The Quartier des Spectacles is Montreal’s cultural heart, boasting North America’s most concentrated and diverse group of cultural venues. The district is the year-round host to countless festivals and events, many of which include free outdoor shows and activities. The Quartier hosts innovative urban installations involving cutting-edge lighting design, immersive environments or interactive digital spaces. Year round, the Quartier presents artistic video projections on several buildings. The Quartier des Spectacles is an international showcase for new multimedia technology, making Montreal a global leader in the urban exhibition of digital content. quartierdesspectacles.com
ABOUT THE QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES PARTNERSHIP
The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, founded in 2003, is a non-profit organization with some 60 members active in the district. Its Board of Directors includes representatives of cultural organizations and institutions, educational institutions, business, municipal government and community organizations. The Partnership’s 20 permanent employees program cultural presentations and oversee activities for the Quartier des Spectacles. The team is also responsible for the Quartier’s public spaces, specialized facilities, illumination and promotion. The Partnership is supported by the Ville de Montréal and the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine.
Visuals
Impulse download link: we.tl/y8SsTVCKId
Impulse video: vimeo.com/148354098
McLarena download link: we.tl/WLPKN0of4Z
McLarena video: vimeo.com/104873975
Media contact
Marie Lamoureux | marie.lamoureux@quartierdesspectacles.com | 514 514 923-6772
APPENDIX
IMPULSE
IMPULSE is an urban interactive work composed of a series of giant illuminated and sound-producing seesaws. To activate them, visitors straddle them like any other seesaw. Once in motion, the built-in lights and speakers produce a harmonious sequence of sounds and lights, resulting in a constantly evolving ephemeral composition. IMPULSE is an urban installation that renews itself for every different audience. Each person becomes, while on the seesaws, the player of a novel instrument.
IMPULSE is the winning work of Luminothérapie 6th edition.
THE CREATORS OF IMPULSE
LATERAL OFFICE
Lateral Office, founded by Mason White and Lola Sheppard, is an experimental design practice that operates at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urbanism. The practice is interested in architecture`s engagement with environment, climate and culture. The scope of their work spans from regional and urban design to temporary installations and exhibitions. Recent work and research focuses on powerful design relationships between public realm, infrastructure, and the environment.
CS DESIGN
CS Design was founded in 2008 by Conor Sampson. A wide array of architecture, landscape architecture and engineering firms have hired the firm to design lighting for parks, heritage buildings, monuments and artworks. CS Design’s areas of expertise include electric lighting and programmable control specification, custom fixture design, daylighting in buildings and public spaces, and energy efficiency.
EGP GROUP
Egli Gallaccio Palanca is a Montreal-based consulting engineering firm. Thomas Egli is a civil engineer and president of Groupe EGP. He has worked on numerous large-scale projects and is a professor of civil engineering at McGill University.
MITCHELL AKIYAMA
Mitchell Akiyama is a Toronto-based composer, artist and scholar. He has released over ten records on such labels as Raster Noton, Sub Rosa and Alien8, in addition to works on his own imprint, Intr.version Records. He has scored numerous films and dance performances. Akiyama has received commissions from, among others, the Akousma Festivals and the Nouvel Orchestre D’aujourd’hui. He has performed across Europe, Japan, Australia and North America in concert halls, clubs, art galleries, fallout bunkers and festivals including Sonar, Mutek and Send + Receive.
Credits
Seasaws design: Lateral Office et CS Design, in collaboration with EGP Group
Sound design: Mitchell Akiyama
Mechanical design and Production: Générique Design
Electronic production and interactivity: Robocut Studio
MCLARENA
This playful participatory work invites passers-by to imitate the choreography of the character in McLaren’s film Canon (1964), which depicts the musical genre of the canon in animated images. Each participant goes into the booth and is filmed on video while attempting to perform dance steps based on the preceding participant’s video, causing a collaborative dance that evolves over the interpretation of each. The result, an endless video created by the participants, is projected on the façade of an adjacent building.
DAILY TOUS LES JOURS
Known for collaborative creative experiences presented in public spaces, Daily tous les jours is a design studio with core interests in new ways to interact and tell stories. Its multidisciplinary projects combine participation, design and technology in many forms: objects, urban design and installations, exhibitions, social experiments, events, software applications and films. Through their interventions, Daily tous les jours invite citizens to be part of their environment transformation.
Their work has won numerous international recognitions including the Grand Prize at the 2014 UNESCO Shenzhen Design Awards, the 2015 Knights Cities Challenge Global Innovators Prize, and more recently, a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award.
Credits
Creators : Daily tous les jours - Melissa Mongiat et Mouna Andraos