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Luminothérapie | Cœur battant, A luminous winter in the heart of Montreal

Press release | For immediate release

Montreal, December 3, 2020 – The heart of Montreal will be alive and well this winter! Today the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership is proud to launch Luminothérapie | Cœur battant, a special edition of one of Montreal’s favourite winter events. Until March 14, the Quartier des Spectacles will present a novel winter experience: an original, participatory and safe activity that invites Montrealers and visitors to enjoy winter in the city with five thought-provoking installations featuring sound, light and interactivity that will provide countless moments of entertainment and wonderment. The Quartier will also don the colours of the Moment cœur battant, a nightly sound and light show in solidarity with Montreal’s cultural sector and business community.

Watch the promotional trailer for Luminothérapie | Cœur battant

AN ORIGINAL AND PARTICIPATORY WINTER ART WALK

Luminothérapie | Cœur battant is a unique opportunity to rediscover five creative installations that have toured the world. The works, which proudly showcase our talented creators, offer experiences that highlight our Nordic character and immerse us in new ways to enjoy winter in the city. A comforting and enchanting experience, the walk features a soundscape and lighting design that create an immersive effect. To keep downtown Montreal cheerful all winter, these all-ages interactive activities will be accompanied by comfortable outdoor spaces brimming with winter vegetation and a first-ever winter pedestrian zone on Sainte-Catherine Street, between De Bleury Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard, open until mid-March. “With fall slipping gently into winter and the fight against COVID-19 continuing, we need some magical moments now more than ever. True to its reputation, the Quartier des Spectacles will, once again this winter, present a soothing Luminothérapie to warm every Montrealer’s heart. This winter’s expanded edition is not to be missed. It gives us the chance to discover and rediscover five installations that have toured the world, along with a nightly sound and light show. This essential event will energize our city’s downtown core, which has been badly hurt by the pandemic, and support our artists, who have also been dealt a serious blow by the crisis,” said Valérie Plante, Mayor of Montreal.

On the Place des Festivals, visitors will be welcomed by Loop, by Olivier Girouard, Jonathan Villeneuve and Ottoblix. Thanks to the support of the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), the installation’s impressive zoetropes are back with an all-new immersive experience, a worthy sequel to their highly successful first appearance in Montreal in 2016. The centrepiece of Luminothérapie | Cœur battant, this new iteration of Loop will be presented in Montreal exclusively before moving on to represent Quebec at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021. This adventure in sound and light takes visitors on a journey through Quebec literature thanks to the work of local illustrators, along with Index, a companion video projection created by Ottoblix, to be shown on the façade of UQÀM’s Pavillon Président-Kennedy. “The arrival of winter means it’s time for Luminothérapie, which will bring enchantment to the heart of the city once again this year. The Gouvernement du Québec is pleased to have supported Ekumen, the company behind Loop, which will give Montrealers great joy during the pandemic. I salute the organizers for their dynamism. I especially want to congratulate the creators of Loop, which will represent Quebec at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021. We can all be very proud of the work’s creators, who are so brilliantly showing the world our culture,” said Culture and Communications minister Nathalie Roy. Next, on the Place des Arts Esplanade, you will see Entre les rangs by KANVA Architecture. This work transports us into a luminous wintery wheat field reminiscent of Quebec’s ancestral farmlands. Walk to the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Urbain and you will find Nouvelle Lune by Sebbe Joly and Bernard Duguay, a Lucion production. The giant luminescent spheres revisit some highlights of cultural life in the Quartier through shadow theatre and captivating original music. Continuing east on Sainte-Catherine you’ll see Iceberg, by ATOMIC3 and APPAREIL Architecture. Echoing the eponymous majestic floating ice mountains, the tunnel of metal arches is a unique sound and light experience. The route concludes on Sainte-Catherine Street west of Saint-Laurent Boulevard with Spectrum, a HUB Studio creation. This installation is a fun interactive work that converts sound into light with a glowing transformation of the sound waves we make when we speak. “For years, the Luminothérapie event has helped us enjoy winter and embrace our Nordic character, while bringing energy and attention to the city’s vital cultural heart. This mission is more important than ever this year, and our team has redoubled its efforts to create a participatory, welcoming and creative route within public health guidelines. With this very special edition of Luminothérapie, we are inviting Montrealers to come feel the magic of an essential winter event that celebrates the immense talent of our local artists in a unique and luminous setting,” said Monique Simard, Chair of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership.

MOMENT CŒUR BATTANT: SOLIDARITY WITH THE CULTURAL SECTOR AND DOWNTOWN MONTREAL

These immersive activities will also be an opportunity to enjoy the Moment cœur battant, conceived and produced by Martin Messier, Julie Basse and Olivier Girouard. Each evening around 6 p.m., building façades and streets in the Quartier will be filled with red and white lights dancing to the beat of original music reminiscent of the heartbeat inside all Montrealers and their downtown. This nightly rallying cry is a reminder that our city is alive and well and its creative heart is still beating strong.

This creation unites numerous Montreal partners and locations in a common cause. To date, the participating organizations are: Avenue du Mont-Royal, BAnQ | Grande Bibliothèque, Biosphère, Musée de l’environnement, Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, Cinémathèque québécoise, Complexe Desjardins, SDC Montréal centre-ville, Espace Libre, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Le 1000 De La Gauchetière, the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, Place Ville Marie, Maison Manuvie, La Vitrine culturelle, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the McCord Museum, the Stewart Museum, Monument-National, Place des Arts, Pointe-à-Callière – Montreal Archaeology and History Complex, the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT], Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Théâtre ESPACE GO, Théâtre La Licorne, TOHU, Usine C and XP_MTL. Each will be lit up in red to signal their solidarity with Montreal’s cultural and business communities.

DOWNTOWN: THE PLACE TO BE THIS WINTER

As part of its coordination of winter activities in downtown Montreal, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership invites Montrealers and visitors to safely enjoy some magical festive moments with Lights on Peel: Honouring the Clans of the Kanien’kehá:ka, an initiative of SDC Montréal centre-ville (the downtown business development corporation) in partnership with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, Heritage Portfolio, Korlcc and the borough of Ville-Marie; Follow Santa Claus, a co-production of SDC Montréal centre-ville and Dotti&cie; and the Winter Gardens, an initiative of Montreal’s Christmas Village. In addition, Sainte-Catherine Street will be a pedestrian zone between De Bleury Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard.

ENJOY WHILE FOLLOWING PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDELINES

The amenities and installations that comprise Luminothérapie | Cœur battant were designed with public health in mind, including physical distancing. These experiences allow visitors to live and relax safely in the Quartier des Spectacles. The Partnership urges all Montrealers to follow recommendations for preventing the spread of COVID-19.

LUMINOTHÉRAPIE | CŒUR BATTANT

December 3, 2020, to March 14, 2021
Sunday-Wednesday: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Thursday-Saturday: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Moment cœur battant: daily at 6 p.m.

Facebook Event

HOW TO GET TO DOWNTOWN MONTREAL?

Public transportation: the area is served by numerous STM bus routes and more than ten metro stations on the green and orange lines.
Driving: free street parking on weekends and evenings starting at 6 p.m. until December 31, discounted parking at Complexe Desjardins until December 31, and more than 520 underground spaces available through the P$ Montréal Centre-Ville app.
Cycling: there are countless bike lanes in downtown Montreal.
The area includes access points for persons with reduced mobility. Please visit the websites for specific places for details.

ABOUT LUMINOTHÉRAPIE

Luminothérapie is Quebec’s largest competition for temporary public art installations. Each year, Luminothérapie presents an original, interactive and captivating winter experience in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles with a major installation in Place des Festivals. Luminothérapie seeks to spur creativity in the design of urban installations and digital art. Several cultural districts around the world have shown interest in its interactive art installations created for public spaces by local artists and creators. Since 2016, 12 works created for the Quartier des Spectacles have been exhibited on nearly 100 occasions in more than 50 cities in Canada and around the world.

To learn more about the competition, and for a list of previous years’ winners, see the Luminothérapie press kit. 

ABOUT THE QUARTIER DES SPECTACLES AND THE PARTNERSHIP

The Quartier des Spectacles is Montreal’s cultural heart, boasting North America’s most concentrated and diverse group of cultural venues. Year round, the district is home to countless festivals and events, and hosts innovative urban installations involving cutting-edge lighting design, immersive environments or interactive digital spaces. The Quartier des Spectacles is a showcase for new multimedia technology, making Montreal a global leader in the urban exhibition of digital content.

The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, founded in 2003, is a non-profit organization with more than 85 members active in the district. It is responsible for animating the Quartier des Spectacles by programming cultural activities, managing and animating public spaces, providing distinctive illumination and promoting the Quartier as a must-visit cultural destination. The Partnership benefits from the support of the Ville de Montréal.

More information: quartierdesspectacles.com

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MEDIA CONTACT
Mélanie Mingotaud
Communications Mingotwo
melanie@mingo2.ca
(514) 582-5272

APPENDICES

ART WALK CREDITS Design and scenography: Îlot 84

INSTALLATION CREDITS

Loop
Designers: Olivier Girouard, Jonathan Villeneuve and Ottoblix
Collaborators: Generique Design, Thomas Ouellet Frederick, Dominic Thibault, Adsum Lab and Jérôme D. Roy
Illustrators: Gérard Dubois, Marianne Ferrer, Estelle Frenette-Vallières, Éléonore Goldberg, Jacques Goldstyn, Pinabel, Camille Pomerlo, Mathieu Potvin, Todd Stewart, Amélie Tourangeau, Marie-Hélène Turcotte, Urban9

A co-production of EKUMEN and the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership

The Quebec book illustration project is a SODEC initiative. It was conceived to represent Quebec at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021.

Index videoprojection
An Ottoblix creation

Illustrator: Daria Pelsher
Motion designers: Daria Pelsher, Germán Moreno and Mathieu Tremblay
Graphic designer: Trina Daniel
Project manager: Mélanie Boudreau Blanchard
Studio director: Galilé Marion-Gauvin

A production of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership

Entre les rangs
Creation and production: KANVA Architecture
A co-production of KANVA Architecture and the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership

Nouvelle Lune
Producer: Sebbe Joly
Writer: Bernard Duguay
Collaborators: Léa Nivet, Louis-Philippe Tardif, Simon Rouhier, Juliette Sarrazin, David Brodeur and Louis Petitclerc

A Lucion production

Iceberg
Artistic directors, lighting designers and producers: Félix Dagenais and Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun Architectural design: APPAREIL architecture
Sound designer: Jean-Sébastien Côté Interactive module designer: Philippe Jean

A co-production of ATOMIC3 and the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership

Spectrum
Design and artistic direction: HUB Studio
Production and technical design: Robocut Studio

A co-production of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and Quays Culture (Manchester, U.K.)

MOMENT COEUR BATTANT

Mise-en-scène: Martin Messier
Lighting design: Julie Basse
Sound design: Olivier Girouard

MOMENT CŒUR BATTANT PARTICIPANTS