Cœur battant par Martin Messier, Julie Basse et Olivier Girouard

AN ORIGINAL AND PARTICIPATORY WINTER ART WALK

Visitors will discover few installations by local artists along a walking route punctuated by comfortable rest areas and winter vegetation.

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.

Luminothérapie | Cœur battant is a unique opportunity to rediscover five creative installations that have toured the world

The luminous artworks

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.

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."

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.

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.

Moment cœur battant : Solidarity with the cultural sector and Downtown Montréal

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.

Credits

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