Dr. Harland Watson, Senior Climate Negotiator for the United States


For the next 8 days a United Nations conference on climate change is taking place in the city. About 10,000 scientists, environmentalists and politicians from 180 countries around the world will be discussing the next phases of the the Kyoto Protocol.

Among Wednesday's delegates was Dr. Harland Watson, Senior Climate Negotiator for the United States delegation. In his keynote address Mr. Watson said,"The US is focused on making progress". He didn't define exactly what kind of 'progress' he meant, but we can safely assume that he was referring to the US's economic, not climatic health, as he later said: "We can't expect any country to sacrifice its economic growth to solely address climate change, particularly large developing countries."

Find out more about the US's official position on the matter, along with many other countries' positions, through the list of live feeds at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change/La Conference de Nations Unies sur les changements climatiques offical web site.

Find out Canada's official position on climate change here.

Reading Toronto and Reading Montreal are nominated for the 2005 Urban Blogging Awards (was there a 2004??). Go to Gridskipper to vote for us. Or email tips@gridskipper.com and mention Reading Montreal and Reading Toronto.

The city is 10⁴ audio tours and 10⁵ pictographs.

En Passant, a short film from Atom Egoyan explores Montréal through the eyes and ears of the tourist



Along with Denys Arcand, Léa Pool, Michel Brault, Patricia Rozema & Jacques Leduc, Egoyan contributed to Montréal vu par..., a compilation of short films commissioned for the city’s 350th anniversary in 1992.

En Passant follows a pictographer (Maury Chaykin) visiting Montréal for the first time. Arriving at his hotel he is given an audio tour guide, and sets out to explore the city. The voice of the tape becomes the city’s voice and the symbols of the streetsigns it’s visual language.

The Geostationary Banana Over Texas is a project by Montreal artist César Saëz. Saëz is attempting to put a gigantic floating banana into orbit. The high altitude banana blimp will be visible in the sky above texas--a sort of fruit-based version of our moon.

Saëz is looking for talented engineers who have experience in the fields of airship construction, bamboo structures and low orbit thermodynamics to assist with the project. Mathematicians, cultural critics and anyone who happens to have a suitable launching pad in northern Mexico are also encouraged to contact him at:

"César Saëz’s works, for the most part, consist in art-interventions in public spaces. These are sculptures, installations, or actions performed in a public domain, be it a street corner, a public square or a park. These urban interventions try to address the public and their social interaction in reference to that space. More specifically, they question the symbolism, or the politics in that space. These actions are un-authorized -they are simply just realized. They are un-announced, they spontaneously appear, and dis-appear; they are ephemeral and harmless."
From César Saëz’s project website.

By Adrienne Connelly

As a kid growing up in a solidly atheist household (save the one time my dad tried to say grace before a rare family dinner) everything that I learned about the bible I learned from Leonard Cohen. There was a strange and slightly perverse solace that I took in going down to the recently renovated basement, stuffing some pillows into the bottom shelf of the storage cupboard, climbing inside with the lights off and listening to Songs of Leonard Cohen on one of those 1980’s beige and brown plastic fisher-price tape decks. The dark, the mildew smell, and that deep monotone growl singing to me about some night long ago in the Chelsea Hotel. I didn’t know what he was saying, but it was obvious to my 7 year old mind that it was beautiful and a little bit dirty.

I have sent two letters to Leonard Cohen. The first when I was eight. It was brief, it said, “Dear Leonard, my mom is in love with you.” My mother was a bit mad, she said that it wasn’t true. It wasn’t really. I didn’t send it by post, but instead gave it to a woman named Diana, (...read more...)

Par Roxanne Arsenault

Montréal a un grave problème au niveau de l’architecture et de l’urbanisme. Montréal a un problème avec la conservation de son patrimoine, point. Tranquillement on remédie à cette situation. Certains bâtiments ont la chance d’être retapés ou d’être sauvés de la démolition. Et encore ce que l’on s’applique à sauvegarder en partie ce sont habituellement les bâtisses et leur intérieur néo-classique ou victorien. La grande majorité de ce qui relève des années 40 en montant, n’est pas d’intérêt public. Ils ne sont pas encore assez âgés, pour qu’on pense à agir. Le résultat est que la plupart des motels, salles de quilles, restaurants à thèmes et tous les trucs kitschs en général, sont maquillés, changés ou tout simplement démolis.

Combien de salles exceptionnelles sont disparues, remplacées par des décors neutres et ternes, dépourvus de personnalité. En fait, je ne veux pas vraiment le savoir. J’ai un pincement au cœur à toutes les fois que je pense à l’ancienne discothèque de Mousseau, la Mouspathèque, ou encore au Kon-Tiki du centre-ville. DISPAROU !!! Comme je le disais un peu avant, puisqu’ils font partis d’une histoire un peu trop récente, nous ne déployons aucun effort pour tenter de les sauver. Le (...read more...)

By Kerry Byrne

Hundreds of red tail lights stream through one of Montreal's main arteries. Gushing along the grid in darkness, the demise of a minor character is enacted between cinematic buildings. The traffic is calmed momentarily, unfocused.

Only the weak of heart will mourn those who mistake headlights for a car itself. The corpse becomes a display surface linked to a screen connected to the net, where a silent majority may view harm done until the frame overwhelms its content.



This second artist post is brought to you by Kerry Byrne, who makes drawings, paper sculptures, and animations. She lives in Montreal.

By Jon Knowles

Folks strolling down Rue Wellington in Verdun take part in an anachronistic sensory experience that I can only describe as 1950's style mass deception.

Taking cue from the new exhibit 'Sensation Urbaines' at the Centre Canadien d'Architecture, while cruising down the main drag with your auditory radars set on high, you can catch an aural whiff of that Bossa Nova smash hit 'The Girl From Ipanema' (and other numbers) being emitted from little cylindrical speakers on lamp posts.



The concept of Muzak in a shopping district is not new, but what seems most peculiar is the music selection, and it's insinuated configuration. And yet, with all of today’s marketing strategies - this gimmick seems charming - if not straight up resistant to what occurs elsewhere, with our current climate of big boxification, and the subsequent degradation of Main streets.

Still though; If music is the barometer for our social climate, what should really be playing outside in a shopping district? And what would happen if we approached Rue Wellington with a site-specific praxis for the musical selection and it’s placement? Should the news be broadcasted? Maybe a pirate radio station set up by local teenagers? Perhaps, we would (...read more...)