Une réponse personnelle à la prédominance de la publicité sur l’espace public

par Joël Larouche

Excédé par les excès de l’affichage. Redoutant d’être manipulé par la consommation. J’ai troqué la lecture pour la rencontre. Je m’explique.

Je déteste lire Montréal. Autant, en fait, que tous ces lieux qui ont vendu leur parure au capital. Qui d’autre accueille plus vivement notre première lecture, la nuit en entrant par le pont Jacques Cartier, sinon une immense bannière lumineuse de la brasserie Molson. Ni dans le métro, les souterrains, les voies publiques et les toilettes il n’est possible de voyager, de flâner ou d’uriner sans magasiner. La publicité me harcèle. C’est toujours elle que je lis, avec ou sans mon consentement. Bien qu’en matière de saturation visuelle capitaliste, Montréal fasse encore figure de virginité aux cotés des Marseilles, Bruxelles, Hanoï, New York ou Saint-Domingue. Néanmoins sur cette planète, nos villes sont toutes, en matière de consumérisme, des cancéreuses en phase plus ou moins terminale. Montréal inclusivement. Lire Montréal c’est donc magasiner. Et c’est justement ce poignant visage d’une société débilement fixée sur les fruits de la consommation qui me fous le moral au 2e sous-sol. Lire une telle ville ça me pollue la pensée (...read more...)

par Sophie Le-Phat Ho

Bien sûr, nous lisons Montréal constamment ou, plutôt, nous sommes appelés à l’interpréter à tout moment – une carte mentale particulière de la ville se dévoile et se permute à mesure que nous marquons le pas. C’est ce pas qui, encodé par notre interprétation de la ville, peut révéler ces histoires qui colorent Montréal. Dans cette perspective, une lecture de la ville devient un décodage du pas. Qui dit code dit règles, et c’est sous cet angle que j’aimerais aborder la performativité de la ville – comment désorganiser l’encodage du pas, faisant en sorte que nous arrivons à faire de la lecture un acte?



Revenons à cette carte – immatérielle, mais non abstraite pour autant. Pour ma part, faisant partie de l'exercice de décodage, les endroits qui ne figurent pas sur cette carte sont aussi intéressants que les lieux qui y sont présents, sinon plus. Les toits, les ruelles, les buissons non aménagés, les viaducs, et même le bord des autoroutes en marge de la ville – c’est qu’on y trouve fréquemment des... œuvres d’art. Souvent, des graffitis, des objets abandonnés, mais simplement, et surtout, la prise de conscience d’un espace produit collectivement parmi les gens présents (...read more...)

Montreal VE-Day Party
May 7th - 8th, 1945




(CBC Photo/Montreal Herald)

“On May 7, 1945, within minutes of a CBC bulletin that Germany had surrendered unconditionally, crowds flooded onto Rue Ste-Catherine in Montreal.

On May 8th there were official celebrations across Canada, including a parade on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, crowds filled the streets of Toronto and Montreal, there were victory parades in small towns. Times Square in New York City and Piccadilly Circus in London were packed. “
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/ve-day

Leisure posts Montreal parties (05)

Party at the Létourneaus’ house
Sir Georges Etienne Cartier Place
The Tin Flute (Bonheur d’occasion), Gabrielle Roy
Winter, 1941



Parc Sir George-Etienne Cartier, 29 of August, 1945
©Collection Archives nationales du Québec, fonds Conrad Poirier

“The Létourneau apartment, on the first floor of a tall brick building, was all lit up. From every window lights shone across the snow in the quiet square. Florentine stopped at the foot of the steps and listened with beating heart to the festive sounds, muffled by wet snow.

There were people dancing up there for shadows passed back and forth. In the light streaming from the windows the snow could be seen dancing too, each separate flake gyrating like a moth around a lamppost. The graceful white forms flung themselves against the panes and died there, glued to the brightness within.” Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute (Bonheur d’occasion), 1974 (Translation: Hannah Josephson)

Leisure posts Montreal parties (04)

St.-Jean-Baptiste celebrations
24 June



Allegorical float, circa 1930
©Société historique de Saint-Henri

“Following a tradition the origin of which is lost in antiquity, many people, among them the Gauls, lit fires to celebrate the summer solstice. According to the Jesuit Relations and the Journal des Jésuites, this tradition was revived on the banks of the St Lawrence in 1636. In 1646 the Journal reported that 'on 23 June the fire for St-Jean was lit at half-past eight in the evening... One heard five cannon shots and two or three discharges from muskets.'

It is not known why St-Jean-Baptiste came to be considered the patron saint of French Canada. One legend has it that a great many French-Canadians bearing that given name persuaded the journalist and patriot Ludger Duvernay to adopt it as the name of the national society of French-Canadians which he founded in 1834. In any case that was the name he chose, and the St-Jean-Baptiste Association (St-Jean-Baptiste Society from 1914 on) of Montreal took the maple leaf and the beaver as its emblems. The founding was celebrated 24 June 1834 by a banquet to which 60 guests were invited - Irish, US, and Canadian.”

“Twice the celebrations achieved exceptional (...read more...)

The Historical Fancy Dress Ball
Montreal, January 18, 1898



Lady Aberdeen as Constance de la Tour
Copyright McCord Museum

“Most of the sets at this ball represented the French regime, possibly in an attempt to educate the country about Canada's French past. Several descendants of the historical figures portrayed were in attendance.

Interpreting the French regime, even Lady Aberdeen chose to draw attention to her ancestral past on this occasion. This was the only ball where Lady Aberdeen wore fancy dress, choosing the character of Constance de la Tour, an Acadian heroine whom she claimed as an ancestor. Although the connection between the two was very distant, the French press recognized her choice of character as "a charming gesture of acknowledgement of French Canadians."”
- http://www.civilization.ca/hist/balls/m-6eng.html

Leisure posts Montreal parties (02)

Montreal Winter Carnival
February 1884



“Composite moonlit views of the Montreal Winter Carnival. The main scene centers on a huge ice palace with a procession of men with torches, visitors, and horse-drawn sleighs. Inset views show tobogganers on a steep hill and ice skaters in festive costume celebrating winter. The ice palace is lit within by an orange light. The print is highlighted with glitter, giving a snow blown effect.

The Montreal Winter Carnival was instituted in 1883 to promote tourism, and was Canada's first large winter celebration. It became the high point of the winter season, with competitive sporting events held throughout the city. The carnival's centerpiece was the Ice Palace, constructed from blocks of ice cut from the St. Lawrence River and lit by electric lamps each evening. At the end of Carnival week the Palace was stormed by snowshoers with torches and fireworks.” - Image found at: http://www.georgeglazer.com/prints/sporting/winter/montrealcarn.html

This is the first in a series of posts by Leisure Projects about famous (or infamous!) Montreal parties. Leisure Projects is a Montréal-based art and curatorial collective.

Long before the Z Boys founded Dogtown or the cube had been gleamed by Christian Slater, Montréal already had it’s own rebellious skateboard film.



The Devil's Toy was an early film directed by respected Québec director Claude Jutra. Jutra eventually went on to make critically acclaimed features such as Mon Oncle Antoine and Kamouraska. He also worked with Norman McClaren and directed many other excellent documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada.



The Devil's Toy was made 1966, a time when skateboarding was considered by the general public to be a corrupting influence on it's youth. The film obviously feels otherwise. It's detached narrative tone is quickly undermined by silhouetted figures gliding across the frame and kinetic, hand-held shots of packs of skaters winding down the slopes of Westmount.



The film is available as part of the archives at the CineRobotheque. Located in the NFB distribution and consultation centre at the corner of Saint-Denis and Maisonneuve, where for three bucks you have a hour’s access to the archives, in your own hybrid viewing cockpit, served up for you by Ernest, the robot-projectionist.

The Devil`s Toy - video clip
(All screenshots lifted from National Film Board of Canada)