March 1 2012

With Montreal being hit with another major snowstorm, I decided to check out part of the 4th Edition Art Souterrain exhibition currently on display throughout the Underground City (RÉSO). Running from Feb 25 to March 11, the event features 140 visual art projects by Québec and Canadian artists that cover a 7km circuit comprising 14 exhibition zones and 5 metro stations.

It also gave me the opportunity to continue my quest to photograph the entire RÉSO network that spans 32km beneath the streets of downtown Montreal. The section I wanted to cover today was under the CDP building (The Centre CDP Capital) next to the Palais des Congress. This is one of my favorite sections of the RÉSO, being modern and light in design – as shown in the photo of the day.

There is an interesting art piece on display at this section by Émilie Fortier called 1000 m, a photomontage, using images captured with Google Maps. Two geographical elements are used: an above-ground swimming pool in Quebec and the shantytowns of Kenya. The images were taken from a bird’s eye view at 1000 meters.

The following image is a view looking further down the tunnel

There are a couple of art exhibits in this section of tunnel. The first by photographer Catherine Bodmer is 4 images of an ice skater on a frozen lake, entitled “La bande de Moebius”.

Next to Catherine’s exhibit is Décharge (Dump) by Noémie da Silva. The large image is a montage made up of photographs that had not been claimed after the disappearance of their owners and found their way to the second-hand market.

Melanie Désourdy’s work entitled Vietnam etc is a photomontage showing the relationship or opposition of blank spaces and inhabited places built by humans, as well as vegetation in its raw state.

Still within the Centre CDP Capital section there is this piece by Myriam Dion called Arborescences journalières, a lace structure made from newspaper.

In the elevated area of Place de la Cité Internationale (opposite Square Victoria) there are 3 art installations. At the far end is a work by artist and sculpting instructor Hélène Rochette called Les Terriers – autres territoires. The 5 bright colored pieces play recorded sounds of Montreal’s urban environment and its atmospheric din.

In the center of the walkway is a wood and plastic sheet structure by Katherine-Josée Gervais and Michel Moussette called En terrain nuageux. Fans blow air into the structure moving plastic bags that represent clouds in an exhibit that draws attention to the artificial, imitation and reproduction in architectural spaces that attempt to incorporate natural elements.

The exhibit near the staircase is entitled MUTT on a leash by Eduardo Aquino and Karen Shanski with Adam Robinson.

There is an exit to the  CDP building and is worth going in to look at the great design and atrium. I asked the concierge if it was okay to take tome pictures – and to my surprise he said it was okay as long as I didn’t use my tripod…so here are a few shots of the inside.

With 140 artists, there is a lot of art to view and glad the exhibition runs for another 2 weeks, so I may have time to visit a few more zones.

To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

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