PRESS KIT LUMINO THÉRAPIE quartierdesspectacles.com
Montreal s Quartier des Spectacles, a 1 km 2 section of the city s downtown, boasts North America s highest concentration and greatest diversity of cultural venues. The district has built a strong identity as a place for creativity, performance and entertainment. Thanks to a major overhaul of its public spaces begun in the late 2000s, the neighbourhood has emerged as a showcase for Montreal s vitality. As a UNESCO City of Design, the city has made creativity the driving force behind its rising international profile. The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership is mandated to help maintain this strategic district s liveliness year round even in the depths of winter by hosting activities in the Quartier s public spaces. These productions are intended to complement the cultural offerings presented by the Partnership s members and the area s performance venues. In addition to hosting some 40 festivals and many other events in the Quartier, the Partnership presents free outdoor cultural activities by providing financial, logistical or technical support to creators of innovative cultural projects selected or produced via competitions, calls for proposals, commissions and co-production. LUMINOTHÉRAPIE: CREATIVITY IN LIGHT The Luminothérapie event is a major component of the Quartier s free outdoor programming. It is an extension of the thinking behind the Quartier s Luminous Pathway. The Luminous Pathway is the Quartier s visual signature, in the form of twin rows of red dots projected on the ground to identify performance venues, along with architectural lighting on select buildings and artistic video projections on several building façades. Presented in the heart of Quebec s winter, Luminothérapie offers the public a varied menu of interactive and immersive experiences combining design, music and digital art. SHINING A LIGHT ON CREATIVITY Launched through an initiative of the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership in 2010, Luminothérapie has a two-fold vocation. Its goals are to give Montrealers and visitors an original winter experience in the Quartier des Spectacles, and to promote Montreal as a city of design, and to stimulate creativity in the disciplines of urban installations and digital art. Each year, a competition is held by the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, inviting competitors to form multidisciplinary teams and propose installations and video projections with a strong urban design component, with input from all artistic disciplines. Thanks to this process, the event encourages not only creativity but the emergence of new artistic practices. 2
A COMPETITION WITH TWO CREATIVE STREAMS Luminothérapie is refreshing itself for its seventh edition, in 2016-17! The Quartier des Spectacles is bringing something new to the competition by providing a theme: participants must work within the theme tale. Chosen for its narrative power, the tale which can take many different forms (fantastical or urban, classic or newly created) must provide a captivating experience. The winning designers will present an installation on the Place des Festivals that creates a sense of wonder both day and night, while encouraging the participation of a broad audience, including families. Architectural video projections for two adjacent building façades will complete a unified concept through integration with the narrative structure of the primary work. THE INSTALLATION FOR THE PLACE DES FESTIVALS The primary work to emerge from the competition is designed to showcase the main public space in the Quartier des Spectacles, the Place des Festivals, with a day-andnight participatory work. Inspired by the space s identity and Quebec s fierce winters, the work gives the public a novel immersive experience focused on sound and light. Before being presented exclusively in the Place des Festivals, the winter installations were set up in several other locations in the Quartier des Spectacles, including Place Émilie-Gamelin, the space outside Saint-Laurent metro station and the Place des Arts esplanade. THE ARCHITECTURAL VIDEO PROJECTIONS Added in 2013, the video projection component animates the Quartier des Spectacles permanent projection sites with a unified concept. In 2015-16, the sites are the Grande Bibliothèque (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec), the UQAM bell tower, the Centre de design at UQAM, Cégep du Vieux Montréal, Théâtre Maisonneuve, the President Kennedy building at UQAM, Hôtel Zéro 1 on the Place de la Paix, the wall outside the Saint-Laurent metro station, and the most recently created projection site, Place Dupuis adjacent to Place Émilie-Gamelin. Each site is dedicated to year round artistic video projections, making Montreal the global leader in the public exhibition of digital art. The works shown at the sites invite viewers to learn more about each site. They are also designed to make connections among the sites, transcending disparate components to assert a strong, unified identity for the Quartier des Spectacles. Starting in 2015-16, they will complement the work presented in the Place des Festivals and strengthen its narrative line. The video projections will be accompanied by an original soundtrack. A COMPETITION THAT HELPS OUR CREATORS MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES In recent years, several designers and artists have won awards after creating works for Luminothérapie, namely Lüz studio (Fascinoscope 2014-2015), Champagne Club Sandwich (Trouve Bob 2014-13), KANVA (Entre les rangs 2013-14) and Lucion Média (Sphères polaires 2010-11). Luminothérapie also generates considerable interest outside Quebec. In addition to substantial media coverage, some works have been well-received abroad, including Trouve Bob in Moscow and Iceberg (2012-13) by ATOMIC3 and Appareil Architecture in Brussels. 3 3
9 th EDITION December 11, 2018 to January 27, 2019 DOMINO EFFECT by Ingrid Ingrid Place des Festivals Ingrid Ingrid, a Montreal-based interactive experience design studio, presents a fun and user-friendly experience that encourages everyone to meet and cooperate. Each domino makes a unique sound, and each of the 12 sets of dominos has its own world of light and sound: voice, percussion, marimba, balafon and flute. Alone or in a group, knock over the 120 giant dominos one by one to trigger harmonious music. Be a conductor or a DJ by scratching a domino move it left-to-right at varying speeds, or reverse the audio sequence by moving the dominos in the opposite direction. Photo : Nicolas Gouin - l Hibou DOMINO EFFECT by Nouvelle Administration Pavillon Président-Kennedy, UQAM This architectural projection by Nouvelle Administration is a companion piece to the domino effect installation in Place des Festivals. It combines graphical codes and visual tricks referencing dominos. Space, sound and colour are central to this exploration in which sounds trigger chain reactions and novel dispersal patterns of the dominos. The projection s graphical world is a visual transposition of the music, inspired by the sounds of the domino stations. The vibrant hues and dynamic animations contrast with the whiteness of winter, while the black dot, a reference to classic dominos, attaches itself to the images. Photo : Nicolas Gouin - l Hibou 4
8 th EDITION November 30 2017 to January 18 2018 IMPULSE Seesaw design by Lateral Office and CS Design, in collaboration with EGP Group Sound design: Mitchell Akiyama Mechanical design and production: Générique Design Electronic and interactive production: Robocut Studio Place des Festivals Place des Festivals becomes a vast playground thanks to a series of 30 interactive seesaws along the length of the plaza, transforming when in motion. The seesaws form units of light and sound that can be activated and played by the public to create a temporal, ever-changing composition. By playing on the seesaws, you can create a dynamic light and sound wave giving a warm pulse to the winter s cold, short days and dark nights. It is an ever-changing urban event and public instrument, in which city dwellers are the musicians and artists. Photo : Ulysse Lemerise / OSA 5
7 th EDITION December 8, 2016 to January 9, 2017 LOOP by Olivier Girouard, Jonathan Villeneuve et Ottoblix, in collaboration with Generique Design, Jérôme Roy and Thomas Ouellet Fredericks Produced by Ekumen and the Quartier des Spectacles Partenariat. Place des Festivals This interactive installation is a cross between a music box, a zoetrope and a railway handcar. Loop is sure to warm the hearts of visitors of all ages, who are invited to activate the cylinders in order to make fairy tale-inspired images come to life. At the centre of each zoetrope is a music box to provide accompaniment for the giant animated images. When the devices are activated, the 13 rings of coloured light each present a story lasting a few seconds: a frog becomes a prince, the wolf blows the three little pigs s house down, scary eyes appear in the dark. These illustrations, as well as the video projection, are by Ottoblix and will spark the imagination and memories of kids and adults alike. Photo : Ulysse Lemerise / OSA 6
6 th EDITION December 10, 2015 to January 31, 2016 IMPULSE Seesaw design by Lateral Office and CS Design, in collaboration with EGP Group Sound design: Mitchell Akiyama Mechanical design and production: Générique Design Electronic and interactive production: Robocut Studio Place des Festivals Place des Festivals becomes a vast playground thanks to a series of 30 interactive seesaws along the length of the plaza, transforming when in motion. The seesaws form units of light and sound that can be activated and played by the public to create a temporal, ever-changing composition. By playing on the seesaws, you can create a dynamic light and sound wave giving a warm pulse to the winter s cold, short days and dark nights. It is an ever-changing urban event and public instrument, in which city dwellers are the musicians and artists. Photo : Ulysse Lemerise / OSA IMPULSE By Maotik and Iregular Sound design: Mitchell Akiyama Nine video projection sites Through the use of architectural lines and playful perceptions of depth, the nine architectural video projections echo the seesaws in Place des Festivals. Playing with the concepts of balance and unbalance, symmetry and asymmetry, tension and harmony, each projection represents an experiment in sound visualization and is accompanied by an original soundtrack. Impulse embodies ideas of serialism, repetition, and variation to produce zones of intensity and calm. 7
5 th EDITION December 10, 2014 to February 1, 2015 INSTALLATION PRISMATICA By RAW Design (Toronto), in collaboration with ATOMIC3 and Jean-François Piché for lighting design, Dix au carré for sound design, and ATOMIC3 and Louis Héon for production and technical direction. Place des Festivals With this participatory installation, comprising 50 colourful pivoting prisms more than two metres tall, the Place des Festivals became a giant kaleidoscope. Each prism was made of panels laminated with a dichronic film that transmitted and reflected every colour in the visible spectrum, varying with the position of the light source and the observer. The prisms were mounted on bases containing projectors. As people wandered among and manipulated the prisms, they enjoyed an infinite interplay of lights and colourful reflections. As the prisms rotated, a variable-intensity soundtrack of bell sounds played. Photo : James Brittain VIDEO PROJECTIONS FASCINOSCOPE By Lüz Studio (Montreal), in collaboration with XS, la petite boîte à musique for sound design. Eight video projection sites With Fascinoscope, the Quartier took on the captivating atmosphere of an early 20 th -century carnival. Each projection was accompanied by an original soundtrack of organ, bass and drum music. Outside the Saint-Laurent metro station, the work s focal point, the public was invited to play four interactive games inspired by carnival classics. Players controlled the games with four pear balls fitted with sensors to measure rotation and speed. By hitting the balls, players interacted with the projection and scored points to win the game. Photo : Cindy Boyce 8
4 th EDITION December 11, 2013 to February 2, 2014 INSTALLATION ENTRE LES RANGS by KANVA, in collaboration with Udo Design, Côté Jardin, Patrick Watson, Boris Dempsey and Pierre Fournier Place des Festivals Thousands of flexible stems topped with white reflectors make up this large-scale urban metaphor for a wheat field in rural Quebec. In the winter wind, bathed in reflected light from the projectors in Place des Festivals, the stylized stalks wave, creating sparking effects like those of wheat in a country field, swaying in the wind. Their arrangement opens paths punctuated by music sources that invite visitors to take a bucolic multisensory walk in the heart of Montreal. Photo : Cindy Boyce VIDEO PROJECTIONS TROUVE BOB by Champagne Club Sandwich Seven video projection sites Trouve Bob is a massive animated game that uses the city as a screen. It will give Montreal s winter the same liveliness and colour as its summer festival season by reimagining the popular game Where s Waldo? The Quartier des Spectacles projection façades will light up with the fantastical world of a nutty character accompanied by an odd assortment of adorable companions. The public will be asked to find Bob, lurking somewhere in the outlandish background of the seven dynamic scenes. This city-scale game makes connections between the buildings in Quartier des Spectacles used as projection surfaces by presenting a series of animations with an exciting mix of formats, graphic compositions, colours and levels of difficulty. 9
3 rd EDITION December 6, 2012 to February 3, 2013 INSTALLATION ICEBERG designed by Atomic3 (Félix Dagenais and Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun) and Appareil Architecture (Kim Pariseau), in collaboration with Jean-Sébastien Côté and Philippe Jean Place des Festivals and Place des Arts Esplanade Comprising a series of off-axis metal archways that formed a series of tunnels, this interactive installation represented the life cycle of an iceberg, from its beginning in polar waters to its final melting off a temperate shore. Visitors were invited to enter and experience varying intensities of light, colour and sound generated by their presence. Iceberg was presented in Brussels (Belgium) on the Place de la Monnaie from November 29, 2013, to March 3, 2014. VIDEO PROJECTIONS LE JOUR DES 8 SOLEILS by Pascal Grandmaison, in collaboration with Antoine Bédard, Marie-Claire Blais, Serge Murphy, Simon Guilbault and Pierre Lapointe Eight video projection sites This video projection concept used the eight sets of projection façades in Quartier des Spectacles for eight stages in a poetic quest for a character in the background who was trying to capture sunlight in all its forms. In addition to its dreamy character, the work created narrative connections among the Quartier s different sites. A soundtrack, accessible via smartphone, completed the visual experience by accompanying the quest for the eight suns. 10
2 nd EDITION December 15, 2011 to February 26, 2012 INSTALLATION NUAGE DE GIVRE designed by Jean Beaudoin and Erick Villeneuve, produced by Multimédia Novalux Place des Festivals, Until February 2, 2012 7,700 small bags of antifreeze gel were suspended above place des Festivals, forming a metaphorical cloud evocative of cold and its effect on the aurora borealis. By day, the wind made the metaphorical sky move; by night, surveillance cameras recorded pedestrians movements and used the information to vary the intensity and colour of lights and video projectors. The light projected on the hanging installation shifted from blue to red, simulating interactive auroras whose effects could be viewed live on a smartphone. FORÊT FORÊT designed by Amandine Guillard, Anik Poirier, Albane Guy and TagTeam Studio, produced by Impact Production Outside Saint-Laurent metro station This forest of stylized trees, made from galvanized steel and transparent acrylic, beckoned visitors to explore, accompanied by sound and light echoes generated by passers by. Visitors messages, captured by microphones embedded in some of the symbolic trees, were recorded by a computer that played them back through trees with speakers or trees with lights, in the form of audio echoes or variations in light intensity. ÉCLATS DE VERRE designed by Atomic3 (Félix Dagenais, Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun and Éric Gautron), produced by Michel Granger Place Émilie-Gamelin A maze of glass panels of various colours created paths of shadow and light generated by the sun in daytime and a series of projectors at the centre of the site at night. Two backlit cubes allowed visitors to interact with the installation and adjust its lighting and ambient sound, including animations projected on a surrounding building. 11
1 st EDITION December 15, 2010 to February 27, 2011 INSTALLATION SPHÈRES POLAIRES by Bernard Duguay + Pierre Gagnon, Lucion Media Place des Festivals and the Place des Arts esplanade This installation s 25 vinyl spheres, from 3 to 10 metres in diameter, invited the public to explore three facets of a Quebec winter: sports, light and city life. Each sphere was a universe unto itself, built on lighting, audio and video sequences that interacted with visitors movements. RUE VICTORIA RUE PEEL RUE METCALFE RUE MANSFIELD CHAMP DE PIXELS designed by Jean Beaudoin, Intégral + Érick Villeneuve, produced by Multimédia Novalux Place Émilie-Gamelin, Until February 9, 2011 RUE UNIVERSITY AV. UNION Comprising 400 light sources equipped with motion sensors, the installation created a huge pixelated surface totalling 40,000 sq. ft. By moving through it, visitors triggered the giant pixels to switch from white to red, creating improvised choreographies. BIXI bikes were connected to the installation to allow participants to generate power for the system by pedalling. Contact médias : Marie Lamoureux marie.lamoureux@quartierdesspectacles.com 514-923-6772 12
RUE CLARK RUE SAINT-DOMINIQUE RUE DE BULLION AV. DE L HÔTEL-DE-VILLE AV. LAVAL VIDEO PROJECTIONS MAP RUE PRINCE-ARTHUR RUE DUROCHER RUE HUTCHISON AV. DU PARC RUE SAINTE-FAMILLE RUE MILTON RUE SHERBROOKE RUE SAINT-NORBERT E A RUE ONTARIO AV. DU PRÉSIDENT-KENNEDY 2 RUE ÉMERY RUE AYLMER RUE CITY COUNCILLORS BOUL. DE MAI SONNEUVE RUE MAYOR RUE BALMORAL 1 S TATION 5 B 3 BOUL. SAINT-LAURENT C BOUL. DE MAISONNEUVE S TATION STATION 4 7 8 F G AV. SAVOIE H I PLACE PHILLIPS RUE SAINT-ALEXANDRE RUE DE BLEURY RUE JEANNE-MANCE RUE SAINT-URBAIN RUE CLARK D 6 RUE SAINTE-CATHERINE RUE BERGER RUE DE BULLION AV. DE L HÔTEL-DE-VILLE RUE SAINTE-ÉLISABETH RUE SANGUINET RUE SAINT-DENIS RUE BERRI RUE LABELLE RUE SAINT-HUBERT RUE SAINT-CHRISTOPHE BOUL. RENÉ-LÉVESQUE VIDEOPROJECTION SITES Pavillon Président-Kennedy de l UQAM Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts Outside the Saint-Laurent Metro Station Place de la Paix (Hotel Zero1) Cégep du Vieux Montréal Centre de design de l UQAM UQAM Bell Tower Grande Bibliothèque (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) LIVELY PUBLIC SPACES 1 Place des Festivals 2 Promenade des Artistes 3 Le Parterre 4 Esplanade Clark 5 Esplanade de la Place des Arts 6 Place de la Paix 7 Place Pasteur 8 Place Émilie-Gamelin Place Émilie-Gamelin (Place Dupuis) 13