Client: Quartier des Spectacles Partnership
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
Completion date: 2016
Artwork budget: $215,000
Project Team
Other
Marie Lamoureux
Quartier des Spectacles Partnership
Artist
Olivier Girouard
Ekumen
Artist
Jonathan Villeneuve
Overview
The Place des Festivals in the Quartier des Spectacles (Montreal) is shimmering with the mechanical poetry of Loop's 13 giant zoetropes. The interactive, participatory work is sure to warm visitors of all ages, who will be asked 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 drawings.
With the devices activated, the rings of coloured light will each present a story lasting a few seconds. These illustrations, and the video projection, spark the imagination and memories of all.
Goals
The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership is mandated to help maintain this strategic district’s liveliness year round 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. 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 Quartier’s visual signature, in the form of twin rows of red dots projected on the ground to identify venues, along with architectural lighting and artistic video projections on several building façades. Presented in the heart of Quebec’s winter, Luminothérapie offers interactive and immersive experiences combining design, and digital art. Launched in 2010, Luminothérapie goals are to give Montrealers and visitors an original winter experience in the Quartier, and to promote Montreal as a city of design, and to stimulate creativity in the disciplines of urban installations and digital art. The primary work is designed to, with a day-and-night participatory work. Inspired by the space’s identity and Quebec’s fierce winters, the work, showcasing the Place des Festivals, gives the public a novel immersive experience focused on sound and light.
Process
The creators Jonathan Villeneuve an artist with a love of gadgetry, and Olivier Girouard, a composer and the director of the Ekumen studio, were inspired by the mechanical poetry of the zoetrope to give the public – thanks to digital technology – an extraordinary immersive experience. They wanted to stimulate everyone’s imagination and encourage all to participate, helping people see public space differently. "Loop" looks simple, but it is technically complex. It is not the work of one person, but of an imaginative and enthusiastic team. Without them, the project could not have been completed.
Additional Information
LOOP IS : 13 giant wheels 13 different tales, with 24 images each 800 hours of assembly and three months of design work 115 kg of screws (22,000 in all) 20 suppliers throughout Quebec, located in Montreal, Terrebonne, Mirabel, Chicoutimi, Bromont, Plessisville, Saint-Hyacinthe and Laval 15 dedicated volunteers