"Faisceaux d'histoire" public art competition

Following a call for proposals held in the individual boroughs, the City of Montreal announced last spring that it would be financing nineteen (19) projects in order to ensure that all of the city’s boroughs would have a part in Montreal’s 375th anniversary celebrations. Projects with the ability to bring people together and create a sense of pride in each community.

The public art project “Faisceaux d’histoire” (Spotlights of History) in the borough of Villeray – Saint-Michel – Parc-Extension aims to highlight Montreal’s history and heritage and will leave a tangible legacy for the community.

The project will add lighting to four emblematic sites in the borough, namely the square at Jean-Talon Station in the Parc-Extension neighborhood; the Jean-Marie-Gauvreau Centre in the Villeray neighborhood; the Saint-Michel library in the southern part of the Saint-Michel neighborhood; and the section of Jarry Street East between D’Iberville Street and 13th Avenue in the northern part of the same neighborhood.

The purpose of the public art competition is to select and provide a mandate to a professional artist or team of artists and lighting designers that will be responsible for designing, creating, and installing their work. The two-stage competition will ultimately result in a series of permanent lighted works that will relate the borough’s history to the history of Montreal.

The role played by the members of the technical committee, including Creos representatives, is to identify the primary problems, challenges, and uncertainties of each proposal for consideration by the jury.

The technical committee has the following responsibilities:

• analyze the budget and the distribution of costs and draw attention to any uncertainties, points of non-compliance, or additional details to be requested of the finalists;
• analyze the technical and technological feasibility of the works, and aspects relating to project engineering (structure, electricity, and mechanics), and draw attention to any uncertainties or additional details to be requested of the finalists;
• analyze whether maintenance of the works respects the available annual maintenance budget;
• analyze feasibility with regard to the timetable (installation in December 2016);
• analyze safety issues around the installation of the works in public areas;
• analyze the works’ compliance with relevant regulations;
• analyze aspects relating to the sustainable development of the various proposals.

To read about the winner of the competition, please click HERE.