In 2013, swirls of smoke were floating all summer long over the Darling Foundry’s Place Publique. With its trademark caustic wit, the trio BGL has chosen to take over that space by showing Chicha Muffler, a participatory installation that lures us to attune ourselves to the hookah’s leisurely pace. After tipping a car on its side, artists Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière have dislodged the exhaust pipe from the car’s innards, thereby transmogrifying the mechanical part into a collective water pipe. This work comes across as an open offer made to the Darling Foundry’s visitors, to passersby, and to the neighbourhood’s workers and residents. Chicha sessions were organized every Wednesday in August to discuss about current cultural politics.

In the meantime, a cycle of three performances has been conceived outdoor and presented by emerging curators and collectives. This initiative allows the public to discover new practices about experimentation, research and audience involvement. Thus, visitors gathered in front of the Darling Foundry during summer to watch performances or just to have lunch on the picnic tables designed by Mathieu Beauséjour. 

PROGRAM

July 11, Thursday: Place Publique Performance I / Guillaume Adjutor Provost + Adam Bergeron + Arianne Foks + Hugo Nadeau + Maude Veilleux V

July 25, Thursday: Place Publique Performance II / Florence S. Larose + Lisa Gamble + David et Vincent Lafrance

August 7, Wednesday: Chicha Session 1 / Does Montreal need a visual arts festival? with Mathilde Lieber, UMA, la Maison de l’image et de la photographie

August 14, Wednesday: Chicha Session 2 / Patronage and financing of the arts, will the Bourgie report help to dynamize cultural philanthropy? with Ariane Decreon, HEC Montréal

August 21, Wednesday: Chicha Session 3 / Production and exhibiting of art, what should be the priority? with Ségolène Alex, Université d’Aix-Marseille, France

August 24, Saturday: Place Publique Performance III / Collectif TouVA