Arts and Culture
L'Aérogalerie
The Montréal Identity program, better known as L’Aérogalerie, is an Aéroports de Montréal initiative aimed at infusing the airport facilities with a typically “Montréal” character, as well as helping support the city’s artistic and cultural development. L’Aérogalerie has four facets: media arts, integrated lighting art, photo exhibitions and permanent works.
Media arts
ADM staged its first media arts exhibition in May 2005 in the international arrivals complex, which has become an important site in Canada for this avant-garde form of art.
Projected on LED (light-emitting diode) screen in the customs hall and on video screens in the baggage-claim area, the program presents works of art created by Montréal artists that reveal creative — and sometimes unusual — perspectives of the city.
The media arts were preferred over other more traditional art forms because Montréal abounds with ultra-talented media artists and its multimedia industry is world-renowned. In addition, this kind of art is very flexible, allowing the exhibitions to change year after year. We invite you to consult the site www.ilu.ca to see the actual video projection presented at the airport.
Integrated lighting art
The permanent exhibition You are Almost There! comprises a series of lighting installations integrated into the architecture of the new transborder and international jetties. The works are by Montréal conceptual artist and lighting designer Axel Morgenthaler. Well known in the entertianment world, Mr. Morgenthaler is among the most innovative lighting designers.
He has created a versatile ambience for the Montréal–Trudeau corridors that witness the arrival of some three million visitors each year. The works consist of 29 computer-controlled tubes of light (LED technology). Images taken by the artist are mixed with video sequences, then translated into the programming language that controls the lights. The result is a dynamic piece that yields remarkable effects such as waves of light; and the lighting program is changed each season (spring/summer/fall/winter), to create new plays of light, thus providing passers-by with a diverting work of art that is constantly self-renewing.
Photo exhibitions
Focusing on different themes and periodically changed, the photo exhibitions are displayed on lighted columns located at the departures level near the commercial services area (nine columns), as well as in the international arrivals hall (seven columns). Five exhibitions have been presented since 2004: I Am Montréal, Backstage Montréal, Day-to-Day Montréal and Montréal, UNESCO City of Design.
Current exhibitions
100th anniversary of aviation
To mark 100 years of aviation in Canada, Aéroports de Montréal presents an exhibition recalling the history of aircraft in Canada, from the first powered flight in Canada by the silver Dart on Baddeck Bay, Nova Scotia, on February 23, 1909, to the recent inventions of Bombardier Aerospace and Bell Helicopter.
100th anniversary of the Montréal Canadiens
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Montréal Canadiens hockey club, Aéroports de Montréal selected reproductions of works of Serge Lemoyne from the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec as well as from the Galerie Lacerte art contemporain in Québec city.
Cirque du Soleil
To mark the 25th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil, Aéroports de Montréal is proud to present a photographic exhibition celebrating the magic of the costumes created by Cirque over the years, and highlighting the contribution of its many designers and craftspeople.
Caroline Bergeron and Cirque du Soleil came together for a project to document these costumes photographically. The photographer, captivated by the beauty of the costumes’ details and textures, totally immersed herself in the project. The result is a series of artistic photos that give free rein to Ms. Bergeron’s visual discoveries.
The exhibition is displayed on the lighted columns in the public area of the international arrivals hall.
Gastronomie Montréal
Coordinated by photographer André Paradis, this unique exhibition acknowledges this city’s cooking savoir-faire by presenting nine renowned chefs with their secrets, preferences and love for Montréal.
The exhibition comprises a series of 200 photographic artworks displayed on lighted columns near the shopping area on the departures level, as well as in the public international arrivals hall. The nine featured chiefs are: Graziella Batista, Alonso Ortiz, Martin Picard, Éric Gonzalez, Richard Bastien, John Zoumis, Claude Pelletier, Normand Laprise and Helena Loureiro.
Photos exhibitions: Make Art Public
Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) is proud to present a new photographic exhibition by Make Art Public (MAP).
This exhibition was produced in summer 2008 to animate the corridors used by visitors coming to Montréal from the United States and overseas, while also promoting accessibility to art for the general public. The exhibition featuring different Montréal scenes by well-known Montréal artists and photographers: Alain Paiement, Isabelle Hayeur, Maclean, Guy Glorieux, Luc Courchesne, Pierre Manning, Marie Reine Mattera and Maxime Boisvert.
Permanent works
Works by recognized artists including Guido Molinari, Alfred Pellan and Eric Wesselow, formerly exhibited at Montréal–Mirabel Airport, have been restored and are now on permanent display at the “new” Montréal–Trudeau. We encourage you to discover these magnificent works.
Advisory Committee
ADM acknowledges the contributions of external members of the advisory committee which oversees the Montréal Identity program. Chaired by Christiane Beaulieu, ADM’s Vice-President, Public Affairs, the committee’s other members are:
- Danielle Sauvage, Executive Director, Conseil des arts de Montréal;
- Pierre Bellerose, Vice-President, Research and Public Relations, Tourisme Montréal;
- Johanne Brouillet, Art Consultant;
- Michel Hardy, Head of Design, Cardinal Hardy Architectes;
- Mark Thompson, Architect, ADM;
- Stéphanie Lepage, Advisor, Corporate Communications, ADM.
Publications