So German!

A GATHERING PLACE FOR THE MULTITUDE OF URBAN CULTURES TO MEET

This summer, a collectively-built mountain, Mont Réel, will emerge in Montréal, providing a gathering place for the surrounding communities and an in-situ laboratory to experiment with urban (bio)diversity. Initiated by the Goethe-Institut Montreal, and realized in partnership with the Consulate général de France à Québec and Université de Montréal, the project brings together architects, designers, cultural mediators and artists from Germany, France and Québec.

Located on the future science campus of l’UdeM, the Campus MIL, Mont Réel is an urban installation inspired by Mount Royal Park, an early colonial symbol that became with time a natural landmark in the city where people gather, play, do sports and enjoy nature. A place where we find the profane terrestrial and democratic practices of a real mountain.

Mont Réel is conceived and designed by the artist collective Constructlab, under the artistic direction of Berlin-based founder Alexander Römer. Constructlab follows a collaborative construction practice working on ephemeral and permanent projects, where the project’s conception and construction are brought together, where the designer builds and continues to design on site.

Mont Réel is a process-driven, experimental urban art project that will unfold over the course of three weeks. Within this period, ConstructLab will collaborate with the French associations De l’aire (Elisa Dumay, Greg Gilg), a cultural and urban mediation platform, and AgrafMobile (Malte Martin, Costanza Matteucci), a visual arts association. Furthermore, Montreal sound artists, musicians and performance artists Jen Reimer and Max Stein, Dina Cindric, Florence Blain and Mélanie Binette will join the project as artistic collaborators and workshop tutors.

Between June 26 and July 15, 2017 the group of architects, designers, cultural mediators and multidisciplinary artists will work together with 20 international participants and local communities in a collaborative workshop. Participants will learn wood construction methods, explore collectively themes dealing with transitory urban spaces, develop a graphic identity for the site and simply live and create together. The public is invited to join the group on site, and to engage in different workshop formats and artistic interventions.