Discover Concordia's trove of public art

An international public art destination

That Montreal and its major institutions offer a wide array of public art is no accident. Since 1961, the Quebec government has required that all building projects receiving provincial support dedicate approximately one per cent of their budget to public artwork.

Because the city saw an enormous amount of construction following the inception of that funding program (officially called the Politique d'intégration des arts à l'architecture), there was an explosion of commissions.

Some 50 years on, only a single website existed listing the 300 works strictly managed by the Bureau of Public Art. On making a more exhaustive study of pieces outside of the municipal collection, however, the city soon discovered there were actually some 1,200 pieces across the island.

Conservation is crucial

While increasing the visibility and accessibility of public art in Montreal is important, Epstein says ensuring the long-term integrity of the pieces is a going concern.

“This issue will continue to snowball as a result of the sheer number of works commissioned in the early era of the one per cent program. There is no formal government planning mechanism or sufficient budget in place to preserve them properly,” he says.

“As our building stock ages,” Epstein underlines, “the integrated art ages with it, so investments in facilities and art must be followed by upkeep.” He notes that for the last four years Concordia has taken on this challenge by creating a pro-active program for public art conservation.

Walter Redinger’s “Totems” (1972) and Claude Théberge’s “Untitled” (1966), have recently undergone significant and noticeable interventions. In the cases of these two pieces, the impact of the professional work undertaken is abundantly clear.

“Totems” was sun-bleached, weather-beaten and rusting, while Théberge’s mural had seen its clock dislodged and its entire surface white-washed. Each artwork has now regained the details, nuance, colour and texture that originally defined them.

“In other cases, conservation is most successful when the interventions are imperceptible,” Epstein points out. “Many other works recently restored may not appear any different to the naked eye, but the structures may have been stabilized, repaired, waterproofed or graffiti-proofed,” he says.

Join Clarence Epstein, Concordia’s Urban and Cultural Affairs senior director, for a public art tour of Quartier Concordia on June 14 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., beginning on the north-east corner of Ste. Catherine St. W. and Guy St., next to the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex.