Vacant retail spaces multiplied in downtown areas around the globe since the Covid-19 pandemic forced the permanent or temporary closure of many businesses in cities around the world. In Canada, a project aims to build bridges between two industries that were hit hard by the pandemic. The CRÉER DES PONTS ("Building Bridges") project is a historic alliance between the downtown commercial real estate community and Montreal's vibrant visual arts ecosystem.

CRÉER DES PONTS is an ambitious initiative in partnership with the City of Montreal which consists of offering a creative workshop for 3 months to 60 emerging artists in the heart of
downtown Montreal. It is through an unprecedented alliance with the real estate community that we can develop 30 exceptional vacant businesses in 22 buildings into spaces for creation, exhibition and meetings.

These artists’ ephemeral workshops offer the public an opportunity to discover the wealth of visual arts in Montreal and allow the general public to be made aware of contemporary art through unique and original in-person and virtual activities.

Each room is shared by two artists, who will come to create and meet the public.

The spaces are easily recognizable from the street or from inside indoor shopping malls.

At the front of each space, works of art are exhibited and at the back of the room, the public has privileged access to the workshop space where the artists create their work.

In addition to the daily creative activities and dissemination, nearly 25 activities are offered to both the general public and artists until October 15, 2021.

In addition, 10 glass cubes are deployed across the city presenting works of art to the general public.

A dream come true for a great leader within the visual arts community

The head of ART SOUTERRAIN, Frédéric Loury dreamed of building a historic alliance between the visual arts community and commercial real estate. CRÉER DES PONTS is the largest-scale project proposed by the organization, already known for the internationally acclaimed ART SOUTERRAIN Festival, the Artch Visual Arts Fair and the Vitrine sur l'art initiative.

“Commercial real estate and contemporary art - two important sectors of Montreal's economy - have experienced turbulence linked to the pandemic and ART SOUTERRAIN wanted to propose a networking project that could meet both the continual need for vacant premises by emerging artists and support the revitalization of commercial spaces in the Greater Downtown Montreal Area."

A direct investment to support creation 
“The City of Montreal is proud to contribute to this initiative. The vitality of our downtown area is
the key to keeping people coming back in large numbers. Montreal's relaunch is well underway and projects such as CRÉER DES PONTS are contributing to it. This alliance between the cultural community and that of the real estate industry is exactly what is needed to ensure the diversity that will allow Montreal to recover quickly and differentiate itself on the international scene. », declares the Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante.

"CRÉER DES PONTS is a way of investing in 'young roots', as it is done regularly, for example in the new technologies sector. Great visual artists have all been looking for experiences like these at the start of their careers, springboards to develop and mature their artistic practice while building relationships with the cultural and business ecosystem. Each artist benefits from support in order to live an enriching experience. The majority of artists participating in the project will have access for the very first time in their career to a place to create where networking activities are planned", adds Frédéric Loury.

About Art Souterrain

Art Souterrain is a non profit organization which aims to provide a wider accessibility to contemporary art since 2009. With the will to demystify the artistic process and artworks, the organization implements long term initiatives to cultivate an understanding and to create a bound between an artwork and its audience.

To achieve its ends, Art Souterrain is based on a strong model with the main intention of getting artworks out of traditionnel exhibition places. By doing so, the organization wants to surprise everyone in its daily life and to bring a new kind of interaction, governed by questioning and emotion.