Modern Montreal
 
HIGH-RISE HEYDAY:
A fashion show and the exterior of PVM in the ’60sIn the late ’50s, some visionaries with remarkable business acumen gave rise to Quebec’s first skyscraper, a structural feat envisioned as Montreal’s answer to the Eiffel Tower. And while it didn’t elicit a comparable influx of camera-wielding tourists, Place Ville-Marie and its cruciform shape have forever defined our city’s skyline.
With PVM marking its jubilee in 2012, a photo exhibition featuring never-before-seen scale models and images is on display in six areas of the building’s shopping concourse. Place Ville Marie: The Rise of Montreal celebrates both its avant-garde architectural design—with a revolving beacon that was long believed to direct air traffic overhead (it doesn’t)—and its influence on Montreal’s business community, as its completion prompted the migration of the financial district from Old Montreal to downtown.
What’s most surprising to someone like me—who grew up regarding PVM as ground zero for the underground city and a choice locale for suburban teens on clubbing nights—is to recognize how vibrant PVM quarters used to be. Fashion shows, cocktails, outdoor concerts and high-end restaurants made it cool beyond compare. It signalled Montreal’s ascension into modernity.
by MICHAEL-OLIVER HARDING
Movies by you
SET TO FLY: Work by Marie-Claire Lantin
Somewhere in the back of your mind lurks the itch to make a movie. If, like last month’s leftovers, you hope it will disappear if ignored, M60: Montreal 60 Second Film Festival offers an interesting compromise: no jury or prizes—just the attainable goal of completing a 60-second film and a little motivation to get the ball rolling.
While screenings won’t happen till September, cinéastes and civilians alike are invited to the festival’s Launch and Registration Party this Friday, July 10, at 9 p. m. at La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). Those signing up for one of 120 spots will have one month to complete their masterpiece based on a surprise theme revealed on Friday. The party also promises an enticing roster of activities, including zoetrope workshops, magic tricks by Sébastien Talbot and a performance by artist Julie Lequin.
But beware if you’re just coming for the entertainment; creativity is contagious. Case in point: the festival was started by a group of five filmmaking virgins who drunkenly formed a pact to pick up their cameras after watching last year’s lunar eclipse. Moreover, organizer Sean Michaels warns that some of the more reluctant participants “ended up making some of the best films in the festival.”
Somewhere in the back of your mind lurks the itch to make a movie. If, like last month’s leftovers, you hope it will disappear if ignored, M60: Montreal 60 Second Film Festival offers an interesting compromise: no jury or prizes—just the attainable goal of completing a 60-second film and a little motivation to get the ball rolling.
While screenings won’t happen till September, cinéastes and civilians alike are invited to the festival’s Launch and Registration Party this Friday, July 10, at 9 p. m. at La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). Those signing up for one of 120 spots will have one month to complete their masterpiece based on a surprise theme revealed on Friday. The party also promises an enticing roster of activities, including zoetrope workshops, magic tricks by Sébastien Talbot and a performance by artist Julie Lequin.
But beware if you’re just coming for the entertainment; creativity is contagious. Case in point: the festival was started by a group of five filmmaking virgins who drunkenly formed a pact to pick up their cameras after watching last year’s lunar eclipse. Moreover, organizer Sean Michaels warns that some of the more reluctant participants “ended up making some of the best films in the festival.”
by DAVID LEVITZ
A dog’s view of Venice
When seeking an escape from the heat and noise of a Montreal summer, there are few better places than the cavernous gallery of the Darling Foundry (745 Ottawa). What luck then to find Jana Sterbak’s “Waiting for High Water” on display until Aug. 30.
If the name Sterbak rings a bell, it is more than likely because of her controversial sculpture, “Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic”—the  infamous “meat dress” she unveiled in 1987. Since then, Sterbak has ventured into more vegetarian-friendly media.
In 2003, Sterbak’s “From Here to There” represented Canada at the Venice Biennale. “Waiting for High Water” is a sort of companion piece to this earlier work, in that once again, the video was shot using cameras attached to the head of Sterbak’s Jack Russell terrier, Stanley.
Installed as a tripartite projection that plays in harmony with a score by harpsichordist Alex Weimann, the images take us on a unique tour of Venice. From this dog’s eye view, the cinematic city, with its architectural wonders and dramatic streetscapes, is made surreal. But as the water rises, the threats inherent to life below sea level become all too real.
by STACEY DEWOLFE
Street ballet
This July, you may stumble upon dance in an unlikely place: the Just for Laughs Festival. Look out for 15-member Cia de Dança Balé de Rua, a Brazilian troupe that makes its Montreal debut next week.
Choreographer Marco Antonio Garcia, who learned to dance on the street in his  youth, launched the group back in 1992 to create a new style of dance that mixed street dance with a distinct Brazilian vibe. A decade later, the company from Uberlândia, Brazil, made a splash at the prestigious Biennale de la Danse de Lyon and have been touring the world since.
In this upbeat show, Balé de Rua, Garcia takes personal stories of the working class from the favelas of Brazil and translates them into percussive music with popular Brazilian tunes and movement based on capoeria, hip hop, samba and street dance. Stop in at Place des
Arts’ Théâtre Maisonneuve (175 Ste-Catherine W.) July 14–19. Info: ahaha.com.
by MARITES CARINO
IS IT ART?
STYLE OVER FUNCTION? A helmet might save your life but they often look cumbersome and lame. TopUp Head Protection, on the other hand, is a compactable honeycomb-patterned helmet made from heavy textiles that folds up to fit in your bag and resembles a homemade Chinese lantern when open.
 Designed by Caroline Journaux and Adrien Guérin and billed as protection for both pedestrians and cyclists—though if you’re living in a city that requires you to wear a helmet while walking, head protection is probably the least of your worries—the idea for the compactable helmet came largely from seeing Velib (Paris’s answer to the Bixi) riders take to the streets head-gear free.
Whether this helmet provides real security is yet to be seen, but regardless of its protective status, it’s being developed by French-from-France company DoYouVélo?, who specialize in chic and functional bike gear. Watch for it on the streets (and sidewalks) soon: adrienguerin.com.
Arts hole
WINDOW SCREENERS: La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse (4296 St-Laurent) kicks off its window video installations, which play nightly throughout the month, with Noémi McComber’s Ritual (or Semiotics of a Make-up), which examines the (good and bad) transformative nature of make-up. It plays at the gallery until this Sunday, July 12. • ANIMAL ADORATION: Artist Paul Morstad’s latest, Fish and Bird, explores our struggle to cohabit with the natural world. It opens at the Wilder & Davis Gallery (257 Rachel E.) Friday, July 10, at 6:30 p.m.• BLACK AND WHITE: Andrea May (aka Happy Downlady) presents #000000, a collection of her latest black and white drawings at Moly Kulte (943 Mont-Royal E.). The vernissage takes place Tuesday, July 14, 5–7 p.m.
Artistat
The distance travelled in kilometres by artists Abby Fong, Conz, Tim Rechner, Jon Boletta, Jfry Craig and Terry Miller from Alberta to Quebec so that they could help create an exterior mural for Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine W.): 2,908
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