Things to do in Montreal and Environs
Coming early to Balisage? Or staying on after we bid “Adieu!”? Maybe you brought the family with you to enjoy Montréal while you immerse yourself in markup languages? Here’s just a sampling of the many exhibitions and activities that will be occurring in Montréal and environs. Enjoy!
MONTRÉAL
Throughout 2010, the city of Montréal will explore the many facets and uses of glass from arts and fine crafts to industrial and architectural design to its recycling. Museums, cultural centres, art galleries, community centers, and even public squares will host exhibitions and activities designed to enthrall a variety of audiences. Given the variety and sheer number of exhibitions available, check the official programming page for more information, including those exhibits/activities available in French only. Check out the Blaschka glass models of sea animals, flowers and even enlarged microscopic organisms! Or maybe you will prefer “Passion for Glass,” a showing of contemporary glass art!
Easter Island, An Epic Voyage
Pointe-à-Callière | Montréal
Museum of Archeology and History
Discover the history of the most isolated land on Earth: Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. Through various artifacts and the work of researchers, this exhibition offers us the opportunity to experience the beauty of this mysterious people.
Learn about the contribution of Irish immigrants to the social, political and economic fabrics of Québec, from the era of the New France to the present.
Care and Compassion
Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
Commemorating the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the first three Hospitalers of Holy Joseph (Judith Moreau of Brésoles, Catherine Macé and Mary Mallet) in Mary City in 1659, this exhibit explains the missionary work of the the Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.
Ultreïa! Onward, Pilgrim!
Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum | Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Pilgrimage is an ancient phenonmenon that continues to the present day. In addition to the testimonies of contemporary pilgrims, this exhibit displays objects associated with pilgrimage (staffs, shoes, symbols, etc.), some of them of important historical value and relating to Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, Montréal’s oldest existing pilgrimage site.
An interactive exhibit from the History Center’s 4,000 objects allows you and “Miss B,” the museum’s researcher, to learn the origins of both manufactured and hand-crafted objects, not to mention commercial brands used daily. While Montréal is the home of many objects on display, the origin of others may surprise you.
This exhibit explores different facets of Québec’s culinary culture from the arrival of the first colonists to the present. Not only will this exhibit reveal what was served in 17th-century plate-bowls or 19th-century saucers, but it will also show preservation methods, meal preparation, the impact of agricultural techniques on food, and dining etiquette, as well as the more recent contributions of newcomers to the Québécois culinary repertoire.
Who was Dr. Norman Bethune? This exhibit explores the unconventional surgeon’s life, particularly his travels across three continents as he struggled against the horrors of war and disease. Imagery inspired by comic-strip and pop art takes us in Bethune’s wake through the contrasting worlds of Gravenhurst (Ontario), Montréal, and China during the early part of the last century.
Nance Ackerman is a photographer specializing in documentary photography. Her exhibit “Wathahine” (“the long journey” in Mohawk) showcases black and white portraits of approximately twenty indigenous women — elders, artists, teachers and activists — who have fought to improve their lives and those of their families and communities.
Lines
Musée de Lachine
As part of Montréal’s “City of Glass” — a year-long exploration of glass — objects from the Museum’s collection of Lachine have been selected for display, including sculptures by Linda Covit, Lisette Lemieux and Catherine Widgery, as well those by two guest artists, Patrick Beaulieu and Susan Edgerley. (Guided tours, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 pm or by appointment)
Inspiria
The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts
The Fine Arts Museum will exhibit a spectacular twenty-piece private collection of valuable jewellery as part of a collaboration between the Cirque du Soleil and Boucheron of Place Vendôme, Paris. These necklaces provide a rare opportunity for the public to discover the creative process of fine jewellery. The display will include the original gouache drawings used for the execution of each piece, with explanations of the sources of the imagery and of the techniques employed.
The exhibition presents three projects dealing with the idea of an adventurous journey that started 40 years ago, after the mission to the moon in 1969: the now legendary project by Alessandro Poli and Superstudio for a highway to connect the earth and the moon; Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan’s design of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Administration Building for NASA; and Los Angeles-based architect Greg Lynn’s research and design project for new terminals on both the earth and the moon to connect travelers between the two locations.
Come and pay your respects to one of the twentieth century’s greatest musicians, Miles Davis. This multidisciplinary retrospective highlights the jazz artist’s life and career,including his memorable concerts in Montréal.
Glass Cycles
Maison Saint-Gabriel (museum and historical site)
At the intersection of art and industry, “Glass Cycles” traces the history of glass in Montréal, from the time of handcrafted objects through the industrial production that started in the 1850s to the present day. This exhibit focuses on the glass industry and glass recycling, utilizing the history of a plant which has been located, since 1905, on land formerly belonging to Maison Saint-Gabriel, in Pointe-Saint-Charles, and is now owned by Owens-Illinois, the largest producer of glass in the world.
When barely 16 years old, Louis Braille created the braille alphabet and in doing so, opened the doors of knowledge and social equality to the blind. This exhibit teaches about braille, utilizing a little known collection of the Library and National Archives of Québec — the Québec Service of the Adapted Book — as well as a large number of books and objects on loan from the Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille.
This remarkable scientific exhibition gives visitors a better understanding of the amazing machine that is the human body. Galleries provide up-close looks inside the body’s skeletal, muscular, reproductive, respiratory, circulatory and other systems. Whole body specimens — preserved using a revolutionary procedure known as “plastination” — are dissected in athletic poses, allowing visitors to relate to everyday activities. Other specimens illustrate the damage caused to organs by disease or a sedentary lifestyle; for example, a healthy lung is featured next to a black lung ravaged by smoking in a comparison more powerful than any text book image. This exhibition will alter the way you see yourself!
QUÉBEC CITY
How far can science go towards explaining the meaning of thought? From the origins of thought to artificial intelligence, the exhibition maps the journey of this most fundamental human faculty. Visitors will learn how Lascaux cave’s paintings, the alphabet, small stones used for counting, printing and early world maps all influenced the evolution of thought and paved the way for civilization.
Experience the intermingling of the world’s great musical traditions. Throughout the ages, music has traveled, spawning new styles, such as the Afro-American rhythms that eventually spread across North America and Europe. Discover the rich diversity of cross-cultural musical expressions.
Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth: Seven storytellers use objects from the Musée de la civilisation collection to illustrate a tale about each of the seven deadly sins, under the artistic direction of Martin Larocque.
OTTAWA
The Horse
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Of all the species with which humans have interacted over the past 100,000 years, none compares to the horse in cultural significance. The exhibition showcases spectacular fossils, models, dioramas and cultural objects from around the world, including many from the American Museum of Natural History’s extraordinary collections.
In the late 18th century, the Montréal-based North West Company embarked on a journey that would link, for the first time, the future country of Canada from sea to sea to sea. This exhibit retraces the rise and fall of a commercial empire that would push fur trade routes all the way to the Pacific Ocean, explore new territories and open trade routes that helped lay the foundations of the Canada we know today.
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