Présences du littéraire dans l’espace public canadien

The site of the intersection of Pins and Parc is a catalyst to place more than one respect. Frontier strong central city determined by Mount Royal, McGill University, the monument George-Etienne Cartier in the west, and the convent of the Hospitallers, their museum and Parc Jeanne-Mance and sports activities (volleyball beach, soccer, tennis, baseball) to the east, the downtown and the river to the south; neighborhoods Mile End and Outremont Parc Extension and north. It can be viewed as the zero point of the city even more than the Boulevard Saint-Laurent. It creates a zone of tension between motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, for them, rehabilitate modulated pace of the bustling city. Crossing point, rest, dreams and physical activity, it calls for a timelessness.

We focused our proposal around the movement of the body, the choreography of urban mobilities, the word body in its urban symbolic and textual. Body of the city, dancing bodies between day and night, set of letters and words, layers of words, we questioned the impact of the inclusion of text in the urban space in relation to the scope of language. Reflection on language, languages that make up the mosaic of cultures Montreal, precisely at this junction. The words up and transform the space according to the seasons and day and night.

Our project has three salary scales of the literary public sphere as a function of continuous and discontinuous movements depending on the scale of speed of movement (motorist, cyclist, pedestrian) as an urban ballet: LETTER (collective) MOT (sublime) or POETIC TEXT STORY (intimate). We are particularly interested in the playful mood, playful (cf. Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga, which means Man the Player) and characterization sublimated space. (See Figure 1)

1. Sublime: 7 key words located right through the Parc Avenue offer made broad sense and refer instead depending on the topography, great space, history, human use, wildlife and flora. These words can be read in both French and English. These facilities are permanent.
- transition (10): bus north-east - recycled plastic blue underground - each letter serves as a shelter
- frontière (9): median median of Parc Avenue - vegetation structure
- euphoria (8): flank of Mount Royal - slate (intervention with chalk)
- contemplation (13): front wall of the Hospitallers - translucent glass - is the lighting - (See Figure 1)
- orchestration (13): flank of Mount Royal (near the bandstand relocated) - birds, squirrels, etc.. - Structure hemlock
- action (6): near the volley ball - steel structure (magnetic medium of words and making climbing) (See Figure 2)
- élévation (9): flank of Mount Royal - white marble structure that serves as a mist / fountain. (See Figure 3)

2. Collectif: The letters become a collective interaction entities created for active users (players) or passive (voyeurs). Each letter becomes a game and offered a dialogue with local human, animal or plant. Thus, integrated into the landscape, the letters become support for various recreational uses used to create other words with elements reminiscent of childhood games: "bright light" - the blackboard - word games from fridge magnets; niches for birds; bus shelter, vegetation structure and other activities that will be generated. We can not determine the sustainability of use.

3. Intime: A collection of essays uses the interstices of sidewalks and creates an intimate relationship with the keeper. Thus, this proposal is located across the private, it's lonely. The proposed texts are different levels of language: poetic, philosophical, narrative dialogue type (photo-novel) and meet or assemble the other scales as a thread. They are temporary and may give way to other texts. (See Figure 4)