06/09/2005: "Obsolescence"

obso5 (12k image)
Obsolescence, installation lumineuse
Axel Morgenthaler (image from the Quartier Éphémère website)

Monday evening my friend Alison and I took a long, lovely bike ride along Montreal's Lachine Canal. Our destination was the old Canada Malting silos, and we carried with us all the materials for a night picnic once we reached the site, so we could sit back and enjoy Axel Morgenthaler's light installation in the silos once we got there.

As we biked along, we noticed the slow creep of gentrification taking over the area around the canal. Derelict buildings were mixed together with brand new condominiums that had docks for boats belonging to condo owners. Thankfully, in Montreal there are still a few derelict buildings left and Montreal plays host to many installation and art events in such places (a good example is last year's Champ Libre festival that was in an old incinerator building). Also Montreal's Quartier Éphémère group is well-known for producing in-situ projects, often in derelict spaces, and it was Quartier Éphémère that produced the project we were about to enjoy that night.

We unpacked our picnic and sat down to enjoy the light show. Since we had much to eat and drink with us, we stayed for a long while, enjoying the show, which unfolded in silence. The silence was only broken by our conversation, the occasional whirr of a cyclist driving past on the nearby bike path, and a slight buzz from the nearby McAuslan brewery. Since we stayed a long time, we were able to observe that the lights were automated and operated in a pattern that looped, and the loop seemed to have a duration of approximately ten minutes. We speculated that a longer, or more randomized loop would make extended viewings like ours more interesting. We also speculated that though the tranquil evening was a lovely setting for our picnic, it would be interesting to hear some music along with the light show, perhaps a party with a DJ on the grounds that could create a festive experience.

This intervention is quite pleasant to observe and draws even more attention to the silos, that are already imposing, and colourful due to their layer of graffiti. While a light show may not press upon us an immediate connection to a "message" the way that a more representational image would (say, if videos were projected onto the silos), instead I felt that the blinking of the lights on the silo turned it it into a sort of a beacon, reactivating a derelict space by simply heightening its visibility and presence on this quiet stretch of the Canal.

Replies: 1 Comment

on Monday, July 4th, mikey said

speaking of silos...i was relieved to hear that the metronome project planned for the canada malting plant in toronto will not go through.

http://www.infiltration.org/malt.htm

http://www.metronomecanada.com