Festival Art Souterrain 2025

FESTIVAL AST SOUTERRAIN 2025

17th edition

March 15 - April 6, 2025

The Montreal’s Festival Art Souterrain brings vibrancy at the end of the winter days leading to the early days of spring. It runs inside the Montreal‘ s widely spread underground pedestrian networks, where the exhibited art pieces are greatly admired by the passers-by.

Throughout the event, the public will discover the works of some twenty artists. They will also be able to take part in 15 events and meditation activities around the theme of habitat. Several mediation tours are also available throughout the festival.

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 bond 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 traditional 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.

All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

Visit the Art Souterrain Festival’s website for more information on artists, programing and activities.

For additional information:

https://www.facebook.com/artsouterrain/

https://twitter.com/artsouterrain

https://www.instagram.com/artsouterrain

Art Souterrain 2019

Steve Giasson, Rubis

ART SOUTERRAIN 2019
11th Edition - True or False

March 2 - 24, 2018

Art Souterrain or UnderGround Art is an annual event in right at the downtown of Montreal  It rans for 3 winter weeks and is presented inside the over 6 km long Montreal’s underground pedestrian network and 8 satellite locations. Works of art were chosen by curators Maude Arsenault, Martin Le Chevallier and Joyce Yahouda will be accessible at all times, free of charge. The Festival will also present a number of interesting mediation and discovery activities. 

Contemporary works by 60 well-known local and international artists evoking aspects of the “True or False” theme will enliven the heart of Montreal.

Justin Langlois

Among the ARTISTS:

The Frenchman Alain della Negra and the Japanese artist Kaori Kinoshita will sow the confusion between the real and the virtual by presenting their short film NEIGHBORHOOD, story of the life of their avatar with the followers of the game of Sims.

THE BEST AVAILABLE EVIDENCE by visual artist Rebecca Marino is inspired by a document the artist discovered on the evidence of the existence and legitimacy of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The work challenges personal belief boundaries by playing with the idea of ​​evidence.

At the Palais des Congrès, Philippe Ramette will use photography to bring humour and strangeness into the world while reflecting on the notion of "irrational".

Holly Andres offers a series of photographic snapshots inspired by childhood memories, carefully staged as a cinematic melodramas. Her work echoes works of Siàn Davey who celebrated family life in its unpredictable complexity with an almost documentary approach.

The self-taught Quebec artist Emmanuel Laflamme, former cartoonist, in his work FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT multiplies the references to the first step of the man on the Moon while questioning the authenticity of the event.

The conceptual artist Steve Giasson questions our beliefs with his work WITHOUT TITLE (CINQ RUBIS ). He claims he has hidden five rubies in the buildings along the underground route, raising a question about the very existence of his work.

Marc Lee takes a critical look at the limits of our information society with his video installation POLITICAL CAMPAIGN - BATTLE OF OPINION ON SOCIAL MEDIA. From his premise that the social media reflects our own opinion, he mixes real images, videos and tweets in real time to create a continuous newsletter  

Artist Philippe Battikha presents a well-known Montreal issue: construction sites. His sculptural and sound installation PREVENTATIVE INTERVIEW plays with the spectator who will doubt his perceptions.

A monumental installation THE TERRIL by Edward Hillel, uses humour to denounce the economic, political and social powers of multinational corporations.

The Montreal artist Dominique Pétrin examines in his work THE TRUE OF FALSE how by using hypnosis in his performances he can distort the visual cognitive processes and alter the perception and consciousness. 

Brendan George Ko, Head In The Sand

Brendan George Ko, Lava Tube

New and free activities:

"Running pace" will allow the public to combine physical training and discovery of the Montreal's underground course with a sports coach and mediators.

Guided tours: will offer three thematic tours to allow festival-goers to understand underground works from different angles.

During the Nuit Blanche, each artist present at the lounch will be accompanied by mediators whose mission will be to inform the public about the artist's work and his career

Mediation sessions will be organized on weekends, and middays on weekdays to discuss the works in the underground route.

Films: Cinéma paranoïaque at Cinéma du Parc.

Also, the satellite locations will have each special planned activities: meetings with the artists, creative workshops or round table.

Jean-François Lachance

Jean-François Lachance

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Programming, activities: www.artsouterrain.com

https://www.facebook.com/artsouterrain/

https://twitter.com/artsouterrain

https://www.instagram.com/artsouterrain

Art Souterrain 2018

Kelly Mark (Ontario) | The Kiss 

Art Souterrain 2018
10th Edition - Labor Improbus

March 3 - 25, 2018

Art Souterrain is an Montreal's annual event that invites a broad audience to discover contemporary art. It is spread over the seven buildings that make up its downtown underground pedestrian network, and nine additional satellite cultural venues.

The 2018 edition's theme is Labor Improbus and will launch on March 3, as part of the Nuit Blanche in Montreal. Art Soutterain festival will spotlight some 98 projects by 94 visual artists from Belgium, Canada, Chile, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, the Netherlands, Quebec, Russia, Spain and the United States.

Karine Giboulo, Hyperland 2014,
Expression

Johannes Zits | Staying on top

 (2017) Performance

Festival-goers will have three weeks to see a great number of installations, sculptures, videos, photographic and digital works, as well as performance art forms that all tie into this year’s theme. They can also participate participating in numerous daily activities.

Carole Condé, Karl Beveridge (Canada / Toronto) | Public Matters 2012 

(Work in Progress) | Photograph

The title Labor Improbus of this year's Art Soutterain festival was selected by Frédéric Loury, principal curator and artistic director, as well as Pascale
Beaudet and Emeline Rosendo, guest curators. The artists participating this year have a plurality of perspectives on the role of an individual in the modern workplace that reflects on new forms of alienation and prescribed conformity within the present global economy.

Frédéric Loury states:

“Labor Improbus stems from the location of the festival in downtown Montreal as well as the remarkable evolution of working tools in the West. Each day, more than 300,000 individuals pass through our exhibition area on their way to many working spaces. In sheer numbers, workers make up the main indirect audience for our annual event. It seemed pertinent to us that we reflect on notions of labour – its diversified and contradictory mechanisms. Citizens

have never been as free to choose their work environment as they now are, and yet they’ve also never been as exploited and vulnerable.” 

John Pilson, Mr Pickup (Video) 

Two main exhibition circuits are available free of charge:

The underground circuit will be spread across the seven following buildings: 1000 de la Gauchetière, Place Bonaventure, Place de la Cité Internationale/OACI, Édifice Jacques-Parizeau, the World Trade Centre Montreal, the Guy-Favreau Complex and the Palais des Congrès de Montréal.
Signage on the ground will guide visitors along the trail of artworks. Additionally, a Frenchlanguage audio guide, available free of charge on the Art Souterrain Festival website, will enrich the visitor experience.

The satellite circuit will, for its part, unfold across nine cultural spaces in Montreal, all of which are festival partners: Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal, Art Matters Festival, the Centre de diffusion et d'expérimentation de l'Université du Québec à Montréal (CDEx), the Cinéma du Parc, Espace d’exposition Ubisoft, the Darling Foundry, The Fridge Door Gallery, Galerie Simon Blais and the Grande Bibliothèque, on this milestone year during which Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec.

Art Souterrain Poster

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PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Access to both exhibition circuits as well as to festival activities are free of charge, save for Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal, the Darling Foundry, the guided tours and the Focus visits ($7).

The festival brochure is available in both print and electronic formats.

Programming, activities and audio guide: www.artsouterrain.com

https://www.facebook.com/artsouterrain/

https://twitter.com/artsouterrain

https://www.instagram.com/artsouterrain

Art Souterrain 2017

Art Souterrain 2017
Edition 9

March 4 - 26, 2017

Art Souterrain (Underground Art) presents the 9th edition of its annual contemporary art festival. This year's theme is Play and Distraction. This visual arts festival—the only one of its kind in North America—will kick off on Saturday, March 4, 2017 during Montreal's Nuit blanche, and over the following three weeks will offer 45 activities: commented visits, conferences, and artist meet-and-greets.

Festival-goers will discover works by more than 60 Québec, Canadian and international artists and collectives, on display in nine buildings of Montreal's Underground City (all connected by underground passages). Some of the works will be additionally displayed at seven satellite venues. Performances, installations, interactive videos, photographs, and sculptures will dot this extensive artistic trail, whose works will reflect this year's theme, Play and Distraction.

Access to the exhibition trail and to all festival activities is free of charge, with the exception of the guided visits ($5) and the Focus visits ($10, or $7 for students).

UNDERGROUND TRAIL

This trail is the most popular with the Montrealers. It will be winding through these locations:

Central Station, 1000 de la Gauchetière
Place Bonaventure (only during the evening of Montreal's Nuit blanche)
Place de la Cité internationale-OACI
Place Victoria
World Trade Centre Montréal
Édifice Jacques-Parizeau (formerly Centre CDP Capital)
Palais des Congrès de Montréal
Guy-Favreau Complex (closed on weekends 18-19 March and 25-26 March 2017).

SATELLITE TRAIL

Wil cover these locations:

Arsenal Contemporary Art

Artur Zmijewski | Julie Chaffort | February 21 to March 26

2020 William. (Georges-Vanier or Lionel-Groulx metro)

Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal

François Kathrin Lagacé, Xavier Ménard and Patrick Saint-Denis | March 2–25

2940 chemin de la Côte Sainte-Catherine, Pavillon de la Faculté de l’aménagement, room 0056. (Université-de-Montréal metro)

Dawson College Art Gallery

Five Tricks to Win a Race Against Marina Abramovic | February 15 to March 28

Katherine Parthimos, Alexia McKindsey, Matthew Thomson, Hugo Nadeau, Guillaume Bourdon, Paolo Pedercini, Melanie Matthews, Olivia Turchinyak, Emily Spooner, Mark Jenkins

4001 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., room 2 G.0. (Atwater metro)

Espace d’exposition UBISOFT

Jason Cantoro | Montreal's Nuit blanche | March 4, 6 p.m.–1 a.m.

5480 Saint-Dominique. (Laurier metro)

Never Apart

Jaywalking, Dries Depoorter | January 26 to April 9

7049 Saint-Urbain. (De Castelnau metro)

ELLEPHANT

Jean-Pierre Gauthier: Jeu et Diversion | February 25 to April 1

1201 Saint-Dominique. (Saint-Laurent metro)

OBORO

Skawennati: Le monde de demain | February 4 to March 18

4001 Berri, room 301. (Sherbrooke metro)

Concordia University

EV Building, room EV-1.605, 1515 Sainte-Catherine W. (Atwater metro)

ABOUT ART SOUTERRAIN

Since 2009, ART SOUTERRAIN has been attracting large audiences and turning them on to contemporary art through its eponymous festival, unique in North America, held annually in Montreal's Underground City.

The festival takes art outside conventional venues and into the public space, breathing life into this original part of Montreal's architectural heritage as it showcases the diverse practices and modes of expression of artists from the Québec, Canadian and international scenes. Beginning with the 2016 edition, the festival has enhanced the artistic experience of visitors thanks to the

addition of a satellite trail comprised of partner cultural venues.

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Hover your mouse over images for description and credits.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Programming, activities and audioguide: www.artsouterrain.com

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