MONTREAL, CANADA.- The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) is expanding Extra-Muros with a new initiative to engage the public in a highly public space. Announcing the launch of a new program that links CCA with the vital pedestrian passages of the new Quartier international de Montréal (QIM). CCA Extra-Muros seeks to stimulate awareness and perception of the urban environment, and to cultivate reflection and debate on issues pertaining to civic space. CCA will invite artists, architects, designers, photographers, and artists working in new media to curate site-specific temporary installations taking up themes related to the evolving nature of the city.  

The first installation, READING THE CITY, is the work of young Montreal designer Louis-Charles Lasnier in collaboration with the cultural advertising firm, Publicité Sauvage. READING THE CITY opened and runs through April 2004.  

Nicholas Olsberg, Director of CCA: "CCA intends to use the new space it has been offered in the cultural passageway of the Quartier international de Montréal to inspire thought beyond its own walls and to focus the public’s attention on the realm of the city."  

Mass poster advertising has become the quintessential means of disseminating ideas and information in the city. Louis-Charles Lasnier’s installation READING THE CITY uses the ubiquitous medium of ’postering’ to pose provocative questions about how ideas and information are circulated in the public domain: Where is posting allowed by law - and why? Where is it merely tolerated - and why? Where is it prohibited by law - and why? Who has the right to post information? Who has the right to control the flow of information into public space? Mirroring Montreal’s cultural dynamism and the ephemeral nature of cultural posters, READING THE CITY will be transformed every week. Passers-by are invited to follow the project as it evolves, and to reflect on the questions it raises.  

In search of possible answers to these questions, Louis-Charles Lasnier and Publicité Sauvage will install blank posters around the city for the duration of READING THE CITY. These blank posters are intended to challenge the public to contemplate the matter of controlled information space, public as well as private, drawing wider attention to the lack of space available to citizens to publicly post their concerns. A new page on CCA’s Web site, www.cca.qc.ca/extramuros, will chronicle the ways in which Montrealers are making use of these temporary posting sites. As the program unfolds, information on CCA’s installations at the QIM, guest curators, and program archives will also be available.  

Louis-Charles Lasnier studied graphic design at the Université du Québec à Montréal and architecture at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He worked for Bruce Mau Design (Toronto), Claude Cormier architectes paysagistes (Montreal) and Saucier + Perrotte architectes (Montreal) before starting his own firm in 2000. His projects emerge from the interrelationship of the city and the book, the built domain and the written word. His studio is distinguished by its collaborative endeavours, with graphic design, architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism converging to stretch the project’s boundaries. Recently Lasnier has designed a touring exhibit, Paysage d’enfance / Déploiements topographiques, based on the work of the firm Saucier + Perrotte architectes; he mounted the exhibitions, Lewis Baltz: The New Industrial Parks near Irvine, California, presented by CCA in 2002, and a new exhibition, out of the box: price rossi stirling + matta-clark which runs through 6 September 2004. Louis-Charles Lasnier has lectured at the Université du Québec à Montréal’s École de design since 2001.  

Jean-François Prost, Luc Lévesque and Jean-Maxime Dufresne of SYN-atelier d’exploration urbaine have been invited to create the second installation, which will be presented in spring 2004.  

The Canadian Centre for Architecture is an international research centre and museum founded on the conviction that architecture is a public concern. Based on its extensive collections, CCA is a leading voice in advancing knowledge, promoting public understanding, and widening thought and debate on the art of architecture, its history, theory, practice, and role in society today.  

CCA gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Conseil des arts de Montréal.