marquer le territoire
Laisser sa trace sur une parcelle de terre…
le terrain vague comme matériau
Le terrain vague est un espace offert aux appropriations créatives spontanées et aux pratiques informelles qui trouvent difficilement leur place dans des espaces publics de plus en plus assujettis à la logique du commerce, le terrain vague est ici le lieu propice à l’émergence d’une certaine résistance, un espace potentiellement ouvert à des modalités alternatives de vivre la ville.
pénétrer le sol…
Le concept d’individu ne s’applique pas dans la nature. Dans chaque prétendue indépendance, la vie est une colonie de co-dépendants…
terrain vague as material
At the crossroads of many, often contradictory trains of thought, jostled by the accelerated pace of change in modern society, the urban environment evolves along lines that are increasingly difficult to read. In this volatile context, a renewed interest in the terrain vague has become apparent in the last fifteen years or so. Post-industrial urbanization [...]
la gare transformée en champ
“Pour savoir où l’on va, il faut savoir d’où l’on vient”… Alors, quel est donc l’histoire du terrain aujourd’hui occupé par le champ, longtemps rattachée à celle du Canadian Pacific ?
a railyard, turned meadow…
The first railway in Canada opened in 1836 as a portage between the Saint-Laurent and Richelieu Rivers. By 1859, when the remarkable Victoria Bridge spanned the Saint-Laurent, the Grand Trunk Railway ran all the way from Portland, Maine on the Atlantic coast, through Sherbrooke to Montreal, and westward to Toronto, Sarnia, and Chicago. After Confederation [...]
to go into soil…
It’s the story, the biography of the field beneath my feet… English settlers imposed their acres on a land that before they arrived had flowed from sea to sea, joyfully free of measurement. (…) The acre’s residents; plants, trees, and animals are familiar miracles but while their story unfolds above ground, there is another running [...]
marking territory
No piece of land knows which flag it is flying or the nation that flag represents. Putting name flags on soil is a matter of convenience, so we can find one another, and state where we are from. Place names, sprayed on maps, street corners and garden gates, like graffiti, lets history know who has [...]
an opening for histoire
These lots are far from vacant, and teem with life of all kinds. From weeds to wasteland, each patch of earth is rich and streaming with culture and memory.
landscape
Are not the real territories to explore today notably the ones that we don’t see simply because of our immersion in them: these impure and extensive lands of the urban?
one sunrise at a time
Hemmed in by the human activity surrounding it, it has been razed to the ground repeatedly since that time. It has held train cars, parked automobiles, and collected bonfire wood. And each time, many of the same plants that have thrived on it for centuries would come back. Within a few years, once again, the field would return to its recognizable self.
age of steam, age of faith
The fact that such a large uncultivated open field exists in the middle of the city is due to the presence of the railroad. The QMO&O Railway was built in 1876, on the same right of way that Canadian Pacific occupies today. The nearby Mile End train station was an important presence from 1878 up to the 1930s.
le carmel de montréal : haut lieu de la spiritualité féminine
Représentantes par excellence des ordres contemplatifs féminins, les Carmélites incarnent pour Montréal une grande tradition occidentale, l’une des rares attaches faisant le lien entre les siècles du Moyen Âge et le nôtre.
Chapter: 3/ the ecology of place: histoire, esprit