My Alerts
The STM presents the finalists in the competition
for a work of art for the Paris métro
Montréal, June 23, 2010 – As part of its cultural exchange agreement with the Régie autonome des transports parisiens (RATP), the STM is proud to present the three finalists in the competition to commission and gift a work of art to the Paris métro. They are Geneviève Cadieux, Michel Goulet and Axel Morgenthaler, three artists already well-known for integrating art and architecture. They were selected on June 1 by a jury composed of representatives from the STM, RATP and Ville de Montréal, as well as influent public figures in the Montréal visual arts scene.
The STM wishes to thank the 37 artists who responded to its invitation, and the members of the jury who selected the three finalists. The artists have had the opportunity to travel to Paris to see first-hand the space that will feature the work of art at Saint-Lazare station. They were quite enthusiastic about the quality of the selected location: high visibility, strategic and offering great potential for integrating a work of art. They now have three months to develop a final concept that will be submitted to the jury.
The three finalists were selected according to various criteria, including the quality and excellence of their achievements, the earnestness of their artistic approach and their experience in undertaking similar projects.
Geneviève Cadieux, was the 2007 winner of Les Femmeuses Pratt & Whitney Canada Prize, awarded at a luncheon by the Conseil des arts de Montréal, to a professional Montréal artist in the field of visual arts. In 2009, she created the work Lierre sur pierre, featured on the main façade of the newest building of the John Molson School of Business, at Concordia University.
Michel Goulet was awarded the Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas in 1990, the highest distinction given to a visual artist by the Government of Québec. He also received a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2008. Finally, he created the work of art Rêver le nouveau monde, offered by Ville de Montréal to commemorate Québec City’s 400th anniversary in 2008.
Axel Morgenthaler won the Prix Créativité Montréal in 2008 for the lighting scheme of the Vitrine culturelle in Place-des-Arts. Another one of his works, entitled .98, was unveiled at Henri-bourassa métro station in 2007, to mark the opening of the métro extension to Laval. Of the three finalists, Axel Morgenthaler is the only one to have created a work of art for the Montréal métro.
The STM signed a cooperation agreement with RATP, in which the two parties pledged to exchange a work of art. Thus, in 2003, the Montréal métro gained a decorative wrought iron grillwork, in the Art nouveau style, by architect Hector Guimard, an authentic and masterful work of art surrounding the entrance to Square-Victoria métro station in the Quartier international de Montréal. The theme chosen for the Saint-Lazare station artwork is “The French language,” and the work will be inaugurated in Paris in fall 2011, as part of the 150th anniversary of public transportation in Montréal and the 50th anniversary of the Délégation générale du Québec in Paris.
For more information about the project, consult the competition programme available at this address : www.stm.info/info/comm-10/images/Reglement_RATP.pdf
– 30 –
