Felicity Tayler
The Quartier des spectacles is part of Montréal’s re-branding through culture as a “creative city.” This is the most recent of many phases of economic development in the city’s history. I am interested in public opinion on the impact (socioeconomic and environmental) of these changes. As part of the ongoing Pictorial Propaganda project, locations in the Quartier will be identified as “Picturesque.” Many of these sites will exemplify the duality between commercial and emergent culture, as well as the polarized income and social status inherent to the theory of the “creative class” and the knowledge economy. In some of these locations, I will assume the role of a landscape painter and will copy views of Montréal originally painted by Mrs. Elizabeth Simcoe (1762–1850), wife of the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. As people pass by me on their daily trajectory, they will stop and share their thoughts with me in response to this imagery of a pre-industrial era. If they choose, they may also negotiate a trade to take possession of my reproductions. [Source : VOX, 2008]
