OTL Blog

The infringement season is upon us, and it is looking to be a red letter year for the global network of festivals!  With four unique infringement festivals on offer in both Canada and the USA, it is going to be a great summer for both infringers, new and old, and audiences seeking daring and authentic arts!

The Montreal infringement festival is moving into high gear and is beginning preparations for its 2011 edition. Now in its 8th year, the festival celebrates activist performances, critical discourse and a wide variety of infringement arts. Artists and audiences of all backgrounds are invited to create an anti-oppressive environment where people come together to take chances, push boundaries, explore uncharted territory, and challenge the omnipresent corporate worldview and all its spamming of the culture.

Optative Theatrical Laboratories is proud to work with individual and group collaborators (such as the FTB collective) to organize the annual festival of culture-jamming, activist arts, experimental performances and a wide variety of events, all created by a diversity of people with important messages to get out. With no censorship, no fees to participate, no unethical sponsors, and no corporate environment, this is a true Do-It-Yourself festival that is designed to empower people through the arts and reclaim culture. Infringement is also a stark reaction to the corporate takeover of the Fringe movement, which began with the trademarking of the word “Fringe” in 1998.

MONTREAL INFRINGEMENT NOW SEEKING COLLABORATORS!

The Montreal festival is currently seeking collaborators, and anyone who agrees with festival’s mandate is most welcome to participate. Infringement collaborators do everything from making art, producing shows, handling media, booking venues and advising artists to culture-jamming and  building the infringement movement, a global network designed to reclaim culture and democratize the arts.

In Montreal, the dates have been set from Thursday, June 16 to Sunday, June 26, 2011. There are currently meetings every week for collaborators interested the festival, which are held every Monday at 6:30pm at the artsy “Resto Bar Culturel” L’Escalier (522 Ste. Catherine Est, metro Berri-UQAM).

All are welcome to drop by, meet the Circle of collaborators, and learn more. For more information or to RSVP your place at the meeting, please email optatif@gmail.com!

BUFFALO INFRINGEMENT

The Buffalo infringement Festival is a “non-profit-driven, non-hierarchical grassroots endeavor bringing together a broad range of eclectic, independent, experimental, and controversial art of all forms.” Taking place in multiple venues in and around Buffalo’s Allentown District, the festival is an annual eleven-day event running from the last weekend of July through the first weekend of August. Visual, theatrical, performing, musical, and media arts are all welcome here.

This year the incredible Buffalo infringement festival runs from July 28 – August 07. For those planning on going this summer, the deadline for your online proposal/submission is May 1:

http://infringebuffalo.org/submit/

BROOKLYN & HAMILTON INFRINGEMENTS

There are also newer infringement festivals being staged in Brooklyn and Hamilton, Ontario this year! Brooklyn infringement, now in its 3rd edition, runs from May 19-22, 2011. Please note that the deadline for submissions is March 30.

The Hamilton infringement festival will be announcing their dates and other information soon. “Entering our 2nd year, we’re seeking input from all interested parties,” says festival founder Gary St. Laurent.

He adds: “We’re hoping to be bigger and make a statement that we’re here to stay. Let’s nail the Hammer! All who are interested can contact me at Gary@infringementfestival.com or 905-512-1964.”

DO-IT-YOURSELF INFRINGEMENT!

Infringement festivals have been held in various cities across the globe since 2004. In addition to the 2011 circuit, festivals have been held in places as diverse New York City, Regina, Ottawa, Toronto, and even Bordeaux in France! At the root of each festival is always at least one dedicated person with a will to bring the infringement movement to their community.

As a Do-It-Yourself festival, collaborators are always welcome to create news festivals anywhere in the world, and there is even a guidebook explaining how to do it. Please spread the word – and the global infringement movement!

Stay tuned to this blog and www.infringementfestival.com for updates and information!

Urban planning is often perceived as a professional and bureaucratic field that involves everything from traffic flow and sewer systems to city infrastructure and zoning bylaws. Although urban planning is not usually associated with activism or education (outside of specialized fields), change is in the air as both activists and teachers embrace urban planning as a tool for social change and empowerment.

In Montreal this renewed interest in urban planning has been driven largely by the popularity of upstart political party Projet Montreal and its leader Richard Bergeron, himself an accomplished urban planner. His  inspired designs and blueprints pepper the internet, each one a tantalizing vision of what the future could hold. Not only does Bergeron advocate safer, pedestrian-friendly communities, but also big-ticket items such as a Maritime Gateway for Montreal and a network of tramways to improve public transportation. Bergeron’s plans are not only visionary and inspiring, they are also accessible, visually-stimulating and a pleasure to pore over. Bergeron’s urban plans have the power to open up the imagination and visualize a better future.

Add to this Montreal-centric websites and blogs such as Spacing Montreal and Coolopolis, which have been providing even more valuable food for thought, and it is easy to see that interest in urban planning is skyrocketing in Montreal. 

As though taking their cue, in 2010 Montreal’s Urban Ecology Centre launched a “Green, Healthy and Active Neighbourhoods program“ and began teaching children how to identify and photograph dangerous traffic configurations, then suggest remedies, complete with their own blueprints superimposed on the photograhps they took.

Not only is this empowering program teaching young students how to challenge their car-centric surroundings and present more viable alternatives, but it is also garnering a lot of positive media attention, with speculation that the students’ work might actually have an effect on improving urban planning in their neighbourhood.   

Activists are also starting to employ urban planning concepts in their own campaigns, presenting alternative blueprints and visions of the future to those top-down models that are seen as oppressive, injust, or just plain sloppy. One such example that springs to mind is the recent fiasco on the Lower Main whereby corporate developers wanted to demolish heritage buildings  in Montreal’s most storied historic site, including the famous Café Cleopatra, in order to to build an office tower. Mobilizing under the Save the Main banner, artists and stakeholders have tried many strategies to save the site, including protests, performances, petitioning, attending public consultations, lobbying politicians and even legal action. While developers presented their own banal urban plan for the site, esssentially destroying heritage and living culture in favour of commerce, artists with the Save the Main coalition fought back by creating and presenting their own urban plan, one that respects the historic site and living culture and indeed repositions these as major assets within the new Quartier des Spectacles.

In December, months after the presentation at Pecha Kucha night, City of Montreal officials conceded that the artists’ vision of the Lower Main was far superior, and even issued a booklet about the future of the area that incorporates many of the artists’ ideas. In an about-face, the City of Montreal is now suggesting that architecture and living culture will be respected, protected and enhanced in the historic site, while the developer has backed off from his demolition plan.

While there is no telling if the City of Montreal will stick to its word, this case can still be seen as an example of artists re-appropriating the tools of the oppressor, in this case urban planning, as a way of protecting living culture and to present the City with an actual artistic vision. 

On the other side of the island, the sleepy bedroom community of Pointe Claire has recently been struggling to adopt a new urban plan after decades of suburban, car-centric planning. Unlike the City of Montreal’s top-down, in-your-face, approach to urban planning, Pointe Claire has spent 20 years, invested over 10,000 hours, and held various public consultations to get the project right. Even after the final public consultation was complete, Pointe Claire still had its ears open. When Optative Theatrical Laboratories contacted the mayor, Bill McMurchie, about proposed plans to run a connector bike path through a pristine nature park (Terra Cotta), the mayor was ready to listen. Concerned that the path would lead to ecological damage, OTL presented an alternative plan:

Pointe Claire listened carefully, scrapped the asphalt path running through the nature park, and made other adjustments to the new urban plan, such as the inclusion of a new path north of the Public Works to make the park more accessible, especially to seniors. As a result of this intervention, Terra Cotta nature park is both more accessible and protected, as depicted on the new map of bike paths.

Once again, with imagination, artistic vision, and solid planning, artists can claim victory in this challenge to safeguard the park and enhance the urban landscape. Meanwhile, Pointe Claire can be proud that it has done everything within its power to ensure the most logical and agreeable plan, which was adopted unanimously.

The lesson here for artists, activists, and educators is that urban planning, far from being some esoteric field for bureaucrats and engineers, can actually work as a catalyst for education, empowerment and social change. Far from Montreal’s previous top-down, capitalist-friendly model to urban planning, the new paradigm (as signified by Pointe Claire’s inclusive approach) is about collaboration, community-building, and creating (or reconfiguring) public spaces that are safe, enjoyable, dynamic and visionary. The sooner municipal authorities recognize that the keys to urban planning lie in consultation, collaboration, and artistry, the sooner Montreal will be equipped to develop into the magnificent democratic and sustainable city it aims to be.

Laser Ads are the latest form of invasive visual pollution staining our urban environments, and they are proliferating all over Montreal, like mushrooms after a rainfall. Not only can these laser ads be projected onto buildings, creating entirely new gigantic corporate billboards with the flick of a switch, but they are also starting to appear at ground level.

What makes laser ads disturbing is not only the visual pollution they create on public spaces (such as sidewalks), but also the fact that they project potentially harmful laser beams into the eyes of pedestrians, who are innocently passing by. Laser beams are known to be harmful to the human eye and can cause serious damage, which is why people tend to get upset when a laser pointer is shone into their eyes.

Exposure to lasers can cause flash blindness, glare, and afterimages. Flash blindness occurs whenever someone is exposed to a bright light source. While it only lasts for a few seconds, it can be extremely dangerous when someone is involved in a task which requires vision, such as when crossing the busy St. Laurent boulevard. Glare, a reduction or distortion of visibility caused by bright light, occurs when the laser is pointed directly at the eye. Afterimages can last for several days, and take the form of small spots in the vision. The overall effect is one of disorientation and confusion.

Due to the dangers of pointing lasers into human eyes, there have even been cases of offenders being arrested for shining lasers at aircraft, essentially putting human safety at risk. In fact, a site advocating the “safe” use of lasers advocates: “NEVER aim laser pointers at aircraft! It is unsafe, you may be arrested, and you may help get laser pointers banned.”

The obvious question arising is why it is “unsafe” and illegal to point lasers at aircraft hundreds of meters in the air, when it is somehow perfectly “safe” and legal to shine them into pedestrians’ eyes from only a meter or two away? Generally-speaking, shining lasers into human eyes is not a good idea, which is why warnings exist against this practice.

Given the seriousness of the situation, one must ask whether there any regulations governing these dangerous new advertising tools? Do they even adhere to standards of laser safety? What is being done to ensure public health and safety to protect people from these devices?

Lastly, why are these new laser ad devices being permitted in “The Main” national historic site, where the government of Canada gone to tremendous efforts to protect the heritage. Officials have clearly stated that “intrusive elements must be minimal” to protect the district’s historic characteristics, which ”must predominate and set it apart from the area that immediately surrounds it”.

There is a lack of leadership to protect citizens from these dangerous and abusive new forms of advertising that cause both visual pollution and potential eye damage. The fact that they are permitted in a designated historic site shows a flagrant disregard for Montreal’s history and heritage. Corporations think their right to advertise their product outweighs our right to be safe and comfortable in our historic site, and so far the politicians are allowing them. To make matters even worse, the product being advertised by the laser ad, BH Jeans, appears to have sexist advertising on the front page of its website, something that is actively discouraged in Quebec due to its negative influence on women and society in general.

How did it come to be that the corporate right to zap us with their new laser advertising medium and questionable product came to supercede our right to enjoy our historic site in peace? To shed light on the issue (pardon the pun), this topic has been selected for our annual Buy Nothing Day jam!

Join Optative Theatrical Laboratories this BUY NOTHING DAY for the Laser Ad Challenge! On the busiest shopping day of the year, we plan to stage a theatrical DIE-IN to challenge these dangerous laser ads – and demand their immediate removal from the historic site! To get involved in this year’s Buy Nothing Day activity, please meet us at Bar Bifteck (3702 St. Laurent) at 7 pm on Friday November 26.

For media inquiries or more information, please contact Donovan King at optatif@gmail.com

——–

Eyebrows are once again being raised concerning the competence of urban planning on the Lower Main. First came the wholesale evictions and gutting of the now-crumbling historic block on the west side of the Lower Main, effectively transforming an area where entertainment once thrived into a dangerous and boarded-up eyesore.  Now, on the south-east corner of Ste. Catherine Street and St. Laurent, all construction work has stopped on the 2-22, an intended cultural center, where, astoundingly, the ground was only broken a few weeks ago.

What was meant to be an anchor in the Quartier des Spectacles is now yet another example of failure to resuscitate the moribund historic area. While the Angus Development Corporation is clearly trying to maximize profits, their proposals are seriously lacking in artistic and cultural vision. Only recently, despite serious opposition from the public, the Angus Development Corporation attempted to destroy authentic Montreal burlesque culture within the historic Café Cleopatra in order to build an office tower.

With all of the delays, destruction and sloppy planning, artists from the Save The Main Coalition have created an alternative Urban Plan for the Lower Main. Taking into account the unique heritage of the area, the new plan highlights its role as an Historic Site devoted to the days of Prohibition – and proposes its restoration as a major destination for entertainment in the heart of the new Quartier des Spectacles. The plan also calls for the revival of burlesque, Montreal’s traditional form of spectacle, to fuel the artistic revival that is necessary to reclaim this important cultural space.

The problem was recently identified during a CKUT radio interview with Craig Sauvé.

The artists from the Save The Main Coalition followed-up with a formal presentation to City officials at the PECHAKUCHA NIGHT MONTREAL #17 – 7 MAI 2010, ÉDITION SPÉCIALE : BOULEVARD SAINT-LAURENT. The video is entitled  “Why Montreal Should Incorporate its Burlesque Heritage into its Brand Image”.

The artists are now requesting a meeting with Montreal’s head of Urban Planning, Richard Bergeron. They hope to present their own antidote for the current mess on the Lower Main: a visionary artistic approach that will enhance heritage, culture, and tourism by properly employing Montreal’s historic assets, effectively reviving burlesque entertainment right in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles.

This month marks the 10th anniversary of OTL’s infamous CAR STORIES show getting ejected from the St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival, and already the media are taking note of this disturbing milestone. The story is one of the most recounted in Montreal’s anglophone theatre community – it is the story of unethical corporate interests steamrolling artists at what used to be their own event, the Fringe. It is a well-documented story about corporations trying to exploit artists – and those artists fighting back using a strategy of cultural resistance and infringement.

To mark the 10th anniversary of CAR STORIES’ ejection from the so-called “Fringe” festival, the OTL has decided to try and collect the ticket sales it was defrauded of over 10 years ago. It appears as though Jeremy Hechtman, the man responsible for transforming the Fringe from a grassroots community event into a corporate feeding trough, is finally stepping down this year. Filling those capitalist shoes is Amy Blackmore, a long-time Fringe afficianado and talented artist. The question on the minds of many artists in the community is whether she intends to continue with the corporate program that has essentially destroyed what was once one of the city’s most poular grassroots festivals, or if she has enough courage and vision to restore the festival to a semblance of its former self. OTL decided to ask her, and sent the following letter:

———–

Dear Amy Blackmore,

Congratulations once again on taking over responsibility for the Montreal Fringe Festival from Jeremy Hechtman. As the only artists ever kicked out of any Fringe Festival (by Hechtman in 2001), we feel that we are in a unique position to offer constructive criticism directed at improving the Fringe Festival, and indeed encouraging it to return to its original grassroots approach. We are keeping a close eye on developments, and are extremely hopeful that you will do a better job respecting the rights of artists and the local theatre community for the duration of your mandate.

Unfortunately, your new post does not come without baggage. As you may recall, 10 years ago our show (Car Stories)  was ejected from the Fringe festival, according to Jeremy Hechtman because we offended then-sponsor The Gazette by writing a satirical critique of their theatre critic Pat Donnelly, who cancelled all Fringe festival reportage until we were given the boot. Hechtman also stated that The Gazette had threatened to withdraw $15,000 in sponsorship money, making it very clear that The Gazette was in a conflict-of-interest as both corporate sponsor and media responsible for covering the event. It became very clear in 2001 that the artists at the Fringe now played second fiddle to corporate sponsors, effectively negating the concept of the original festival (which was activist in nature).

Furthermore, Jeremy Hechtman refused to pay us the ticket sales Car Stories earned for the week run before it was ejected ($822.00) or the projected sales from the sold-out run (around $1000), nor did he reimburse our “application fee” of $253.06 which was required simply to appear in the Fringe schedule (we brought our own venue). Ten years later, with accrued interest, we figure the Fringe Festival you are inheriting still owes the artists it defrauded in 2001 close to $5000.00. We have the documentation to prove our claim, which we can put online if you like to ensure there is no confusion as to what actually happened.

I am asking you firstly, as the new Fringe Festival director, to reimburse us fully for the amount owed. Secondly, I know our artists are still waiting for an apology regarding their shabby treatment at the hands of the Fringe in 2001. Lastly, if you meet these conditions, we at the infringement festival would be happy to consider forming a new relationship with the Fringe, this time based on mutual respect and potential collaboration for dealing responsibly with artistic issues in the community.

Please understand that for authentic fringe artists like us, 10 years is a long time to wait for what is owed. As such, if I do not hear back from you by June 18, I will have no choice but to send theatrical “Collection Agents” to the Fringe festival to try and collect our ticket sales money. On June 19, 10 years ago, Jeremy Hechtman told us we were being kicked out of the Fringe. It is a day artists will never forget, and, failing the immediate reimbursement of our money, it is the day we plan to raise a theatrical ruckus at the Fringe beer tent to remind everyone about the corruption still affecting the current Fringe.

I truly hope you will do the right thing and get in touch immediately to work out a payment plan, or at least to try and explain your own position. We are flexible, and can avert the (very public) theatrical protests/media campaign if you demonstrate a serious commitment to resolving this issue in a timely manner. I can be reached at 514-842-1467 or via email. I hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Donovan King

——-

It should be noted that Ms. Blackmore did respond promptly and in a  courteous manner, but she did not deal with any of the issues or arrange a plan to rectify the situation. Speculation is rife that as the “co-producer” with Hechtman (for this year only), she does not actually wield any poltical clout (yet).

The OTL has responded, as promised, with a theatrical campaign to collect the ticket sales and spur social justice.

COLLECTION AGENCY is a piece of Do-It-Yourself theatre whereby those wishing to participate create and assume a theatrical “Collection Agent” character, and proceed to investigate 3 dramatic people or companies to collect what is owed. Using primary documents within a theatrical matrix that includes both the Fringe and the infringement festival, the first participant to collect from all three people or companies wins a $500.00 prize (or 10% commission on what the fringe owes OTL). To participate, find someone at the Fringe beer tent distributing the instructions and documentation, or download them. The Documents:

Collection Agency P2 (Collection #1)

Collection Agency P3 (Collection #2)

Collection Agency P4 (Collection #3)

Collection Agency P5 (Media article about Car Stories, 2001)

Collection Agency P6 (the letter that got OTL kicked out of the Fringe)

Collection Agency P7 (letter from Levack, resigning from OTL and begging media to restore coverage. Note it is CCed to Jeremy Hechtman)

Collection Agency P8 (media article from The Gazette about show’s expulsion)

Collection Agency P9 (letter to Fringe from Car Stories artists for box office sales and compensation)

Collection Agency P10 (letter from Hechtman refusing, note he claims he received “no documentation whatsoever” about Levack’s resignation from OTL – he was CCed the resignation in document #7.

Collection Agency P11 (media report from Ottawa Citizen about the scandal)

The first “Collection Agent” to collect all three should email optatif@gmail.com to verify and collect the $500.00 prize!

With a bit of theatrical pressure it is entirely possible Ms. Blackmore will do the right thing and ensure the artists get their ticket sales from the Fringe festival – 10 years late is better than never!

AFTERWORD

OTL visited the Beer Tent the evening of June 20 to ask Ms. Blackmore in person if she had any intention of reimbusring the artists who had been defrauded by the Fringe festival. Ms. Blackmore offered “no comment” and referred us to someone named Geoff Agombar, who is apparently the Fringe’s PR hack (yes, the Fringe Festival actually has paid people on staff for things like damage control!) Mr. Agombar was not only extremely rude to the defrauded artists he met, but he was adamant that they were not to be refunded. In the frat party atmosphere that has become the trademark of the new Fringe, Mr. Agombar even referred to the infringement movement as “10 years of bullshit”.

Fringe Festival spokesmen Brand (left) & Agombar (right)

Not to be outdone, Fringe Festival Board of Directors member Tristan Brand, himself directly implicated in the scandal in 2001, also dismissed the idea that artists should be paid their ticket sales.  

And thus the St. Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival has squandered a rare opportunity to make amends, ensuring many, many more years of cultural resistance to their exploitative capitalist agenda.

UPDATE (June 22)

After a successful opening vernissge, the Dumpster Dive Art Drive has been on display in an undisclosed alleyway for the public to enjoy. One jogger who stumbled upon the opening said, “Thanks! You just made my day!” between chugs of red wine served to him in a brown paper bag.

The great news is that there will be a second vernissage to close the festival! We want to do another one, bigger this time.

The public is invited to BAR BIFTECK (3702 St. Laurent) at 3 pm on Sunday June 27, where they will be led to the secret alleyway art display. Please attend, and please invite others, especially art critics!

Artists should arrive at 2 pm to set up. For artists wishing to created new dumpstered works, please start doing so immediately. Please make about 3 – 5 new, original pieces (or more) from the dumpster or trash, noting the following details:
 
TITLE
ARTIST
MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION
COST

We have the (waterproof-ish) art labels to fill in! If everyone makes 3 – 5 pieces, we will have a lovely vernissage! Please spread the word to other artists!! Anyone with questions should contact Donovan King at optatif@gmail.com or call 514-842-1467. Cheers!

Pee Brick

—-

The Dumpster Dive Art Drive is an experimental/environmental visual arts project created for the 7^th annual Montreal infringement festival.

Artists, both established and beginner, are invited to create artistic works made primarily from dumpstered and recycled materials. The objective of the project is to reclaim items destined for landfill and to transform them into artworks of all types.

The vernissage, where these works will be displayed, is to be held in an alleyway. Artists may opt to sell their works, and can keep 100% of all sales or donate it to an environmental organization of choice. The alleyway vernissage is planned on June 19^th at 5pm, and wine will be served to guests and critics from a brown paper bag. The location will be disclosed at a later date.

We encourage anyone who wants to reclaim trash as art and alleyways as galleries to get involved and participate! Create your own art-work for display, or volunteer to help!

To get involved, please call Alexandra Cuellar at 514-683-2750 or email Donovan King at optatif@gmail.com

Is this man too sexy for YouTube?

A few months ago, the OTL in solidarity with the coalition of artists trying to prevent the destruction of artistic venues on the lower Main produced a video appeal to Prince Charles.  Burlesque dancers asked the Prince, a noted heritage buff, if he would do something to stop Café Cleopatre from being replaced by an office tower.

While this video did generate quite a bit of coverage in places as varied as Paris Match and the Montreal Gazette along with tens of thousands of views, last week, unfortunately, it was removed by YouTube for containing sexually inappropriate content.  Is this video really too sexy for YouTube?  Is it really inappropriate?  Or maybe, is there some other reason why it was removed?  You be the judge:

Montreal’s Lower Main has been the site of controversy as of late, with powerful business interests squaring off against artists and heritage activists to determine the future of the historic stretch of road that was once the heart of Montreal’s bustling Red Light District. The battle has been characterized by powerful business interests dislocating the area’s businesses and culture, with artistic protests falling on deaf ears at City Hall. Ironically, it wasn’t long ago that the City was actively studying and considering ways to enhance the area by highlighting its heritage.

For a while it looked as though the business interests were going to win and accomplish their goal of destroying the historic site, including the living culture within it, to put up a soul-less office tower. In collaboration with the City of Montreal, developer Christian Yaccarini and his Angus Development Corporation have been systematically evicting tenants on the historic block through buy-outs and threats of appropriation, resulting in a dangerous eyesore being situated in the heart of the new Quartier des Spectacles.

Historic Site cum dangerous eyesore

Café Celeopatra, the last hold-out on the block, refuses to go without a fight. As a result of both economic woes and legal action brought on by Café Celeopatra to prevent the appropriation, the entire project has been shelved until the legal issues can be resolved.

Crumbling Historic site

This stroke of good fortune has given artists and heritage activists more time to envision and propose superior alternatives to the current arrangement: an ill-conceived business plan that is both autocratic and soul-less, resulting in the destruction of living culture and a historic site. The plan also appears to be at odds with the formal objectives of the Quartier des Spectacles, which aim, among other measures to support culture, to “Develop vacant spaces that meet the needs of festival-goers and activities featured at entertainment venues.”

With the business plan delayed due to Café Cleo’s legal challenge and ongoing cultural protests, it looks as though the City of Montreal is now ready to listen to the artists and heritage activists. In early April, PechaKucha Montréal, in collaboration with the borough of Ville-Marie, put out a contest to envision the future of the Lower Main – from Sherbrooke Street to René-Levesque Boulevard.

Frustrated with the sloppy planning and top-down approach, and given the potential to highlight the area’s fascinating burlesque heritage, we at Optative Theatrical Laboratories decided to submit our own proposal, including 3 JPEG images:

Why Montreal should incorporate its burlesque heritage it into its brand image

 By Donovan King, heritage activist

 The Lower Main was once Montreal’s favourite destination for entertainment. Montreal became famous for its elaborate burlesque shows, as thrill-seekers flocked to the Red Light district during the days of Prohibition. Today, only Café Cleopatra maintains the area’s famous burlesque tradition.

Tourists in Prague soon learn that the city has many “Black Light Theatre” shows on offer. These illusory performances are part of Prague’s tourist experience – and brand image. Montreal should strive to resurrect burlesque as its traditional form of spectacle, and restore the Lower Main to its former glory as a major destination for entertainment.

Since “The Main” is already classified as a historic site, the stretch in question should commemorate the Red Light District and Prohibition. It should be the centrepiece of the new Quartier des Spectacles, offering visitors an authentic experience reflecting Montreal’s Prohibition history. The stretch should be as bustling as Broadway, and the look should be as architecturally close to Prohibition days as possible, with bronze plaques commemorating famous venues, stories, and people.

To facilitate this desired outcome, old buildings must be restored as performance venues, restaurants, clubs, and artist residences. To ensure a steady flow of visitors, famed artists such as the Cirque du Soleil and Robert Lepage should be commissioned to create unique burlesque shows for the restored venues, while Parks Canada should open an historical interpretation centre. A burlesque school should also be founded. By reclaiming its burlesque heritage, Montreal’s brand image is enhanced, encouraging vibrant culture, and attracting more tourists.

————

I am pleased to announce that our proposal has been accepted, and we are scheduled present our vision to city officials and other authorities on Friday May 7. Our task now is to create 20 images that encapsulate our vision in the following format:

• 1024 x 768px JPEGs, name your pictures with your initials followed by successive numbers, for instance : BD-001.jpg (numbered in their order of presentation)
• QuickTime movie of slideshow. 640 x 480 (or higher)

We are now urgently seeking visual artists who want to submit images for this presentation. We are going to need 20 realistic-looking JPEGs of images reflecting the proposal. For example, the list might look something like this:

IMAGE #1:    Parks Canada Sign  

IMAGE #2:    Aerial Map of Quartier des Spectacles

* add words “Quartier des Spectacles”

IMAGE #3:    Historical photo

IMAGE #4:    Burlesque performance

IMAGE #5:    Café Cleopatra with nightlife

IMAGE #6:    Image of current plan with a red X through it

IMAGE #7:    New Plan needed

IMAGE #8:    Black Light Theatre in Prague

IMAGE #9:    Montreal should reclaim its burlesque heritage

IMAGE #10:  How the area used to look

IMAGE #11:  Street revamped

IMAGE #12:  Statue of Lili St. Cyr being watched by cop & priest on NE corner of Ste. Catherine & St. Laurent

IMAGE #13:  Bronze marker quoting Lili St. Cyr

“À Montréal j’étais la femme fatale que j’avais toujours rêvé d’être. Quand je déambulais rue Sainte-Catherine pour me render au théâtre, des attroupements se formaient sur mon passage. Les hommes cessaient toute activité pour me regarder passer.” – Lili St. Cyr

IMAGE #14:  Parks Canada Interpretations Centre

IMAGE #15:  Marquee with burlesque show by Cirque du Soleil

IMAGE #16:  Burlesque School

IMAGE #17:  Spectacular Burlesque pic

IMAGE #18:  Happy Tourists

IMAGE #19:  Brand image pic

IMAGE #20:  Formal credits for all artists involved          

Thank you so much to all the artists who helped realise this project! Everyone is invited to the presentation on Friday, May 7, at the SAT:

PECHAKUCHA NIGHT MONTREAL #17 – 7 MAI 2010
ÉDITION SPÉCIALE : BOULEVARD SAINT-LAURENT [english follow]
En collaboration avec l’arrondissement de Ville-Marie
Vendredi 7 mai 2010
Ouverture des portes @ 19:20
Début des présentations @ 20:20
Société des arts technologiques [SAT]
1195 Saint-Laurent
GRATUIT !

Following the release of the newest video designed to help save the lower Main from destruction at the hands of a developer, the developer in question, Angus, has said it needs more time to complete its project.

They are also now talking about a smaller building, closer to the Monument Nationale in size, instead of the 12-storey behemoth Quadrilaterre they had planned. This is largely due to the efforts of the Save the Main Coalition and the court case brought on by Cafe Cleopatre owner John Zoumboulakis.

While this buys the artists trying to save the Cleo and other historic building some time (the wrecking ball was supposed to fall in March), the fight isn’t over yet. Some have suggested that a new, alternate plan is needed.

Donovan King of OTL explained this on CKUT radio before the latest announcement from Angus:

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Following the viral success of Lapdance for Prince Charles, the artists hoping to save Cafe Cleopatre and the lower Main from destruction have released another video, this time in both French and English.

Rather than an appeal, it’s a parody infomercial for a new product called Demolition in a Box, that can “destroy any landmark, city, part of town” in one easy and incredibly corrupt step.

The French version is available here and the English version is below: