Place de l'Aviation civile internationale

On 8 September 2017, the presence of Minister Martin Coiteux, local artist Michel de Broin and Dr. Fang Liu, ICAO’s Secretary General, the mayor of Montreal, Mr. Denis Coderre, proceeded at the inauguration of the public art work Dendrites and the Place de l'Aviation civile internationale. The work of Michel de Broin, which is integrated into the new square, contributes to the quality of this brand-new entrance to the city, a worthy entrance to the beautiful metropolis, which is a showcase for Montreal's creativity. The Bonaventure project is a legacy for all Montrealers as part of Montreal's 375th anniversary.

“Aviation is the essential foundation of global connectivity, which enables cities, producers and economies to build more sustainable futures, full of hope and opportunity. This new Place de l'Aviation civile internationale is a very natural tribute to Montreal's status in the world of aviation, and the Dendrites sculpture, chosen to help underline this prestige, very appropriately encourages us to esteem and appreciate this unique blue sky that connects us all,” said Dr. Fang Liu.

On one hand, like many of the artist’s previous works, Dendrites repurpose functional elements (stairs and platforms) in a highly frequented and traffic intensive public space. For example, the repurposing of an urban structure (the stairs), which is normally designed to facilitate and guide pedestrian flow through public space, here becomes the vector for an inoperativeness in which the viewer is invited to take a step back from the frantic, nervous rhythms of the city and reflect on or simply admire the complex urban system looming and pulsating all around him or her. On the other hand, the sculpture functions on a sustained symbolic register via its multileveled referencing, ranging from dendrites and their function of receiving incoming electrochemical impulses, to tree-like forms contrasted with the surrounding urban space, and to the notion of traffic flows traversing the cityscape and so on. More specifically, the sculptural installation modifies this pivotal passage point (signalling the end of the Bonaventure expressway and indicating one’s entry into Montréal) by providing a visual attractor that detracts from, and somewhat mitigates, the unattractiveness of the concrete behemoth, just behind it on the northwest side, that is the self-enclosed Brutalist-style Place Bonaventure building.