Exhibition at the pavillion of Quebec Edition, guest of honour/special guest of Geneve’s book fair
(...) literature and book are nomadic artistic expressions, free of every spatial constraint. This is one of their most remarkable features : you open a good book when you are at home, in public transport, in the library, in a queue, or in a café etc. However, while there is no place specifically associated with the reading experience, there are places where you can feel the presence of literature, either by the writers who have frequented them or by their presence in the imagination.
L’un de ces lieux littéraires montréalais est sans conteste le carré Saint-Louis. En effet, de Nelligan à Dany Laferrière en passant par Gaston Miron et Michel Tremblay, le carré Saint-Louis est l’espace montréalais le plus typiquement littéraire et celui où un hommage à la littérature serait le plus propice.
Extract of Hommage et reconnaissance at the carré Saint-Louis with quebecois writers from the UNEQ.
Quebec Édition presented Quebec literature at the Book Fair in Geneva, choosing the carré Saint-Louis as the exhibition subject. We took inspiration from the famous Victorian houses, its fountain, trees and statutes to create a series of illustrations painted on large sails which evoke the spirit of the carré Saint-Louis.
The visitor is invited to stroll among these suspended sails, where are represented the iconic places that constitute its literary aura:
Émile Nelligan's house
Dany Lafferière's bench
Gérald Godin and Pauline Julien's house
The Square bookstore
Extracts of poems and striking texts are superimposed on the motifs and flat tints of colour. The multiple layers, transparencies, window openings and corridors allow visitors to get lost in this literary universe. All these visual elements have been hand painted to evoke a space of inspiration and literary imagination.
Conception and exhibition design : La Camaraderie