The 12th edition of the annual Art Souterrain Festival is bigger and better — exhibiting artworks from 50 contemporary artists and launching a large-scale escape game tied in with the installations.
As part of the festival, public art is set up along the five-kilometre network that makes up Montreal’s underground city.
Frédéric Loury, director of the 2020 edition of the festival, explained that the event is all about bringing art out into the open.
“The concept of the Festival Art Souterrain is to bring contemporary art in public spaces,” he said. “It’s to create a link between people who don’t go to art museums or galleries.”
The theme of this year’s festival is “Reset” and features pieces that question the status quo.
“What if you could, by the press of a button erase everything, what would you do with this blank canvas? If you could start from nothing, how would you imagine the world?” reads the event’s description.
“Humanity is at a turning point. Should we persist in our habits or become aware of our repetitive way of life in order to rebuild from the ground up.”
The art pieces vary from projections, photography, sculpture and even works that try to imagine the tiny houses of the future.
For the first time, the festival is branching out to partner with a local company that constructs interactive escape games.
The industry started out with locked-room puzzles but has grown to become more adventure-focused, as players visit different locations scavenger-hunt style, collecting clues and trying to fulfil a mission.
Emmanuel de Gouvello, game designer and founder of Échappe-toi, launched the very first escape game in Quebec.
Since then, his operation has grown, and he’s partnered with major Montreal institutions like the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to bring new audiences into their spaces.
De Gouvello said that the event he’s co-ordinating for Art Souterrain is “the biggest escape game in the world.”
A total of 80 actors will be on hand to guide players on a trail of puzzles to be solved in both the underground city and at the Palais des Congrès.
“It’s a dream playing in Montreal’s underground city,” he said. “There is probably no game designer who would refuse that.”
De Gouvello, who designed the game with his wife Mathilde Lucet, said each game has a different story line, one which focuses on a futuristic mission to save art (and humanity), and one that is steeped in the “rich history of Montreal.”
Actors will be channelling some famous Montrealers — think Leonard Cohen and Marguerite Bourgeoys — and providing clues and puzzles that tie in with the art on display at the festival.
In a pinch, the actors are there to help players along if they get stuck, de Gouvello said.
The Art Souterrain Festival kicks off Saturday Feb. 29, which coincides with Nuit Blanche, the culminating event of the Montréal en Lumière festival.
The Art Souterrain Festival and the escape games (which can be played in English or French) run from Feb. 29 until March 22. Tickets to participate in the game are $25. The art installations are free.
