{"id":15333,"date":"2012-09-02T10:00:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T14:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=15333"},"modified":"2013-01-21T10:58:58","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T15:58:58","slug":"keys-to-the-city-montreals-street-pianos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2012\/09\/02\/keys-to-the-city-montreals-street-pianos\/","title":{"rendered":"Keys to the City: Montreal’s Street Pianos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo: Thierry Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This post was contributed by Cindy Huang, a visual artist involved in the Plateau-Mont-Royal’s\u00a0<\/em>Piano des villes, piano des champs initiative.<\/em><\/p>\n

When taking a stroll through the Plateau during the next month, don\u2019t be surprised to find yourself stumbling upon a beautifully aged, painted piano on one of the neighbourhood\u2019s street corners.\u00a0 Last week, the city launched the community-based initiative, \u201cPiano des\u00a0villes, piano des champs<\/a>\u201d \u2013 the first of its kind in Montreal.\u00a0 Based on the \u201cPlay Me, I\u2019m Yours<\/a>\u201d concept, two pianos painted by local artists have been planted on the streets as a way to encourage dialogue amongst community members, as well as interactions between individuals and their urban surroundings.<\/p>\n

Funded by L\u2019arrondissement du Plateau-Mont-Royal, the project was brought to life by two local non-profits:\u00a0La Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de d\u00e9veloppement commercial Pignons sur rue Saint-Denis<\/em><\/a>\u00a0installed one piano on the corner of rue St-Denis and rue Marie-Anne, while\u00a0Les Amis du champ des possibles<\/a> (ACDP), placed another on the quieter corner of ave. Casgrain and rue St-Viateur.<\/p>\n

I was fortunate to be invited by Les Amis du champ des possibles<\/em> to paint the piano in the Mile-End, a process which consisted of sitting under the sun for two days transferring ACDP\u2019s written research on the existing biodiversity in Le Champ des possibles<\/a> (which ACDP advocates to protect) into visual language and onto the piano, while interacting with curious passersby. \u00a0For those of you who have been to the corner\u00a0of Casgrain\/St-Viateur, you\u2019re probably familiar with the area\u2019s spacious, industrial, and\u00a0quiet qualities, which usually provide little opportunity for intimate\u00a0interactions among strangers. Yet, it was clear that the presence of this piano stirred curiosity, excitement, and confusion from people passing through, giving life\u00a0to such occasions as individuals came together to express their thoughts on the project.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The painting on the piano located near the Champs des possibles in Mile End shows some of the animals, plants and insects found in the field.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although I have always viewed the Mile-End as a place with a unique community spirit, I was still pleasantly surprised by the constant delightful interactions in which I found myself with people walking, biking, and driving by.\u00a0 Apart from the countless friendly individuals who stopped by just to say \u201cGood job!,\u201d a man who worked in the adjacent building kindly offered me a delicious homemade brownie, another person thoughtfully constructed a DIY sunshade system to help protect me from the heat, local artists stopped in their tracks to share their own artwork with me, and a few individuals stopped to play the piano, including local singer-songwriter Gabriella Hook<\/a>. As small crowds gathered around the piano-players, the street corner was reshaped into an intimate performance stage.<\/p>\n

That is to say, even before the official launch of the project, it was evident that the pianos were able to meet their objective of generating dialogue within the community.\u00a0 And it excites me to think that what may merely appear to be a peculiar scene of a piano on the sidewalk will in fact act as a catalyst to the birth of new experiences and new relationships among community members in Montreal\u2019s urban setting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was contributed by Cindy Huang, a visual artist involved in the Plateau-Mont-Royal’s\u00a0Piano des villes, piano des champs initiative. When taking a stroll through the Plateau during the next month, don\u2019t be surprised to find yourself stumbling upon a beautifully aged, painted piano on one of the neighbourhood\u2019s street corners.\u00a0 Last week, the cityContinue reading “Keys to the City: Montreal’s Street Pianos”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7832],"tags":[147,7655,7654,125,7657,7656,3277],"class_list":["post-15333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","tag-art-culture","tag-cindy-huang","tag-gabriella-hook","tag-montreal","tag-songwriter","tag-thierry-martin","tag-visual-artist"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeys to the City: Montreal's Street Pianos - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2012\/09\/02\/keys-to-the-city-montreals-street-pianos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keys to the City: Montreal's Street Pianos - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This post was contributed by Cindy Huang, a visual artist involved in the Plateau-Mont-Royal’s\u00a0Piano des villes, piano des champs initiative. 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