Don’t get too close to the five-ton whales that light up downtown Montreal

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A whale was sighted in downtown Montreal on Thursday night and is expected to stay for a good part of the winter, until February 6, to be precise.

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Echoes: A Voice From Uncharted Waters is an installation by the multidisciplinary Austrian-British artist Mathias Gmachl. At 17 meters long and weighing five tons, the imposing steel structure is part of Luminothérapie, a luminous art promenade in the Quartier des Spectacles.

Other works by Luminothérapie include Impulse, comprising nine large illuminated rockers that play alternating electronic tones as they rise and fall; Between the rangs, a field of wheat-shaped reflectors on curved stems, which catch the rays of the surrounding multi-colored spotlights; Iceberg, a tunnel of arches that play with water drops of different shades as you walk; and Nova and Coeur dansant, nightly projections in the surrounding buildings at 6 and 7 pm

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But the whale is hard to beat.

Bathed in warm light as the sun goes down and surrounded by a subtle confluence of ocean sounds, the marine visitor invites interaction, up to a point. If people get too close, the lights and soundtrack are dimmed until a comfortable perimeter is restored.

“It’s a simple way of communicating to people what it means if these animal populations go extinct, that world will go silent,” said Gmachl, who was in town this week to fire his creation.

“We are in a place where it is getting really urgent,” he said of the climate crisis. “The children of the world remind us that we must make changes.”

The artwork was inspired by a one-year-old blue whale, with the help of a marine biologist. As impressive as it is, the whale is “still reasonably small,” Gmachl said. “Males grow to twice that size during their lifetime. At one year of age, they separate from their mothers and begin their own journey. “

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Gmachl’s project was selected as the winner of a competition conducted by the Quartier des Spectacles, which commissioned joint work with organizations in Vienna, Austria and Locarno, Switzerland, which the whale visited earlier this year.

“I think many cities have recognized that light work is a very good way to bring city centers to life during the darkest times of the year,” said Gmachl.

He hopes that, in addition to instilling joy and wonder in passersby, the work will make people reflect on our responsibility to the creatures we live with on the planet.

“This piece is about creating a place to talk about our shared future together,” he said. “The whale is a symbol for the environmental movement and many of the ideas that surround it. It is a mythical and powerful animal that is part of many traditions and cultures around the world. I’m trying to bring the oceans closer to us and help people imagine how our human actions affect other forms of life. “

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AT A GLANCE: Echoes: a voice from uncharted waters it is part of Luminothérapie, in Quartier des Spectacles until February 6 (Luminothérapie continues until February 27). The work can be experienced Monday through Thursday, noon to 10 pm, and Friday through Sunday from 10 am to 11 pm Admission is free. For more information, visit quartierdesspectacles.com/en/event/290/luminotherapie-12th-edition/

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