jean verville paves montréal's museum avenue with a shimmering gold dance floor

jean verville patterns montréal’s museum avenue with a shimmering gold dance floor

along montréal’s museum avenue, architect jean verville has realized a sprawling and lively landscape on the ground-bound pedestrian promenade. throughout the duration of summer 2016, the public installation sees a trompe-l’oeil effect offer participants, visitors and curious passers-by an experiment in movement, as well as a place to surrender to the pleasure and impulsive action.

all images by maxime brouillet

as the winning project in a montréal museum of fine arts competition for the development of museum avenue, verville‘s monumental ‘dance floor’ features a paving made of more than 5,000 footprints. rendered in a shimmering metallic hue, the pattern is reminiscent of hammered gold — a nod to the theme of the museum’s exhibition ‘pompeii’. the varied steps welcome miscellaneous performances and impromptu acts, shinning a new light on the urban area. shaping the public intersection, verville transforms the pedestrian street into a giant interactive activity that enlivens downtown montréal with improvised dances, while encouraging visitors to build a customized tour within the museum’s exhibition halls.

project info:

client: montreal museum of fine arts
typology: urban installation
location: montreal, canada
superficy: 3000 square feet
year of conception: 2015
year of construction: 2016
technical project manager: exhibitions production team of montreal museum of fine arts
construction: montreal museum of fine arts technical team

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