Fonderie Darling vue du coin rue Ottawa et rue Queen

Fonderie Darling is a

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

complex located in the

Cité du Multimédia The Cité du Multimédia is a neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located between Old Montreal, Griffintown and Downtown Montreal. The neighborhood is the result of a vast real-estate project launched by the Quebec government in the late 1990 ...

district of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. Located in a former

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

, the complex consists of an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

and artists studios. Its mission is to support the creation, production, and dissemination of visual art; it seeks at once to question the role of art and artists in the heart of the city, and to promote that role.

Description

Fonderie Darling located in an industrial building that was used by the Darling company between 1889 and 1971 to produce metal castings for industrial equipment. The building ceased to be used for commercial purposes in 1991. In 1993, Montreal cultural organization Quartier Éphémère began to invest in 'in situ' projects within vacant or abandoned

industrial buildings and to reach a diverse public, off of the beaten track of contemporary art. is one of QE’s projects. By turning buildings which were about to be demolished into artistic place, the association saved a total of 3500 square meters in the Faubourg des Recollets’s area. Fonderie Darling visual arts centre started its activity by opening its exhibition area in 2002. In 2006, the association inaugurated 12 artists studios in the second part of the building. The building is classified as an "exceptional heritage value building" in the Montreal Built Heritage great repertoire. Its transformation from a

into an

art center An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...

was one of the first

industrial heritage Industrial heritage refers to the physical remains of the history of technology and industry, such as manufacturing and mining sites, as well as power and transportation infrastructure. Another definition expands this scope so that the term a ...

recycling success. Fonderie Darling supports different kinds of projects, sometimes highly technological, or risky, but always experimental, and open to the world of possibilities.

History

The

was constructed in 1880 by the Darling brothers due to the high demand for

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

in the construction of machinery, ships and the railway. It was later expanded several times between 1888 and 1918. Once complete, the complex consisted of four buildings, each with a specific role in the process of the

. The

became the second largest in

, was at full capacity until the 1970s and employed 800 people. The

was purchased by the Pumps & Softener Company in 1971, amid a downturn in the industry. The foundry eventually shut down completely in 1991. Arts organization Quartier Éphémère created and directed by

Caroline Andrieux Caroline Andrieux (born 1963) is the founder and director of the Fonderie Darling, which opened in 2002 in the Cité du Multimédia district of Montreal. Early life Caroline Andrieux was born in Hyeres south of France. She moved to Paris in 1 ...

moved into the complex in the 1990s. The city of

owned the building and let the organisation move in at no charge in exchange for maintaining the building and turning it into an events venue. The building was in disrepair when Quartier Éphémère moved in, however, by the early 2000s, financing was obtained and the building was renovated. Today, the building contains of space dedicated to the visual arts.

Selected exhibitions

* Mark Lewis, ''Du cinema et des restes urbains'' (May 1- May 31, 2000) *

Stan Douglas Stan Douglas (born October 11, 1960) is an artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Douglas' film and video installations, photography and work in television frequently touch on the history of literature, cinema and music, while examining t ...

, ''Klatsassin'' (September 6 - October 7, 2007) *

Jana Sterbak Jana Sterbak (Jana Štěrbáková) is a multidisciplinary artist of Czech origin. Life and career Sterbak earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University,. completing classes in film history with John Locke and Tom Waugh, as well as painti ...

, ''Waiting for High Water'' (June 18 - August 30, 2009) *

Eija-Liisa Ahtila Eija-Liisa Ahtila (born 1959 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a contemporary visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Helsinki. Ahtila is most known for her multi-panel cinematic installations. She experiments with narrative storytellin ...

, ''Where is Where?'' (January 29 - April 25, 2010) *

Shilpa Gupta Shilpa Gupta (born 1976) is a contemporary Indian artist, she lives and works in Mumbai, India where she has studied sculpture at the Sir J. J. School of Fine Arts from 1992 to 1997.She had solo shows at Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati ...

'', Will We Ever Be Able to Mark Enough?'' (October 5 - November 27, 2011) * Chih-Chien Wang, ''The Act of Forgetting'' (April 2 - May 24, 2015) * Ulla von Brandenburg, ''It Has a Golden Orange Sun and an Elderly Blue Moon'' (June 16 - August 21, 2016) *

Elsa Werth Elsa Werth (born 1985) is a French artist who lives and works in Paris. Biography Elsa Werth was born in 1985 in Paris, France. She graduated from both the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs where she studied film animation and É ...

, ''Potentiels évoqués visuels'' (June 21 - August 19, 2018) *

Barbara Steinman Barbara Steinman D.F.A. (born February 3, 1950) is a Canadian artist known for her work in video and installation art. Biography Steinman was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1950. She began her career as a pioneering videotape artist in Vancouver i ...

, ''Diving for Dreams'' (June 13 - August 25, 2019) *Michael Eddy, ''Je suis'' (February 27 - August 29, 2020)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ville-Marie, Montreal Art museums and galleries in Quebec Museums in Montreal Contemporary art galleries in Canada