Controversy of the Corridart Exhibition - Research Paper Example

Controversy Of The Corridart Exhibition The Corridart Exhibit was an artistic arena launched in Montreal Sherbrook in the July of 1976. The Corridart was basically the Sherbrook Street converted into a monumental art gallery to showcase some of the magnificent arts in Montreal, specifically the Avant-garde of the Quebec Arts. Primarily, the role of opening the Corridart was to infuse a cultural component into the popular Olympiad. This was the 21st Olympiad that was set to start not long after the Corridart was opened. The founder of this concept, an architect, Melvin Charney worked tirelessly to make an art collection that would achieve the fundamental goal. He put together the works of 35 local artists and orchestrated hundreds of performers to embellish the Olympics for the duration that they happened (Gérin, Annie, and James S. McLean, eds., 2009). Under the umbrella of entertainment and the games, the Corridart was envisioned as a conceptual bridge between Montreal’s East end and the other part consisting of hotels, office towers, major cultural institutions and universities as well. Despite the objective rationale behind the artistic gallery, the goals hit a brick wall even before its functionality materialized. It was on the night of the 13 day of July that the Corridart was brought down. The reason behind this action is the epicenter of all controversial factors related to the deals to initiate the Corridart. Political factors central in this destruction, the social structure and reception also played a part in it. The political involvement emerged forcefully on the night of the destruction when the then Mayor Jean Drapeau ordered city workers to destroy all the art in the Corridart (Gérin, Annie, and James S. McLean, eds., 2009). The City workers executed the orders unmoved as they were escorted by the Montreal Police. The art owners watched helplessly as their work got wrecked in the ordeal. The role that Montreal’s political played and continued to play in the history of Corridart is key in this controversy. One, the City Hall’s official statement regarding the destruction of valuable art was that Corridart was purely obscene and so a threat to the public’s safety. While this was City hall’s sentiment, the local art critics responded equally voicing their voice of objection. According to the argument posed by Corridart’s organizers, the art installations were the jury’s selection of the all proposed art. The Jury keenly considered the public safety before landing on the best art installation. Furthermore, the Corridart organizing committee collaborated with the municipal authorities including the park and roads department just to ensure that the art instruments achieved the required moral standards. The local authorities therefore, acted in self-betrayal by taking down the Corridart. Narrowing down the nature of what the Mayor termed as morality befitting, examples of the artistry is documented for clarity and elimination of controversy arising from this perspective. The artistic pieces that graced the Corridart included a large of photographs, kites, phone booths replaying sarcastic recorded messages of the Corridarts, trees that were wrapped in some colored fabric and a large gigantic stone maze. Other pieces of art that surprisingly qualified the obscene description were painted curbs, some weightless suspended objects and a replica of the top of Mount Royal. From this general description anyone could clearly discredit the allegations of obscenity including the Provincial Commissioner who tried to restore the situation. Albeit the orders to the Mayor Drapeau, none of the arts was put back up. The outright insubordination confirmed political drama as the basis of Corridart’s collapse. Surprisingly and what appears to be the epitome of the controversy of the matter here is one of the pinned up artistic elements. The artistic piece in presentation of the cross on the Mount Loyal lying by the side seems to be a bone of contention up tom most recently. One, this piece had been condemned by the Mayor in the Corridart. Second, when the piece was recently installed somewhere at a city intersection, it was again pulled down over cries of censorship. To add spice to the order in this happenings, the same mayor who had rejected the art, Drapeaur intervened with efforts to stop the destruction of the particular piece. The unwavering efforts here bore fruit and the artistic piece “ The Croix du Mont-Royal” illuminates a pleasant light at the night from the corner of Avenue du Parc where it is mounted. Up to this point, the Mayor’s stance on the art and the Corridart was a brainer (Kidd, Bruce, 2006). Drawing from this, the Provincial politics and the management of the summer games caught the attention for analysis after Jean Drapeau remained obstinate of all that was happening. The province had, by November of 1975 snatched the control of the Olympics away from Quabec. Intuitively, the humiliating treatment that Drapeau was subjected to could have been insulting much more than the Corridart (Kidd, Bruce, 2006). Aside from this, the budget of summer games had scaled up ten times the initial estimate due to suspected corruption and collusion. Ultimately, the provincial administration intervened either for political reasons or for the address of the mismanagement of funds allotted to the games. Besides investigating the alleged corruption, the political insight convoluted what was barely assumed to be an interaction between the Mayor and the justified course pursued by the Corridart. As if this was not enough twist to the issue, there was a scheduled election around the same time of the year. In this election, the losing the vote would mean that Drapeau’s would be blamed for the corruption in summer games and the entire political and social milestones he had geared while in power. Winning the election either, would free Quabec of the allegations and mistrust in the ability to manage the games. It would also mean that Drapeau dodged the massive Olympic debt, qualifying itself mature enough to organize and manage the Olympics again. This political battle, in part aggravated Drapeau to act irrationally trying to salvage a reputation giving the city a new chance to shine on others in the province. The relevance to this was that ordering a rip off of the Corridart, would eliminate the misconception that the Olympic funds were being misappropriated. Therefore, Corridart found itself in the midst of political policies aimed at solving problem but rather ended up tearing up the provincial and municipal leaders. Despite the fact that Mayor Drapeau had proudly achieved urban renewal, through slum clearance, he viewed the Olympics as another chance to make the city unexceptional. The social structure also peeked a nose into these affairs complicating the issue even further. The Olympic Park was technically situated in the middle of what had become a city bustling with corporate activities, it was considered to reduce the space available for the growth of business and other activities. In this sense, creating the 6km Corridart was perceived as a half though idea. The unwelcoming views raised the contention pertinent to the Corridart and by so is not a factor separate from the controversy around it. Far from the blame apportioned to each of the mentioned factors in the controversy surrounding The Corridart Exhibit and the politics of public art and the Olympic Games in Montreal, its implications were as bare and as elaborate as the aggressiveness around it. The city of Montreal at this historical time took pride in its geographic architecture and the electric framework that attracted tourists from far and wide. In the light of the political tension, economic implications and social preferences, the security of tourists’ walkability was compromised. The entire stretch between the East End to the world class hotels and restaurants became a scare zone to the tourists in a time when these areas reap unconceivable benefits from the flourishing tourism ventures. Case in point, the downtown art that landmarked the city and identified Montreal was debilitated. This economic downtown severely inflicted on the societal standards of the populations. The historical narrative that became of the Corridart, would be regarding the essence and consequential outcome of the artistic idea on Montreal’s history. Backing up on the art installation taken down, the seventy-one scaffolding collection of installation were all symbolic. For instance, the large format photograph by William Notman was an account of Montreal in the 19th century all along with the growth and transformations it had gone through. The city’s proletarian archway and crossing sidewalks well-presented and preserved in the photographs all doomed to destruction. In essence, the destruction of artistic pieces was a loss of the city’s continuity. The same exhibits that would tell of the city’s milestones discarded by the individuals that should have actually protected them for reference, continuity and to convey the futuristic aspect that the leadership had fought for. The pursuit for justice for the artist owners of the pieces ensured for about one decade after the Corridart was demolished. In the Canadian history of art, this was the first case of aart censorship due to the authorities’ resilience to the more important aspects such as the community heritage and the jobs at stake. In spite of the public outcry from the artists, Drapeau, the icon of authority remained hesitant. Intimidation by the authorities in Montreal worked shed an unfavorable light on the flourishing city spreading the impact to other entrepreneurial activities. At the end of the long unprecedented demand for compensation to the artists, the sum amount of $ 3000 that many deemed far less than the loss was finally given to settle the matter. The bigger picture of the issue was in this light perpetrated by the authorities. The Corridart, which would have been the platform to nurture talent, skills and entrepreneurship became the worst impediment to success from this line. The regard with which Montreal as a city was held turned over in the aftermath of the settlement of all suits regarding the Corridart. The annually held Art Souterrain exhibit, there is evidence of Corridart’s legacy (Latouche, Daniel, 2006). Remember the infrastructural artwork at the collection of photographs. This is represented by Montreal’s recent growth of an underground city captured in the subterranean art gallery. More advances into such landmarks for the city are documented to make up for the heritage destroyed in the Corridart saga. The road network developing along The Dennis street was primarily constructed to encourage human traffic along this area and offer immense support to local business. Keen observers attest to the fact that the burners mounted along the street bear close resemblance to those of the Corridart. This clearly indicated a total transformation in the economic regard for local business as well as well as the significance of making a conducive environment for all forms of business. Amidst the irony and myriad of controversies, the Corridart’s objective which was to create a manifestation of modern urban planning, geopolitical dysfunctions as well as the ever quickening globalization spirit is still upheld. One of the major themes in the artistry was the changing face of one of the Canadian cities that was on all levels dysfunctional. The exposition documented th past such the city was set to move ahead and venture into a modernized society in terms of infrastructure and the morality of the political systems. From a distant outlook, the authorities express more caution and regard for each nugget intersecting human life. For example, the mayor of the Day stepped out to control the reaction to one of the art pieces that resurfaced in the local area. More than this, the key goals for the Corridart, that is opening up the region is still on the authority’s projects list. One of the judges listening to the lawsuits filed by the artists against the city workers uttered a surprising statement about the Corridart. According to his point of view, Corridart was an insult to the people. The art displayed pictures that were unfavorable of the city, typically its population, education and the city in general (Gauvin, Kim Louise, 2006). To many who were rational thinkers, the intent of Corridart was far from this because the art also constituted the economic milestones the City had gone through. In regard to this baffling mindset, the authorities woke to the realization after which actual developmental steps have been witnessed in the city. Above all, Corridart was indeed a defining moment in how Montreal residents perceived their urban surrounding. In the succeeding decades of the Corridart, strategic measures were made to safeguard the city's cultural heritage, protect its prosperity and make it more habitable. Traces of the memories of Corridart show up all over at different times during the various occasions celebrated in Montreal, Quabec. Ever year the Olympics are Olympics are celebrated, the Corridart Affair is re-awaken and much attention directed towards the facets that were hit by this historical event. Currently a film named the “The Corridart Affair” directed and produced by Bob McKenna is played in the major exhibition only in Montreal but also in Canada. In the Canadian Centre for Architecture for example, the movie is played from time to time. The Maison de la Culture de Maisonnnevue is also a huge platform for the commemoration through the cast film (van Toorn, Tai, 2008). Surprisingly, forty years later, the Corridart Affair is still mentioned in the list of the most controversial historical events. The issue has a fair share of controversy distinctly portraying the battle of who decides what and what is not art, the fierce confrontation between political powers, the interaction between art and heritage as well as social acceptance over the economic climate. Following this factors, the historical Corridart exposed societal circles and their roles in crucial matter. What is more important are the lessons of the outcome listed through insightful economic activities and preservation of heritage for tourism among other factors. The lines of differences drawn from Drapeau’s actions and his rule over the citizens is large leaf to borrow to the current mayor of the city and those in federal positions. Bibliography Gauvin, Kim Louise. "Corridart revisited: excavating the remains." PhD diss., Concordia University, 2006. Gérin, Annie, and James S. McLean, eds. Public art in Canada: Critical perspectives. University of Toronto Press, 2009. Kidd, Bruce. "“The Army’s Presence Will Be Obvious”(Montreal 2006)." In Surveilling and Securing the Olympics, pp. 162-179. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016. Latouche, Daniel. "Chapter 13-Montreal 2006: Chapter taken from Olympic Cities ISBN: 978–0–203–84074–0." Routledge Online Studies on the Olympic and Paralympic Games 1, no. 36 (2012): 247-267. van Toorn, Tai. "The Rules of the Road: News Media, Street Art, and Crime." WRECK: Graduate Journal of Art History, Visual Art and Theory 2, no. 1 (2008). Read More