Skyscrapers by the Roots: Reflections on Late Modernism

The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) presents Skyscrapers by the Roots: Reflections on Late Modernism, from March 6 to August 10, 2025, in the MAC’s temporary space at Place Ville Marie. Curated by François LeTourneux, curator at the MAC, this new exhibition explores the issues of late modernism through works produced over the last decade by Shannon Bool, Kapwani Kiwanga, Rachel Rose, and Jonathan Schouela, a new film installation by David Hartt, as well as works by Lynne Cohen and François Dallegret produced in the 1960s and 1970s. A mural by comic book artist Lando, inspired by the work of David Hartt, will complete the exhibition.

From the past to the present, these works highlight the many sociocultural repercussions of modernism in the spheres of personal life, work, consumption, and the performing arts. They also echo the MAC’s current location and site of its first exhibition in 1965, Place Ville Marie, the emblematic point of origin of the largest “underground city” in the world and a symbol of the modernization and renewal of downtown Montreal during the Quiet Revolution.

With a renewed look on modernism, Skyscrapers by the Roots offers a surprising perspective on the influence the movement continues to exert on our living spaces. By questioning the physical experience of humans in a built environment, the exhibition invites the public to reflect on the lifestyles these spaces implied, for whom they were designed, and how they still influence both our identity and our interactions.

A Retrofuturistic mural
In connection with the exhibition, the mural Horizon, illustrated by British comic book artist Lando and designed for David Hartt's film installation, will transform the interior walls of the MAC at Place Ville Marie into a psychedelic and retrofuturist story. Elijah and Isaiah, Hartt's nephews, wander from the private spaces of home to the public spaces of the arcade, the street, and the urban skyline, in an imaginary city dotted with megastructures, some elements of which recall Montreal.

Quotes
“The history of the MAC is closely linked to the modernist movement that defines downtown Montreal. Sixty years after its first exhibition at Place Ville Marie, the museum, through a fantastic combination of circumstances, presents an exhibition that highlights the very origins of this space even as the museum is installed there again during its ongoing transformation. This exhibition brings us back to the roots that allow us to better understand the present.” —Stéphan La Roche, Director of the MAC

“The MAC is pleased to take advantage of its time at Place Ville Marie, a hub for the international style in Montreal, to present works that address late modernism in architecture, a movement initially anchored in a perspective of social progress but whose ideology and achievements have also provoked numerous criticisms. We therefore found it important to bring works from the 1960s and 1970s into dialogue with more recent and original readings of this movement.” —François LeTourneux, curator of the exhibition and curator at the MAC

Activities related to the exhibition
Exhibition Walkthroughs: Visit the exhibition on Wednesday, March 5, at 4:30pm, in the company of artists Shannon Bool and Jonathan Schouela (in English); on Wednesday, March 12, at 5:30pm, with François LeTourneux, curator of the exhibition (in French); on Wednesday, April 2, at 5:30pm, with François LeTourneux (in English); and on Wednesday, April 16, at 5:30pm, with François Dallegret, artist, architect, and sculptor, and Alessandra Ponte, author and Full professor at the École d’architecture, Université de Montréal (in French)

Architectural walks in the company of François LeTourneux and France Vanlaethem, architect and Professor Emerita at the Centre de design de l’UQAM, will be organized in the spring. Details to come.

Creative workshops
En famille at the MAC: Metropolises is a workshop-visit for the whole family (starting at age six) with an individual and collective 3D assembly project on the theme of the city, including drawing and the use of recycled materials. The first Saturday of the month at 10am and 1pm, from March 15 to August 2, and Friday, July 4, and August

Creative Moments: Megacity offers three different creative workshops for adults inspired by the themes of the exhibition and by several artists from various disciplines—installation, video, photography, drawing, and tapestry—whose approach revolves around modernist architecture. From 1:30–4pm, on Tuesdays, May 13, 20, and 27; Wednesdays, May 14, 21, and 28; and Saturdays, May 24 and 31 

On site Mediation and Bilingual Tours are available on Thursdays and Fridays from 4pm–7pm (tour at 5:30pm) and on Saturdays and Sundays from 2–5pm (tour at 3pm).

Activities for School Groups: free creative workshops and interactive tours centred on the exhibition’s themes offered Tuesday to Friday until August 10 (with reservation).

Accessibility
Available online, an audio-described resource offers a description of the components that make up the works in the exhibition, for both for visually impaired and blind visitors and for any other visitors who seeks a deeper understanding of the visual content of the exhibition. A tactile map of the exhibition halls as well as large print and Braille exhibition texts are also available at the reception desk.