Skyscrapers by the Roots – this new exhibition explores the issues of late modernism

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) presents

Skyscrapers by the Roots: Reflections on Late Modernism

A new exhibition in the heart of the underground city in the MAC’s temporary space at Place Ville Marie, running until August 10, 2025.

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.

“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

François Dallegret with Joseph Baker and Pierre Gaboriau, Palais Métro, 1967 Collage Collection François Dallegret
Photo: Courtesy of the artist. © François Dallegret / CARCC Ottawa 2025

From the past to the present, these works highlight the many socio-cultural 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.

Rachel Rose, A Minute Ago (video still), 2014
HD video, 8 min 43 s, colour with sound, looped
Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London
© Rachel Rose

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.

“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

Creative Workshops

En famille at the MAC: Metropolises is a workshop-visit for the whole family (starting at age 6) 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 10 am and 1 pm, from March 15 to August 2, and Friday, July 4, and August – En famille at the MAC

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 pm to 4 pm, on Tuesdays, May 13, 20, and 27; Wednesdays, May 14, 21, and 28; and Saturdays, May 24 and 31 – Creative Moments

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

*The exhibition Skyscrapers by the Roots: Reflections on Late Modernism is presented at the temporary location of MAC at Place Ville Marie, at the corner of Mansfield and Cathcart Streets. The main entrance to the Museum is in the PVM Gallery (access via Mansfield Street).

For more information, including opening hours and ticket prices, visit: www.macm.org