“Lustre” by Tilt; Photo credit: Ulysse Lemerise – OSA
Created and produced by the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership, LUMINO is firmly established as an essential Montreal winter event. For 15 winters, this free and original urban experience has been fulfilling its mission of transforming the city’s core into a celebration of light and creativity highlighting Montreal’s Nordic character. Until March 9, 2025, the event features its most extensive program yet, with 30 captivating and luminous installations in public space. From sunset to 11 p.m. daily, LUMINO invites visitors to enjoy winter to the fullest by exploring luminous creations– works that bring warmth and color to the cold months.
14 outdoors, 11 indoors and 7 video projections created by 15 studios and 20 artists, both local and international, will offer visitors a refreshed experience throughout the winter with contemplative and participatory installations.
“Talking Heads” by Limelight Art; Photo credit: Ulysse Lemerise – OSA
The public will enjoy an impressive set of outdoor installations all winter. Posted on Sainte-Catherine and St-Urbain Streets, Talking Heads by Limelight Art (Hungary), is already the talk of the town, with its two heads made up of 4,000 light-emitting diodes that interact with each other to produce facial expressions in different colors and conduct real conversations through light. On Esplanade PVM at Place Ville Marie, Éloge de l’air by Chevalvert invites members of the public to make an enormous 5-metre banner float in the air, and Cercle Polaire by Jason Carter, one of Canada’s most exciting and accomplished contemporary Aboriginal visual artists, and M.A.D. Collectif, invites visitors to immerse themselves in the world of majestic Far North fauna. Lustre by TILT, on the parvis of St. James United Church, is a unique open-air ballroom experience; Biolumen by Rahda Chaddah and RAW Design, at the Palais des congrès, is a unique contemplative experience inspired by bioluminescent oceanic organisms. Orb by Spy transforms the Place des Arts Esplanade with 90 convex discs made of polished steel.
“Chaleur Humain” by Anne Lagacé; Photo credit: Nathalie St-Pierre – UQAM
Chaleur Humaine is a piece by Anne Lagacé that resembles a suspended sun. It brings color and warmth to Place Pasteur. Les Fabuloscopes by La Camaraderie with Eruoma Awashish, set up in front of the Grande Bibliothèque, invites passers-by to create stroboscopic animations. A major piece is 1000 Visages by Alejandro Figuerroa of +Amor, facing the Esplanade Tranquille skating rink, a colossal 12-meter archway with 1779 moving mirrors. L’orchestre endormi by Ottomata, is an interactive light-and-sound installation that lets the public awaken all the musical culture slumbering on Saint-Denis Street.
“Vortex” by Nicolas Paolozzi; Photo credit: Thibault Carron
This year, LUMINO’s programming is also enhanced with indoor installations, open to the public. The works include Équilibre : Tensio by Guillaume Bourassa and Francis Théberge. Located at the entrance to Le Central gastronomic food court, this dynamic immersive installation plays with perception. Apparently chaotic, it becomes a harmonious structure when viewed from a certain position. With VORTEX, artist Nicolas Paolozzi stages an encounter between light, water and geometry. Positioned above the Complexe Desjardins fountain, this immersive work provides a poetic sensory experience.
“Au bord du lac Tranquille” by Normal Studio and Mirari; Photo credit: Ulysse Lemerise – OSA
Every night, the public can enjoy video projections that transport them to immersive visual worlds. The Esplanade Tranquille skating rink once again presents the interactive video projection Au bord du lac Tranquille by Mirari and Normal studio, taking Montrealers and visitors on a dreamy journey through Quebec’s Far North.
“Trumpet Flowers” by Amigo and Amigo; Photo credit: JF Savaria
Since LUMINO’s inception, the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership has produced 25 works for the event, and presented more than 50, showcasing installations and video projections by dozens of creators. Since 2016, numerous cultural districts around the world have hosted the installations, which have been presented 267 times in 100 cities in 14 countries on five continents.
LUMINO is made possible by the financial support of the Ville de Montréal and Tourisme Montréal and by the participation of several co-exhibitors: Place des Arts, Complexe Desjardins, Montréal centre-ville, Place Ville Marie (PVM), Palais des congrès de Montréal, SDC Quartier latin, BAnQ, Le Central, The Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth and UQAM.
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