I Tested Montreal's New Luminothérapie Installations & They're Actually Not Boring (PHOTOS)

Winter weather is here and things may seem a little bleak, but you can add some colour to your life again thanks to Luminothérapie downtown. The 13th edition of the popular interactive installation is on from December 1, 2022, to March 5, 2023.

Walking down rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest through Place des Arts, you can't miss the giant Instagrammable sculptures.

The iceberg by Félix Dagenais et Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun.Charlotte Hoareau | MTL Blog

Though your interactions with the art pieces won't be long, and you quickly move on to the next one, I must admit they are irresistible and most Montrealers passing stop to touch them, or for a quick pic under the lights.

Of Luminothérapie's six dazzling streetside artworks, my favourite one has to be the rows of fluorescent spinning prisms, followed by the majestic iceberg tunnel.

But the main attraction of Luminothérapie this season, an interactive video projection by Mirari and Normal Studio on the Esplanade Tranquille ice skating rink, is the star of the show. There, you can spend hours watching the skaters. And for 30 minutes twice a night, the rink comes alive with sea creatures and other mysterious colourful shapes that follow you on the ice.

So if you're feeling the winter blues at some point in the coming weeks, I suggest you take a walk downtown to brighten up your mood. And even if you suck at ice skating like me, you can simply grab a hot chocolate at the Esplanade Tranquille's upstairs café and enjoy the sights.

The 13th Edition of Luminothérapie

Effet Domino by Ingrid Ingrid and Geneviève Levasseur. Right: Les Diamants by Alexis Laurence and Francis Laporte (Perséides studio)

Nicolas Gouin - L'Hibou, Mario Al Khoury

Cost: Free exhibit. Ice skates are available for rent.

When:

• The Luminothérapie circuit is accessible every day from December 1, 2022, to March 5, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• The ice skating rink is open every day:
  • Sundays to Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
  • Thursdays to Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
  • projections take place at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Where: rue Sainte-Catherine O. and the Esplanade Tranquille in the Quartier des spectacles

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.