16 May 2024
Under the theme of Speculative Visions, underscoring the importance of exploring the imaginary as a perpetual tool for creation, Jean Verville, guest curator for Complètement Design 2024, organized by Index-Design on March 14th at the Grand Quai, in the heart of Montreal's Old Port, surrounded himself with the team from his eponymous studio and the speculative architecture laboratory of Laval University's School of Architecture (EAUL) to imagine a participatory scenographic experience.
By deploying a grand unifying architectural gesture that shakes up the codes of trade shows, the speculative experimentation, created especially for the occasion, welcomes designers, exhibitors, and local and international speakers, united in a decompartmentalized theatrical setting. Over 1,600 professionals and students from design and architecture become accomplices in the collective experience. The invitation is out: "We dress in black", says Jean.
In a transdisciplinary approach, ES24 combines the artistic worlds of architectural installation, performance, music, photography, and video. The participatory scenography, which makes no distinction between visitors and exhibitors, borrows the minimalist characteristics of the museum exhibition space. The various selected objects, staged without hierarchy, facilitate discovery and interpretation through their arrangement and individual narratives.
The modular, demountable set-up, fully dimensioned to make optimum use of the materials used in its manufacture, allows Index Design to completely re-use the system for a future iteration of the event. The curation proposed to exhibitors solicits creations that are particularly manifest in the emergence of ideas with a strong component of innovation, circularity, and resource economy, summoning alternative modes of design and fruitful experimentation to lead us towards collective progress in a context of socio-ecological disruption.
Dressed in suits made from the protective packaging of the installation's modules, the performance by Jean Verville and the Speculative Architecture Laboratory teases visitors and exhibitors at Complètement Design 2024, allowing us all to speculate on the indispensable necessity of creating better with less.
Technical sheet
Complètement Design 2024
Production: Index-Design
Official presenter of the 2024 edition: Tafisa Canada
Event design: Sandra Heintz
Guest curator: Jean Verville, PhD art, Architect and Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Université Laval
ES24
Transdisciplinary speculative experiment
Dimensions: 2000m2
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Artistic director: Jean Verville PhD art, architect, and professor
Multidisciplinary creative team
Index Design : Arnaud Granata, Sandra Heintz, Caroline Ménard, Olivier Picard-Borduas, Géraldine Cadeau, Laura Caron
Studio Jean Verville architectes : Gabriel Ladouceur, France Goneau, Guillaume Turgeon Solis, Rémi St-Pierre, Tania Paula Garza Rico, Jacob Éthier
Speculative Architecture Laboratory of Laval University's School of Architecture : Gabriel Ladouceur, Charlotte Beaumariage, Vincent Ouellet, Laurence Laliberté, Joël Videaud Maillette, Samuel Paré, Léonie Fiset, Thomas Marineau, Jacob Éthier, Charlotte Audifax, Sophie Thibodeau
Exhibitors
American Biltrite, API avec Studio TK et Interface, Barbeau Desrosiers, Bosquet, CAB Déco, Can-Aqua, Centura, Céragrès, Cime, Cosentino, Cyrc, d'Armes, De Gaspé, Éclairage HITECH, Edith Sevigny-Martel, Éditions 8888, EDP et Eureka, Fisher & Paykel, Found, Humble Nature, Hydrotuiles, In?t.., Italbec, Jacques et Anna, Jeremy Le Chatelier, Kohler, La Fabrique Allwood, LESORR, Loïc Bard, Lumigroup, Luxtec, Made In with Airborne, Mobico, Mohawk Group, Numérart, Planchers Mirage, Print International, Ramacieri Soligo, Sangare, Séjour Studio, Shaw Contract, Skyfold, Studio Ascètes, Tafisa, Tarkett with Prosol, Vicostone, Will Choui x Bolitomino.
Speakers
Jean Verville, Kwangho Lee, Karim Rashid, Aziza Chaouni, Daniel Zamarbide, Pierre Thibault, Iris Amizlev, Régine Apollon, Antonio di Bacco, Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Vincent Gervais, Georgie Lubin, Nicolas Lapierre, Valdyne Limage, Alex Lesage, Patrick Murphy, Éric Pelletier, Sara Perron-Desrochers, Marie-Ève Warren
Musical experience: Jesse Mac Cormack
Performance : Gabriel Ladouceur, Charlotte Beaumariage, Vincent Ouellet, Laurence Laliberté, Joël Videaud Maillette, Jean Verville
Photography and imagery: Maxime Brouillet, Maryse Béland, Jacob Éthier
Video : HW13 (Antoine Mahier)
Video Music: Vincent Ouellet
Architectural woodwork: Ébénisterie CST Inc.
Installation manager : Steve Tousignant - Ébénisterie CST
Lighting: Vincent Drapeau, EG ELECT and EDP
Assembly and installation: Ébénisterie CST and OVI construction
Event signage: SuperWise, Cindy Lanniciello
Complètement Design visual identity : Carl Robichaud
Website: Simsam Studio
Acknowledgements : Complètement Design 2024 partners: Kollectif, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Cadre Bâti, Architecture sans frontières Québec, Association des architectes en pratique privée du Québec, Association des designers industriels du Québec, Association professionnelle des designers d'intérieur du Québec, Association des architectes paysagistes du Québec, ELLE Décoration, Formes, Ligne, La pièce, V2com, Appareil Atelier, OVI, EDP, Machine, Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth.
