a breathtaking new multimedia exhibition at the MCord Museum

Montreal, Thursday April 27, 2000 — The McCord is proud to celebrate the new millennium and renew its commitment to the preservation and promotion of Canadian history with a dramatic multimedia exhibition entitled finsdesiècle@mccord. The exhibition invites visitors to take an intimate look at the rituals and social customs of nineteenth- and twentieth-century life. The exhibition compares the lives of two young women living in the fin-de-siècle Montreal of 1900 and those of three young Montrealers living today, and highlights the changes in the social, political, and technological environment that mark the history of twentieth-century Canada.

The nineteenth-century component of the exhibition paints a portrait of Montreal's two dominant social classes. The exhibition demonstrates how social status and identity are linked to the urban environment, and how this relationship shapes the personal histories of the young bourgeois and working-class women featured in the exhibition.  

The twentieth-century component of the exhibition offers a frank and intimate glimpse into the lives of three contemporary Montrealers — an aspiring actress, a single mother, and a computer "whiz kid." Their personal histories are recounted in an integrated video installation created by Montreal videographer Marie-Julie Dallaire.

The unique multimedia exhibition design was conceived by the award-winning Montreal architectural firm, Atelier in situ, who created sound and light shows on the silos of Montreal's Vieux Port, and were invited to design a part of the exhibition Métissages, conceived by multidisciplinary artist Robert Lepage, for the Musée de la civilisation à Québec.

The contrasts and parallels between nineteenth- and twentieth-century life are drawn through an exploration of the common themes of work, education, and family. Andrée Blais, initiator and project manager for finsdesiècle@mccord, invites you to enjoy a privileged personal contact with the objects, images and sounds of twentieth-century life in Montreal, and to "understand how each of us participates in the creation of what we call history."

The exhibition finsdesiècle@mccord, on display at the McCord Museum of Canadian History until January 21, 2001, was made possible by financial support from the Canada Millennium Partnership Program.

-30-

Source:
Annie Daoust
(514) 398-7100, ext. 251

Photographs, slides, digital images and video material available on request

The McCord wishes to acknowledge the support of the Heritage Canada Museums Assistance Program, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications, and the Arts Council of the Montreal Urban Community.