État d’Urgence - Montréal
La ville vue par celui qui erre
Accompanied by a guide, the Mise en jeu team invites you to plunge — at least for a 40-minute stroll — into the world of itinerants, those individuals who live in the street, whether by choice or ill fortune. Take in the street corners and the laneways and discover what lives inside these people: their daily realities, their concerns and their hopes. Come create a bond with these singular citizens, who are more often than not relegated to the role of urban props, to the point of invisibility.
Just one of many activities that took place this week during État d’Urgence - “an interdisciplinary ‘manifestival’ with and for street people organized since 1998 by the Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, or ATSA. The 2006 edition has as its themes nomadism, promiscuity, and the scar seen as a promise of rebuilding. État d’Urgence looks like a refugee camp smack-dab in the city’s core. Over its duration, it will provide the homeless with three meals a day, a snack anytime, warm clothing kindly donated for the occasion, night-time sleeping quarters for 150 street people and numerous front-line services. With its realistic setting and two heated big tops open to all around the clock, this seventh edition will be held November 22–26, 2006 at Place Émilie-Gamelin (Berri-UQAM metro). The gathering will showcase initiatives and presentations by more than 60 artists and collectives from all disciplines, thus stimulating reflection on the human condition and social cohesion.”
If anyone attended any of the events, we’d love to hear about it!
November 26th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I visited Montreal this past week as a way of escaping America’s overblown Thanksgiving holiday. For me, the introspective visit to Montreal was sharpened when I arrived at the Place Emilie-Gamelin unplanned. I stepped in gingerly, not certain what the “event” was and found myself feeling welcome in the only setting that could possibly have made sense relative to my reasons for hiding in Montreal. I sat on the benches around the campfires listening to the conversations and interaction. I warmed myself discreetly, never speaking myself, but listening intently to the range of discussions from the zany and drug induced to the dead on political presentations. It was an odd sort of enjoyable - if only because the people attending were speaking the language that I have long longed to hear at the Thanksgiving table of my youth and now advancing middle age. And it was a circus of sorts - lots of dancing and wild acting out. Street kids sound asleep warmed only by an attending dog. A few adventurous people had built shelter. As our economies falter, we are each and all that much closer to homelessness. This gypsy band gathered all together was a stunning public act. If the earth is to be inherited, let this meek group have warmth and meal by Christmas. This would bring the absolute message of the holidays home. Thanks for giving me a sobering day of peace.