Corridart

Corridart was a large-scale public art event and urban intervention staged in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the summer of 1976, coinciding with the 1976 Summer Olympics. Organized by a group of artists, architects, and urban planners, the event transformed a 3.2-kilometer (2-mile) stretch of Sherbrooke Street, the city’s main east-west thoroughfare, into an outdoor art gallery and pedestrian zone.

The project involved the temporary installation of numerous site-specific artworks, including sculptures, murals, installations, and performances. Corridart aimed to challenge conventional notions of public art and to engage directly with the urban environment and its inhabitants. It sought to democratize art by making it accessible to a broad audience outside the confines of traditional museums and galleries.

However, Corridart was controversially dismantled by order of Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau only days before the start of the Olympic Games. Drapeau cited various reasons for its removal, including aesthetic concerns and claims that some of the artworks were politically critical and presented a negative image of the city to international visitors.

The sudden and forceful removal of Corridart sparked widespread debate about artistic freedom, censorship, and the role of public art in urban development. It became a significant event in the history of Canadian art and continues to be studied and discussed as a case study in the complex relationship between art, politics, and urban planning. The destruction of Corridart remains a controversial and contested moment in Montreal's cultural history, highlighting the tensions inherent in large-scale public art projects.