Virtual Graffiti Wall

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Interactive public art activation in Montreal

Virtual Graffiti Wall

Montreal is known for its street art, but spray painting your tag on a tower can fetch a hefty penalty.

The Quartier Des Spectacles is the downtown arts district of Montreal where many of the public performances attract a crowd, driving the tourism industry.

With many projectors pointing to the side of buildings, installations are visually pleasing, but easy to ignore.

Piccles had been accepted into the creative and cultural incubator La Piscine which connected them with programming director Jozef Fleury-Berthiaume to discover how to make these passive projections more interactive.

Tourists, commuters, citizens and even cops all stopped to leave their mark on the city. But then something unexpected and beautiful happened - people stuck around.

After leaving a little drawing, they wanted to explain their drawing. It was a conversation starter.

By this simple creative act of drawing, putting oneself out there with a tiny bit of vulnerability, people saw it was safe and wanted to continue to engage.

The result? Over 100 people engaged on a bitterly cold November evening, countless people dancing and posing in front of their drawings, and over 200 pieces of qualitative data providing a visual understanding of Montrealers.