Sans-abri Signals

A beacon project by Alfredo Jaar

“Lights in the city"
1999
Montreal

Approximately a hundred thousand watts of red lights have been installed in the Cupola of the Marché Bonsecours, a landmark monument in the old Montreal.

Detonating devices have been placed in the Accueil Bonneau, la Maison Eugénie Bernier and la Maison Paul Grégoire, homeless shelters located within 500 yards of the Cupola. Every time a homeless person enters any of these shelters, they are free to push the buttons and the red light will flash in the Cupola.

Not the first time Jaar engages on the Canadian scene: See 1992 "Je me souviens" in Alfredo Jaar : the fire this time : public interventions 1979-2005 — a photographic installation in a restaurant about the Vietnamese boat people. See also http://plepuc.org/en/artwork/je-me-souviens.

And so for day 1594
25.04.2011