In winter 2020, as part of a residency at Collège Saint-Louis and in collaboration with the Turbine Centre, sound artist Charles Montambault proposed an ambient art project to 10th-grade students. The project was based on their sensory experiences of the college’s atrium—the heart of the school, both architecturally and socially.

Having previously worked as a substitute teacher at Collège Saint-Louis, Montambault was impressed by the architectural quality of the premises and fascinated by the open, airy, and bright atmosphere that the design concept produced:

“The atrium is the heart of the school’s atmosphere. This is where everyone comes together, where energy is channelled and then spreads throughout the classrooms and even beyond the school walls.”

This personal experience made him realize the importance of making students aware of the influence of such a space on their daily lives, giving rise to the project. He created it with the support of the Une école accueille un artiste ou un écrivain component within the La culture à l’école program of the Ministère de l’Éducation.

The social life and the architecture of this secondary school create a special atmosphere in the atrium, which connects new facilities to the former John Grant School, constructed in 1922. The existing building, abandoned for more than a decade, was renovated and expanded to accommodate the Collège Saint-Louis and therefore the growing needs of its students and faculty.

Interrupted by COVID-19, Montambault’s project was relaunched in the spring. The result, Ambiant 1 : Atrium Saint-Louis, offers a sensory experience of the transformation of the college atmosphere through a combination of four multimedia works: a sound installation, a podcast, a video, and a soundscape. The Turbine Centre and Paysages (Charles Montambault et Daniel Robinson) presented one work per week through March and April 2021.

1. SOUND INSTALLATION — Exposing absence through presence

Multi-channel broadcast of the pre-COVID soundscape in the atrium
Aired in the Collège Saint-Louis atrium during lunchtime (March 17–18, 2021)
Since the emergence of the pandemic, crowds are no longer safe and their dissipation cuts students off from a source of daily comfort. To rekindle the warmth of a crowd at the college, an installation broadcast a composition of pre-COVID soundscapes throughout the atrium using recordings from winter 2020. Performed by Charles Montambault.

2. PODCAST — Comforting anthropophony

Excerpts from poems, interviews, and soundscapes (duration: 11 min 40 s)
Available for download at centreturbine.org (since March 25)
Sixty-one high school students were introduced to ambient art and thus made aware of the influence of sound in their environment. These students then wrote poems about the atmosphere at the school and recorded interviews with their peers. Bringing together insightful and sensitive testimonials, this ambient podcast helps us understand and feel the importance of the crowd, the presence of which was like a beating heart in the school.

3. VIDEO — Between absence and presence

Atmospheric video directed by Daniel Robinson (duration: 7 min)
An online presentation followed by a virtual interview with Charles Montambault and Daniel Robinson (April 1, 2021)
How is the contrast between the school atmosphere before and after the COVID-19 pandemic experienced? In this video filmed in December 2020, the voices of students projected by the sound installation bounce off the walls of a deserted school. Despite their radical differences, presence and absence coexist for a winter afternoon.

4. SOUNDSCAPE — Crowd to go

Ambient composition of in situ recordings (duration: 45 min)
Available for download at centreturbine.org (since April 8)
This long-duration soundscape is composed from recordings made by Montambault at Collège Saint-Louis during his 2020 residency. It captures the daily rhythms of the students who bring the atrium to life. Listen and hear the piece—at home or elsewhere—to enhance a moment, an activity, or a discussion. Listen to the soundscape to reflect on the feeling of being alone together, or on the company of anonymous presences.

Learn more about this art project, whose architectural design was a fundamental source of inspiration: