Paint the town with MURAL Festival

You’ll be seeing ALL the colours on the Main this June. From June 8 to 18^th 2017, bask in the fifth edition of MURAL Festival’s high octane celebrations as St-Laurent Boulevard between Sherbrooke and Mont-Royal is closed to cars and becomes an open-air pedestrian art gallery. The street-art festival is bringing in a star lineup of international artists to paint murals live and party the nights away – but there’s so much more! Conferences, exhibitions, an art fair and an enchanted forest (!) not to be missed.

Some 20 murals along Montréal’s most iconic street are going to be painted right under your eyes. They’ll be added to the permanent public legacy of over 80 major works created by MURAL since 2013, to enhance the already impressive art route along the Main, from the Quartier des Spectacles to Mile End. Among the world-famous artists adding to the city’s tapestry this year there’s the legendary Ron English from the U.S., as well as INSA from the U.K., Ricardo Cavolo from Spain, and 1010 and Mad C from Germany. Canadian greats include Fluke and Dodo from A’Shop, Ola Volo, SbuOne, Scribe csx, Kevin Ledo, Monosourcil, Mort, Aydin Matlabi and Miss Me.

The weekends come alive with music on the Main during MURAL. The fest presents two weekends of major outdoor concerts, all free of charge this year! The reconfigured show area on Saint-Laurent Boulevard means not only can you watch shows in the parking lot at St-Laurent and Prince Arthur as usual, you can also take in the beats and drink up some booze in a dedicated area between Milton and Prince-Arthur. (What’s more, the Grill Saint-Laurent culinary event will return to the main area from June 14 to 16, so bring your appetite!) Don’t miss the opening party on June 8, or the MURAL Block Party presented by Kraken on Friday, June 9. On June 10 Hennessy Artistry presents Fool’s Gold Day with A-Trak and guests! All from 6 to 11 p.m. See MURAL for full programming.

Une publication partagée par • alcove • (@_alcove) le 24 Mai 2017 à 8h54 PDT

This year’s edition counts some ground-breaking conferences, from June 12 to 16. The Alcove x MURAL conferences is a series of intimate and visionary discussions featuring personalities like Armand Vaillancourt, Gilbert Rozon and many others. And don’t miss the exhibitions: MURAL is partnering with a number of exhibition spaces around town to extend the street-art experience indoors. That includes the POPaganda exhibition by Ron English at 3841 St-Laurent Boulevard, the Nasty Women exhibition at Galerie 175B (175 Ontario E.), and exhibition of work by this year’s festival participants at Galerie LeRoyer (60 St-Paul O.) and a Felipe Pantone solo show at Station 16 (3523 St-Laurent). There are also guided mural tours throughout the festival: two different circuits and over 30 time slots available.

MURAL presents its third annual Mural Art Fair at Marché Bonsecours from June 8 to 11, so you can get art for home. Plus, new for this 2017 edition, MURAL extends its reach to include Old Montreal, thanks to a partnership with the Société de développement commercial du Vieux-Montréal. In addition to producing the fair the festival will be participating in the closure of St-Paul Street during Grand Prix weekend on June 8 to 11, as well as producing art installations, temporary murals and organizing special events in nearby establishments.

Une publication partagée par Ariane Boucher (@theholythirteen) le 15 Juin 2014 à 16h31 PDT

Need a breather from all that incredible stimulation? Take a breather in the enchanted forest. Throughout the length of the fest Lululemon presents MURAL’s Enchanted Forest in Parc du Portugal, corner St-Laurent and Rachel, where there’s an oasis of sports, music and relaxation. After all the oohs and aahs, now it’s time for some ommm!

Up next:Your 2017 Montréal summer festival guide