September 26, 2026 — LAB-545
Free activities with registration
As part of the 30th edition of Journées de la culture, Ateliers Belleville opens the doors of LAB-545 and invites the public to discover the practices, spaces, and know-how that bring the building to life.
For its first participation in Journées de la culture, Ateliers Belleville will offer a free program of guided tours, creative workshops, and exhibitions, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the building, meet artists working on site, and experiment with different artistic practices. The public will also be able to discover an exhibition featuring Ateliers Belleville member artists, as well as Construction/Conduction, presented at LAB-545 from September 18 to 27.
Guided Tours of LAB-545
90-minute guided tours will take place every hour on Saturday, September 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Step behind the scenes of LAB-545 with a guided tour through its studios, creative spaces, and specialized facilities.
The tour offers an opportunity to discover the diversity of practices that coexist at LAB-545, from visual and digital arts to fine crafts, including metalworking, woodworking, textiles, glass and ceramics, printmaking, jewellery, and stained glass.
Throughout the tour, visitors will also have the opportunity to meet artists and craftspeople working on site, discover their workspaces, and learn more about their practices, techniques, and works.
Register here.
Exhibitions
Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Members’ Exhibition
As part of Journées de la culture, a group exhibition will highlight the work of Ateliers Belleville member artists and offer a glimpse into the diversity of practices developed within LAB-545.
More information to come.
Construction/Conduction
The public will also be able to visit Construction/Conduction, a group exhibition curated by Mathieu Arsenault and Sarah Ève Tousignant, presented at LAB-545 from September 18 to 27, 2026.
Bringing together six artists from Quebec and abroad, the exhibition explores electricity and electronics for their sculptural and acoustic properties. Electronic components are approached as sculptural objects, with particular attention given to materials, their potential for activation, and their performative dynamics.
Workshops
Habiter l’inabordable — Pascale Girardin
10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Get your hands in clay with artist Pascale Girardin and contribute to a collective artwork addressing issues of housing accessibility.
As part of the Habiter l’inabordable project, this participatory workshop invites Montrealers to shape small clay houses measuring approximately three centimetres. Each house will be incorporated into a collective model evoking the search for affordable housing.
The micro-houses created as part of the project will eventually be sold at La Criée, with proceeds donated to one or more organizations working to improve access to affordable housing.
Through gesture and material, the workshop invites participants to reflect on the right to housing while contributing to the creation of a collective artwork.
No previous experience is required, and all materials are provided.
Register here.
About Pascale Girardin
Since 1996, Pascale Girardin has explored the potential of clay through a sculptural practice informed by craft, design, and visual art. Her installations and sculptures examine, among other things, the relationships between know-how, materiality, and the formation of thought.
The Experimental Tin Can Telephone Workshop — Darsha Hewitt
1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
How can a voice travel from one tin can to another using nothing but a piece of string?
In this hands-on, drop-in family workshop, Darsha Hewitt invites participants to build their own mechanical communication systems and experiment with sound transmission.
Using the tin can telephone as a starting point, participants will explore how vibrations, materials, and different listening techniques influence the way sound travels through everyday objects. Once the telephones are assembled, children and adults alike can put them to the test and experiment with transmitting voices over different distances.
The workshop is intended for children, youth, and their families, and all ages are welcome. Young children must be accompanied by an adult or teenager during the activity.
No previous experience is required. Bring your own tin can or use one of those provided on site.
Register here.
About Darsha Hewitt
Darsha Hewitt uses installation, illustration, video tutorials, Fluxus strategies, jewellery making, DIY electronics, photography, and experimental pedagogy to explore material issues related to music and sound.
