Éruption was a temporary installation made as part of the Jardin de Métis International Garden Festival’s satellite projects. Installed in the surrounding of the Saint-Michel environmental complex in Montreal, the installation sought to show the layers that compose the former gravel and stone pit, cement plant and landfill. Towers, like giant steel mesh drill cores recalling the city landscape, emerging slowly from the ground, showcase this site’s symbolic history. From the limestone and concrete that built the city, then through the garbage that filled the pit, to the recycling that we practice today and back to the pioneer plants and life, a history is told with this installation.

The strength of life coming back to this site that was deserted is therefore illustrated. The installation also aimed to announce what would become of this gaping hole: the creation of an all-new park, one of the largest in Montreal, named after the great Frédéric Back.