Today for reasons best left unwritten I was in the neighborhood of UQAM. So naturally I decided to stop in the gallery. Naturally it was closed. However I was able to take advantage of the benches outside the gallery to collect my thoughts, and then because of the copious quantities of coffee I had consumed I needed to go to the bathroom. Now, I know what you're thinking, "too much information!" Trust me, this is worth it.
I ended up in one of the bathrooms for staff of the gallery. Now it seems that UQAM has struck some sort of deal with Zoom Media to place those 13" x 17" ads above the urinals, my guess would be that they struck the deal 'cuz, like most universities they're looking for cash anyplace they can find it. Why they would stoop to something along the lines of $10 per urinal per month, I dunno. That wouldn't even pay the cost of cleaning the sucker.
But the thing that got me, was that some bright guy at Zoom Media had obviously put some thought into these particular placements.
Slight digression: Initially the ads bugged the hell outa me, something about having to deal with a new commercial intrusion where previously there had been none. Now that they've been doing them for a while, my dander doesn't get up as much - you should have seen the mess I made the first time I saw one of the ads! It also might have something to do with the fact that I don't really frequent places that are likely to have ads over the urinals as I was say, 10 years ago. Then (I told you that this was a digression) I noticed about two years ago, that some bright wag at Anna Goodson Management had talked with somebody at Zoom about sticking illustrators' portfolios above the urinals. My reaction there was "Wow! Wicked Cool!" And I contemplated for a moment perhaps trying to do something with the artists who exhibit here. But then quickly let that idea dribble on to the floor, where it died a quick and painless death.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
It's my understanding residents of Montreal were the only known forms of humans who find it unnecessary to relieve themselves of waste. So I suppose this could explain artwork in the crapper area.....