Inauguration of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Sculpture Garden 2012
‘TOM’ is a temporary garden that transforms the avenue to the Museum into a field of 3500 ‘Temporary Overlay Markers’ (TOM). These are the same markers used to demarcate temporary lanes in highway work zones before permanent lane lines are installed. Planted according to a regular grid, these raised markers delineate a pointillist expression in yellow and white. The transformed roadway evokes a carpet of daisies while borrowing and multiplying an element from the world of automobile road culture. The chromatic surface outlines what will become a permanent dedicated pedestrian zone in the near future, physically and visually bringing together the collection of new and old pavilions that compose the architectural assemblage of the institution. ‘TOM’ becomes a courtyard garden that merges pavement with the notion of flowers.