Partnership between the City of Gatineau and the STO to prevent tags and graffiti

In 2013, the City of Gatineau and the Société de transport de l'Outaouais announced a joint partnership to create murals in the Rapibus corridor. Durong construction, some Rapibus infrastructures were the target of graffiti and tags, and the many concrete surfaces are particularly appealing to graffiti artists. The City of Gatineau and the Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) have thus joined forces in a shared goal to reduce graffiti and tag vandalism, and embellish the Rapibus corridor with different colourful and original works of art. 

Three projects have resulted from this partnership:

• Gatineau's annual graffiti contest, in collaboration with the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival;
• The impressive mural on the wall of the Rapibus access ramp at Allumettières;
• The beautification of two bicycle tunnels near the Pont Noir bridge that crosses the Gatineau River!

These three initiatives are also part of Gatineau's tags and graffiti prevention and support program. Besides offering a dynamic, visually attractive work of art, creating these pieces is an excellent way to highlight the talent and creativity of our local graffiti artists, and to make graffiti more enjoyable by showing it as a means of expression and valued art when it is done lawfully. By allowing youth to create graffiti art legally, we are also helping in some way to reduce vandalism.

Every year, 10 works are selected in Gatineau's annual graffiti contest held as part of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival. The works of urban art are then installed on the walls of the Gréber tunnel. These colourful, original creations brighten up the daily commute of thousands of public transit riders!

The Société de transport de l'Outaouais is partnering with Gatineau until 2016 to enable other future graffiti contest participants to have a chance to see their creations on display in the tunnel too. A maximum of 20 works of art in total will be displayed between now and 2016.

In April 2013, Gatineau launched a contest for graffiti artists in Quebec to create a mural on the wall of the Rapibus access ramp at Allumettières.

Of the approximately 20 artists who responded, six were chosen: Jonathan Barbier (Greenfield Park), Lukasz Bober (Gatineau), Michael Davis (Gatineau), Marin Mitrasinovic (Gatineau), Patrick Moss (Gatineau) and Sébastien Morissette (Montréal)

Based on the theme « Gatineau en movement », these six graffiti artists set about covering the wall with the biggest work of art ever seen in Gatineau! Spray cans in hand, these talented young artists put 900 hours into creating the most impressive outdoor mural ever seen in Gatineau, covering 400 square metres. By the time it was finished, 697 cans of spray paint had been used.

Located at both ends of the Pont Noir bridge, the two bicycle tunnels underwent a colourful makeover on one special day. Twenty local and visiting graffiti artists were able to show off their creativity and embellish the two bicycle tunnels, based on the themes La nature and Mouvement Historique.

For the bicyle tunnel located West of the Pont Noir bridge - Artists are: Filipe Aguiar, René-Pierre Beaudry, Lukasz Bober, Julien Charlebois, Gabriel Côté, Mathieu Désilet, Pier-Yves Dubois, Rocco Godefroid, Jonathan Gosselin, Lester Jollymore, Alexandre Jourdain, Xavier Lapointe, Dan Metcalf, Marin Mitrasinovic, Sébastien Morissette, Patrick Moss, André Murray, Claudine Nafaa, Marc-André Perron-Bénard and Jean-Claude Savard.

For the bicyle tunnel located West of the Pont Noir bridge - Artists are:Lukasz Bober, Mathieu Désilet, André Groulx-Murray, Marin Mitrasinovic and Marc-André Perron.

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