Artifacts
When Allied purchased the buildings at 5445-5455 de Gaspé, the artists with studios in the building organized to form the Pied Carré collective. Knowing that the building’s purchase would trigger a rent increase, gentrification, and likely eviction, Pied Carré fought to preserve the studios and contingent arts community, gaining some press coverage and support from the city government. They also lobbied the Borough of Plateau-Mont-Royal to uphold a bylaw that required new purchasers to maintain the pre-existing artists’ presence in the building, to which Allied conceded.
A thirty-year rental contract was signed between Allied and Pied Carré, stipulating a reduced rent for four floors of 5445 de Gaspé that Pied Carré could then sub-rent to artists. As part of this agreement, artist-run centres Dazibao, Occurrence, and Optica moved into the building, while Circulaire, Diagonale, and Agence Topo, who already had spaces on other floors, joined CLARK on the ground floor. Press coverage celebrated the successful collaboration between artists, the City of Montreal, and the for-profit interests of corporate real estate developers.
The agreement signed with Pied Carré bound Allied to a rent reduction, however, after it took effect, Allied made costly renovations to the building, which caused commercial rental taxes for tenants to increase by 300%, an increase that has only gone up exponentially in the intervening years, resulting in a net rent much higher than artists and even artisans could afford. At the same time, this agreement made Pied Carré responsible for covering the rent owed to Allied, regardless of occupancy rates.
As of last year (2020), Pied Carré had accumulated over $2,000,000.00 of debt owed to Allied. It is unknown how many of the current tenants renting from Pied Carré continued to maintain studios at de Gaspé after the building’s purchase.
The frames and support structures used to display the exhibited artifacts have been fabricated by Martin Schop, who is a professional art-framer, and also serves as the current President of Pied Carré. He was instrumental in the most recent negotiations with Allied through which Pied Carré was able to cancel its accumulated debt by returning, or “retrocessing”, one floor of 5455 de Gaspé to Allied.