MEM — Centre des mémoires montréalaises

Founded in 1983 as the Centre d’histoire de Montréal, the City’s history museum was looking to reinvent its mission and image. Five years later, the MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises proudly opened its doors. GSM Project accompanied the City’s team throughout this bold transformation, which involved transferring the museum’s collection and creating new spaces over more than 3,200 square meters. Today the MEM is located in the heart of Montreal at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Laurent — an important historical and cultural crossroads where many realities have collided and converged.

Featuring over a hundred portraits and testimonials, as well as a rich collection of objects and visual records from everyday life, the permanent exhibition Montréal is a living landscape mirroring the vibrant, captivating, and diverse image of Montréal. History is often told from a single perspective ignoring BIPOC communities, immigrants, ethnic minorities, and marginalized people. MEM is challenging this by sharing more inclusive narratives, amplifying the voice of the individual and the masses, in a more complete story of the city.

Throughout the exhibition, stories range from personal to public, individual to collective, past to present. Similarly, the spaces move from private homes to neighbourhoods to the entire city. These shifts in perspective, both in content and design, serve as a metaphor for the many lenses through which visitors can discover the city and its history, deepening their understanding of what Montreal's identity, la montréalité, is all about.

Throughout the development of the MEM, several expert committees and Montrealers weighed in on the design and content. From the initial consultations to the final result, co-creation was a key part of this project. Our work as exhibition designers was to use these many perspectives to create a spaces and an experience that truly reflect the rich human mosaic that is Montreal.

The MEM is a chance to explore the relationship between the city and its residents. How do Montrealers influence and shape the city and how are their experiences and identities shaped in turn? Whether visitors have deep roots in the city, have only recently arrived, or are just passing through, they will come away from the MEM with a deeper understanding of the city and a stronger emotional connection to it. Montréal is a city unlike any other, a place where everyone can find a space to be free and happy.