A statue of John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister, stood at Montreal’s Place du Canada for over a century before it was toppled in summer 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. The eighteen-metre-tall structure memorialized a political career marked by many racist acts including the implementation of Indian Residential Schools and the imposition of a head tax on Chinese immigrants.

This year’s special edition of the CCA Charrette, organized in collaboration with the interuniversity research group After Macdonald, invites proposals for temporary interventions to address the emptied plinth of the Macdonald monument and/or the site around it, and to challenge the idea of permanence and public memory. Interventions can speak to Macdonald’s legacy in particular or to issues around racial justice more broadly, and can employ architectural approaches including time-based and performance media. Proposals must consider the positionality of the team: how do you justify your intervention? For whom do you claim to speak?

The Charrette is open to students enrolled in any university around the world, and in any discipline, as well as recent graduates. Participants should form teams of two to three people (for graduate level students and recent graduates), or teams of two to five people (for undergraduate students).

To register and for more information, please visit the Charrette webpage.

From 29 October, at5pm to 11 November, at 11am
Online registration

Thursday, 11 November, at 6:30pm
Launch online

Monday, 15 November, at 11am
Submission deadline

Friday, 19 November, at 6:30pm
Awards ceremony online