SBC Gallery of Contemporary Arts Strategic Repositioning

SBC Gallery of Contemporary Arts is at a pivotal point of its evolution as it seeks to re-position itself as an institution-in-formation/expansion in the cultural sphere of Montreal.

While clear artistic and programming goals regarding its political, pedagogical and methodological positioning in hand, it is essential that the institution move towards confidently and beyond, as well as its strategic positioning as a unique and essential institution within that fabric. The mandate was to develop urban and institutional analyses with SBC Gallery in order to strategically inform its programmatic composition, institutional mission and urban position as SBC transition from their current temporary location and constitution.

The research was composed of three elements: the comparative analysis of institutional case studies, the analysis of the current urban constellation, programmatic makeup and development trends of relevant contemporary art institutions within Montreal and preliminary urban and architectural analyses of 3 selected potential sites. The analysis of selected contemporary case studies unpacked the relationships and potential between their urban location, spatial and architectural features, and institutional definition and urban/architectural character of the reinstated SBC Gallery. The urban study generated a portrait of the current state of cultural institutions in Montreal, towards the strategic positioning of SBC within this institutional spectrum and programmatic/organizational diagrams. The analyses served as a document of the nuanced relationships and potentials that exist between programmatic composition, architectural definition and urban positioning. The analyses were retrospective and prospective – looking at and towards new opportunities within these relationships that might inform SBC Gallery specifically, but also urban cultural development more generally.