LA VITRINE: La Vitrine is a detailed and up-to-date cultural calendar app for Montreal. Last minute offers with in-app ticket purchasing to shows, concerts, exhibitions, and other cultural activities.

NUIT BLANCHE A MONTREAL 2013: This is the official app for the 10th edition of Nuit blanche à Montréal. It’s an interactive guide to +170 activities in 3 districts and 1 pôle. The app has a futuristic “augmented reality” feature, and a very handy radar with social networking integration for optimal connectedness on Saturday, March 2, 2013!

ART SOUTERRAIN 2013: This app is the official guide to the maze of underground tunnels in Montreal that is transformed into a contemporary art gallery in March. There will be 130 art projects displayed in 7 km of underground spaces. The app includes social networking integration, multimedia elements, and practical info like maps, and calendars.

MONT-ROYAL APP: Remember when I said that everything has an App these days? Well that giant hill in the middle of Montreal has it’s very own app. It contains detailed maps and points of interests. CASINO DE MONTREAL: The magnificent Casino de Montreal has a gorgeous app that details all the events, slot machines, tables, Food and Bars. Must be 18+ to download.

DHC – ART MONTREAL: One of my favorite art galleries in Montreal that brings in some of the coolest and contemporary art from around the world has a beautiful app filled with events, podcasts, and an audio guide to their latest exhibit.

MONTREAL MUSEUMS: While many of the museums in Montreal have their very own stand-alone app, this app aggregates all the museums in Montreal into a single place so picking a place nearby or checking out exhibits all around the city is easy. It even includes special walking tours!

McCORD MUSEUM: A modern and a cutting-edge app for a museum filled with really old stuff. Montreal’s history is on full display here and with the app you can read about artifacts, watch videos, comment on items and exhibitions and create lists of your favorites.

URBAIN MTL MUSEUM: A very cool app by the McCord Museum in collaboration with Historia, allows you to take a historical walk through Montreal via a series of pins set into a map. Clicking on a pin brings up photos from that location but a very different era.

MONTREAL FINE ARTS MUSEUM: A 53 stop guide to their permanent European Art collections all set to music! Also available for $4.99 is an App to their latest exhibit, Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and Moon.

CA MUZ MUSICAL CALENDAR: What’s playing tonight in Montreal? Check out Ca Muz with the most up-to-date live music events around the city. Filter by genre or flick through the week to find whatever suits your taste in Montreal’s eclectic music scene.

BIOSPHERE: Located on Ile Sainte-Hélène the Biosphere is an Environment Museum. The app is a bit scarce, but is a useful guide to the museum and the surround attractions in Park Jean Drapeau.

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Edward Burtynsky: Oil is, as the title implies, about oil. Huge colour photos (56 in all) by famed photographer Edward Burtynsky examines the substance on which the world runs. What struck me immediately was the sense of scale. His landscapes – the oil fields, sun-lit silhouettes of oil rigs sitting in the sea and storage areas  – are all vast. My favourite is a zig-zagging oil pipe, whose shiny silver surface slices through a forest, its greenness razed to make room for the pipe’s path.

And therein lies Burtnsky’s quiet message. For years, the principle behind the artist’s images has been how industry is affecting our environment – and not in a good way. But the nature he shows us is blemished; disfigured by the marks of man, be it clear-cut trees or over-used marble quarries. The McCord exhibition is organized thematically. First, the images of refining sites show the origin of oil’s pivotal power.  Then the photos document the world of transportation. Finally, the end of oil is shown.  With Edward Burtynsky’s empathetic eye, a terrible beauty is born as the artist renders oil – a subject  wrought with issues of politics, policies and pollution -  into stunning scenes. (TIP: Edward Burtynsky will be at the McCord to talk about his work on Thursday October 6 at 6:30 p.m. His exhibit opens the same day.)


Ever wonder what Montreal used to look like?  Well, now you can. Montreal’s McCord Museum has launched an exciting ‘treasure hunt’ via a free cutting edge app. For a museum dedicated to preserving the old – the history of Montreal– that’s pretty cool!

IPhone owners can download an app called MTL Urban Museum which superimposes archival images over your smart phone’s camera view. I tried it out: it’s simple –and really fun! When you are walking around Montreal, look down. There are 150 sites – huge red dots that say McCord Museum MTL Urban Museum. Click on the app to see what that site looked like around 100 years ago. You can see then and now images simultaneously right on your smart phone. (Regular cell phones can get the info and a photo from another era, but only smart phones can drop in the superimposed images.) You can see all the images and more at the McCord. This great presentation has been added to the museum’s permanent exhibition.

The show highlights 10 facets of Montreal’s past – from its early occupants, through the wealth of the Golden Mile and the excitement of Expo 67. Each of the key historical moments is set up in its own space, showing items from that moment in time.  A few of my favourite things? A unicycle, with its huge yet delicate front wheel (how did they balance?!), and a hoop worn by ladies to support their long skirts. Curiously, the hoop looks like a Lady Gaga creation! At the entrance of each historical environment there are touch-screens, so you can listen to an historian describe the era in front of you.

A

THE DETAILS

Edward Burtynsky: Oil, October 6, 2011 to January 8, 2012

McCord Museum, 690 Sherbrooke Street West, (514) 398-7100

Photo Credit: ©Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto.

The post FALL FOR THE MCCORD MUSEUM’S NEW EXHIBITS appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

MTL mobile : This is a must have App for any visitor or local alike. It’s an interactive timetable trip guide and to  map to Montreal’s extensive metro and bus network. It instantly demystifies the entirety of the STM and puts everything you need to know right at your finger tips. You can always find your way back home with MTLmobile. Or at least find out you missed the last metro by 20 minutes. For Android users check out Transport Montreal, and Blackberry users can try the STM mobile site.

La Vitrine: This App is a long-needed gem. It’s a sleek and interactive cultural calendar of events, parties, shows and more! It has photos, videos, coupons and last minute details. So when you find yourself on the edge of a Saturday night, check La Vitrine and let it take you to the far cultural corners, the deep underground scenes and the best Montreal can offer.

Hotel Le Crystal: This App brings service into the 21st century. Hotel Le Crystal has quickly become one of Montreal’s premier hotels, attracting movie stars, singers, and people with a taste for luxury. And this App kicks it up a notch. Not only does up offer up dinning, entertainment and hotspots in the area hand-picked by their concierge, but you can do seriously cool stuff like: order room service from their interactive menu, summon your car from the valet and even order a bathrobe to be sent to your room! Now that’s what I call five-star service with an iSmile.

Wenite: Wenite is going to change my life. Wenite is a nightlife app that lets you know where the hottest parties, and most lively places are… IN REAL TIME! How it works is that people who are already in attendance vote for the place. If the crowd is dull and the music is lame, the place falls in the live rankings. If the vibe of the place is great, people can vote it up in the live rankings. It also offers up location specific special offers. For example, at l’Assommoir on Note Dame, once you vote you can show your screen to the waiter and get a special treat! The only thing I dislike about it is having the make an account for it to work, but you can also link it to your Facebook. Basically, never arrive at a party that is DOA again. But let’s be honest, Wenite can do what it does, but the party doesn’t really start until you walk in. Wenite is currently only available for iOS.

Spotcycle: Montreal’s famous (or infamous) Bixi bike-sharing system as spawned dozens of iPhone, Android and Blackberry Apps. Most are the same, some are terrible, but after field-testing a bunch I’ve decided that Spotcycle is the cleanest, fastest and easiest to use out of all of them. It works with not only the Montreal Bixi system, but all Bixi-based systems around the world, from Melbourne to London! It also has a handy feature that most other Bixi Apps don’t have… a rental timer! Spotcycle is also available for Android and Blackberry.

QueerMontreal: This is the iPhone version of the handy website Queermontreal.info that is an up-to-date guide to Bars, Clubs, Hotels and Restaurants in the Gay Village of Montreal! It’s easy to use and definitely informative if you’re looking to explore the Gay Village. The only thing I have a problem with is the $2.99 price point. If you have the spare change, this App is nice to have on hand. Otherwise, visit the site queermontreal.info on your iPhone for the similar information. A similar app is available for Blackberry called Bump! Guide Montreal.

District Montreal: This App offers a new and exciting way to discover Montreal. From the best-kept secrets to neighbourhood favourites, this app is fun, fast and full of information. Continuously updated, it helps you to located green spaces, the underground and its art network, public washrooms and a series of really cool audio walks! So plug in, explore and learn unique things about Montreal! For Blackberry, check out Montreal Traveler and and iGotcha Montreal for Android users.

If you think I’ve missed any great Montreal-loving apps, please let me know about them in the comment section of this post!

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