Think outside the box

ECUBE COMMUNITY
If you’re an artist, low on resources, low on cash, low on support, but brimming with passion, energy and ideas, welcome to the eCube community.

Inaugurated in August 2001, eCube was the brainchild of now president, Marcus McDonald, secretary, Thierry Bregaint, and treasurer, Franck Legale. The three mediums of sculpture, photography, and sound came together to form the Espace Cube. First and foremost, it is a place of creativity, production, promotion and distribution as well as a forum for multidisciplinary work.

The focus has always been on the three disciplines of music, photography and sculpture. But looking past the core of these disciplines, over time they have evolved with technology, digital media, and as a result, eCube has hosted various multimedia events. The triad that molded this environment inspired the name of the association, a three-dimensional space, the perfect space.

Since its launch, the non-profit organization has survived solely by the financing by its members, government grants, donations as well as volunteer support. eCube is far from being commercial and revels in that fact.

Located in Griffintown, one of Montreal’s oldest industrial sectors, eCube strongly identifies with its geographic location and its link to a rich historic past. Ironically, the term griffin represents a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. This dual creature signifies change, transformation, revolution, and constant struggle with identity and the search for self. eCube could not have found a better match.


With its modest furnishings, minimalist décor, but more than adequate supplies, the services offered are more than simply tools and equipment. eCube is a place where artists can bounce ideas off each other, feed off each other’s energy and vibe. eCube is a valuable network. The cultural association has potential for great creative outcomes and is the birthplace of many projects. The space also showcases its artists work. Furthermore, eCube collaborates with various other organizations to host exhibitions, events, and social gatherings as well as renting out the space for various independent projects.

The current membership is at a meager number. There are extremely valuable services as well as resources offered, accessible at all times, but that are not fully being taken advantage of. Of course, part of eCube’s appeal does reside in the fact that it is a covert haven for most who frequent the space.

For graduating students, unsure of what lies in the future, eCube is a relieving place to begin. It’s a mountain of resources and knowledge, with people experienced in various domains who are more than willing to share their know-how. Check your prejudices, your uncertainties, your inhibitions at the door. eCube is where you can come to lounge, to be among brilliant, struggling, misunderstood artists like yourself, and collaborate to make something truly memorable.

The triad are asked 6 sided questions.

What is eCube?
TB: In my opinion it’s a vehicle for practicing my art, I guess situating it inside the art community. There’s a dilemma when you’re a practicing artist and your work is isolated from the community that is supposed to support you and give you feedback. While you’re going to school, studying, you have this kind of network and this community around you and after that there is this leap period. What I like to think about eCube is that it is greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately we put this all together and it has grown.

FL: (in a very wonderful French accent) It’s a meeting point. First, it’s a place where artists can create their workshop, their studio, where they create their art for the public. It’s a meeting point where people can speak together, build projects together, and share ideas.

MM: eCube is first of all a group of artists taking care of their own production. Production is a vast thing for the artist, creating the work, you need studio space. Wall space in the case of visual artists, possibility of playing your music for musicians. Or developing your photographs for photographers. Creating the work and showing the work and diffusing it. We open our space to others so they can come and benefit from this cultural activity. The fact that we produce work makes us a cultural pole. If we just remain closed, then it’s just for ourselves. As artists we want to open out to the public. For many people, it’s a party space, a space where people meet and just have a good time. Having a good time opens people up and it becomes a good moment for them to become aware of culture. We’re trying to offer something that is quite rare in the inter-city. People who come here radiate back to us all the energy that we’re giving out.

Who is eCube for?
TB: First and foremost, it is for the members, for the artists to be able to practice their work, to drive it to the destination where they’re trying to go, whether that is artistic, social, political, or even conceptual. It is a place where exhibits can happen. It gives the artists a place of their own, a sense of belonging. When you belong to a group, you feel that someone else is looking out for your interests. I guess it’s the compromise between going completely commercial and belonging to a commercial gallery that demands certain commercial values and commercial results.

FL: For everybody. The messages that come from eCube are for everybody.

MM: It’s for absolutely everyone. Culture is a necessary ingredient for all humans. It is in de facto for younger people. Younger people tend to be more open and more involved in the arts. As you get older, there are less and less artists. It is a young milieu but it is open to everyone.

How has eCube progressed since its inauguration?
TB: By August 2001, we were working here. It took us 9 months to really build the infrastructure because when we arrived it was more of a dream or a utopian vision of an artist collective. Half the work is getting there. The wall had to be built, the physical walls as well as the political and social rules, how to work as a group, how to succeed at balancing personal interests with those of the group. So, it’s an exercise and that’s where I think it goes beyond anything that is just art. It’s not only art, it is social. It’s not only social, it is political. I guess the learning experience all feeds back into the artist’s work. You can say this is my E period. I can look back onto this in many years and say this is the work that came out of being a member of eCube.

FL: It’s doing well even though we don’t have much money, we don’t have grants. We’ve already organized a lot of events of different kinds. It’s doing it without a lot of money and having that unity between people. It’s assembling different kind of people, getting people to understand each other and understand things about themselves. The biggest accomplishment for me is that everybody here is more and more awake, if you’re more awake, you can help people in a better way. It’s a personal evolution but in a collective way.

MM: At first it was seen really as an answer to just having studio space, just to be able to produce our own work and it grew steadily. We started to see other possibilities and become more ambitious, fix our space more and more. The space started turning from a really trashed out industrial space into a more attractive space. Our cost started to go up. We realized we had to bring outside people, to have some parties, to generate funds. People started coming in here, they loved the space so much and the energy going on, we realized that something was happening and we responded to that more and more. We did make a decision from the beginning to keep a huge common space in the center and it’s thanks to that decision that we’ve had that growth possibility. There’s a high energy here, dedicated people, constructive and people with integrity. I think that really means a lot to the people that come from outside. All of that put together makes them realize that someone is giving, someone is putting out, and ultimately that inspires them to put out and give. If we’ve achieved anything, it’s that.

What are some of the issues facing eCube?
TB: Internal conflicts. Since we’re not a company, we don’t pay our employees to do a job. We work strictly with volunteer efforts. When you’re working with volunteers, anything is good, as long as it’s something. So whether it fits my taste or some other person’s taste or some outside person’s vision, it doesn’t really matter. The activity is better than non-activity. There’s nothing worse than building an art center and seeing that nobody uses it. I’m ready to compromise my ideals in that way but it does at a lot of potential conflicts, as far as direction, who’s the captain, who is steering the ship, who is doing the dirty work. And so these are day to day issues. Right now we all know each other because we’ve been here from the start. But if we want to think long-term, in the next five years, some of the original members will be leaving, some new members will be arriving, what kind of road can clear the way so that our idea will last and renew itself. It’s not easy but we are dealing with it.


FL: When a group grows together, there are always problems to face and resolve together. We want to organize ambitious projects and it’s difficult because when you don’t have money, and you have to work, you have to take care, you have to create, and after all that, you have to take care of an art center. It’s a lot to do.

MM: One of the obvious obstacles are conforming with the ways of the world, the ways of the city, the ways of the administration. We took a long time to become an actual association, administrating is not a second nature for artists, it’s actually kind of a particular domain for us. Now recently, we have new people coming in who are actually helping us with the administration. That has given us a lot of new energy and that’s excellent support for us. The obstacles are becoming less and less. We have to bring our space up to standard, we would need more toilets, a fire exit, a fire alarm, all those things that would make us a proper legal space. Right now, we function quite underground and we can’t surface above ground until everything is in order. There is a grant available for young art spaces to do that and we are trying to get that grant. Taxes and all those things, we weren’t even aware we were going to have to pay business taxes. That’s how out of it we were in terms of administrating

What are some of the future projections of eCube?
TB: We either host events or we produce events. This is where we actually collaborate with other collectives, therefore the network just grows bigger and eCube becomes more of a community center or a cultural association than an artist’s center. Every year, in the summer, we have an inaugural incident. Our first grand opening was in summer 2001, we had our official event in summer of 2002, and in summer 2003, we are projecting an outdoor exhibit, focusing on the history, the community and the spirit of Griffintown. In March, we have a NOIZE exhibit. In April, we might have an eCube exhibit, a work in progress preparing for the summer, just so we can get more people’s attention for what’s coming.

FL: We want to develop this district, Griffintown, in a good way. We have an intimate relationship with the district and the people who live in it. We want to do exhibitions, bigger and bigger. We’re trying to find a new way and we think that art and collective art is a good way to relay the message.

MM: Some of the future projections are to be more and more of player in the cultural arena and to have an impact on the cultural world and open as much as possible to the public, be able to expand, have more studio space outside of our own walls and help other artists as much as possible, collaborate with other artists’ spaces.

Describe eCube in three words:
TB: If you asked me this a year ago, I could have been very clear. It would have been photo, sculpture, and music, the three dimensions to eCube, the three ateliers. Since 2002, we started taking in new members. The studios are multiplying. Now, I would have to say community, location, and art.

FL: Awakening, perseverance, love.
MM: You and me

eCube Community
Think outside the box