In choosing to produce a documentary on Argentina’s recuperadas, companies that are taken over by their workers after they go bankrupt, a group of students at the Université de Montréal wanted to shatter common beliefs and raise public awareness of the importance of social and political commitment. It was in summer 2009 that the project organizers, deeply touched by the strong values exhibited by these workers who are determined to fight social injustice and inequality, spent over two months in Argentina in order to produce their vibrantly realistic documentary. The students are currently taking steps to promote their documentary, which they hope will demonstrate that taking collective responsibility is possible, that political action has a tangible impact on life in society and that a dream can indeed be made a reality.

In choosing to produce a documentary on Argentina’s recuperadas, companies that are taken over by their workers after they go bankrupt, a group of students at the Université de Montréal wanted to shatter common beliefs and raise public awareness of the importance of social and political commitment. It was in summer 2009 that the project organizers, deeply touched by the strong values exhibited by these workers who are determined to fight social injustice and inequality, spent over two months in Argentina in order to produce their vibrantly realistic documentary. The students are currently taking steps to promote their documentary, which they hope will demonstrate that taking collective responsibility is possible, that political action has a tangible impact on life in society and that a dream can indeed be made a reality.

2011 Multidisciplinary Charrette

It was in order to break with tradition, provoke change and trigger a reaction that three students in the urban planning department at the Université de Montréal decided to reinvent the “charrette,” a 350-year-old concept in the field of urban planning. By setting up an innovative design contest calling on a combination of disciplines and the setting up of genuine installations at the very place where they pursue their studies while at the same time prohibiting the use of computers, they knocked down barriers in a field that has long been considered individualistic. The 2011 multidisciplinary charrette was a 72-hour race against the clock that brought together 120 participants divided into 25 teams. And the future urban planners took advantage of the creative freedom they were granted to dream up a number of surprising installations, such as the setting up of a racetrack, the transformation of an elevator into a soccer field and the development of a game of hopscotch using laser beams.

In 2009, thanks to a highly creative initiative thought up by three students, the school of design at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) saw itself endowed with a very distinctive and promising tool called Pica Magazine. The first two annual issues received the Grand Prix Grafika in the Professional Magazine category and there’s every chance that the 2011 edition of the magazine, with its ever-increasing renown and growing credibility, will carry the torch of the two previous award-winning editions. Developed first and foremost as a comprehensive reference tool and a source of inspiration in terms of design, the fact remains that it is nonetheless also an invaluable showcase within the design industry for its student contributors. Containing exclusive content specially created for the publication, Pica is sold both nationally and internationally and gives young designers the chance to gain hands-on experience in professional publishing while working alongside renowned designers.