Dendrites, Commissioned by the City of Montréal Situated at the core of the recently developed Interna­tional Civil Aviation Organization Plaza (ICAO), Dendrites is the newest monumental public work by the artist Michel de Broin.

The word dendrite refers to the branched projections of a neuron, which propagate cerebral stimulation; the term is derived from the Greek Dendron, also the word for tree. Extending across both sides of Notre-Dame Street in the downtown core, the work is comprised of two sculptural stairways directly modeled on the neuron structure.
Photography: Michel de Broin
Simultaneously evocative of massive tree trunks with their network of branches spreading out towards the surrounding cityscape, the trunk-like elements are distinguished both by their respective sizes and unique sinuosities. Construct­ed of weathering steel, the piece takes on the ochre color of the tree trunks it references, while simultaneously alluding to the industrial past of the central urban site and its iron infrastructure. Through the natural process of oxidation, the sculpture?s steel surface undergoes a microscopic crystallization of iron particles recalling the formation of dendrites. This dynamic process creates a nuanced parallel between the form of the stairway and its underlying material, and can also be read as analogous to the ever-changing form of the networked city surrounding it. Photography: Jules Deauchamp-Desbiens
Recontextualized in this new sculptural configurat...