Montreal, Cananda — Last summer saw us here at Hookedblog taking to the skies and hitting North America for a #HookedblogonTour adventure. Following a short stopover in New York, we made our way to Newark Airport to catch a flight to Montreal for the third edition of the MURAL international public art festival. On our arrival at the departure gates we bumped into South African artist Faith47(Previously on Hookedblog) who as one of the invited festival artists was on the same flight to Montreal. After short flight and we were landing in Montreal ready for the week of good art, music and food that was ahead of us.

Having been to Toronto many times over the years visiting family and friends this was our first visit to Montreal and we certainly hope it will not be the last. And as much as we enjoyed our time in Toronto over the years, we have to say Montreal wins hands down as the better city, sorry Toronto! The combination of a modern North American city combined with an old world European vibe gives this city the edge and when you add to that some top festivals such as MURAL thats not going to change anytime soon. The 2015 edition of MURAL grew from a 4 day event as in 2014 into an impressive 11 day festival adding 20 new murals to the neighbourhood. An with large parts of the Boulevard St-Laurent closed off to traffic for the entire duration of the festival it attracted close to 1.15 millions visitors. Below are some of the murals we captured during our stay in the city.

BSF_HOOKEDBLOG_0644_PHOTO_©2015_MARK_RIGNEYBicicleta Sem Freio(Previously on Hookedblog), Mural 15. Montreal 2015.
ROA_HOOKEDBLOG_9969_PHOTO_©2015_MARK_RIGNEYROA, MURAL 14. Montreal 2015. Faith47_HOOKEDBLOG_0738_PHOTO_©2015_MARK_RIGNEY Faith47, MURAL 15. Montreal 2015.
PIXELPANCHO_HOOKEDBLOG_0485_PHOTO_©2015_MARK_RIGNEYPixel Pancho, Mural 14. Montreal 2015.
Nychos_HOOKEDBLOG_0866_PHOTO_©2015_MARK_RIGNEYNychos, Mural 15. Montreal 2015.

ELIAN_HOOKEDBLOG_0823_PHOTO_©2015_MARK_RIGNEYElian, Mural 15. Montreal 2015.

MURAL_HOOKEDBLOG_7603_PHOTO_©2016_MARK_RIGNEY
A collection of Fuji instax polaroids taken during our time at the festival.

MURAL 2016 Edition

The 4th edition of the MURAL international public art festival is just around the corner and is set to take place from June 9th to 19th 2016 in Montreal. The talented team behind the festival announced at a recent press conference this years oficial program.

Once again the 2016 edition of the MURAL Festival will bring together another exciting group of world-renowned artists from 8 different countries, including: D*Face (UK)(Previously on Hookedblog), Buff Monster (USA), Meggs (Australia)(Previously on Hookedblog), Natalia Rak (Poland), Felipe Pantone (Spain), Evoca1 (USA)(Previously on Hookedblog), Hush (USA)(Previously on Hookedblog), Grems (France), Klone Yourself (Israel), and Acidum Project.

The festival will also host many well-known Canadian artists, including: Fonki, Jonathan Bergeron, Zek, HSiX of A’Shop, X-Ray, Five-Eight, Jason Botkin, Roadsworth and Miss Terri.

Alongside the planned murals this years festival will with see the creation of several temporary and semi-permanent original sculptural art installations; featuring artists Maser (Ireland)(Previous on Hookedblog), Felipe Pantone (Spain), Fafi (France), Stikki Peaches (Canada)(Previously on Hookedblog) and many others.



For full details of this years festival schedule of events and VIP ticket info head over to the MURAL 2016 festival website To get a sense of what you can expect this year check out the teaser video MURAL have released above. Hookedblog hope to return to Montreal once again for what looks set to be another impressive MURAL Festival.

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