Deep in the heart of the Old Port, among Montreal’s most palimpsestic neighbourhoods, sits a stronghold improbably dedicated to the production, exhibition, and proliferation of contemporary art.

Years ago, The Darling Brothers Foundry, an historic monument on Montreal’s industrial map, forged steel. Today, the edifice is an engine of another kind of creativity. Neither a commercial gallery nor an artist-run centre, Fonderie Darling exists at the interstice of private and public interests, of low and high culture, of old and new architecture, positioned at the crossroads of antiquity and eternity.

The Fonderie’s founding director Caroline Andrieux took leave last October after three decades spent helming one of this city’s most venerable cultural institutions. Quartier Éphémère was launched in 1993, when the area was all but abandoned, rebar jutting out from neglected streets, on the cusp of a bitterly contested national referendum that surely would have pushed Quebec further into economic ruin had the province cleaved from Canadian confederation.

Now, with a tentative sense of permanence, the district is awash in new capital, surrounded by luxury condominiums, posh boutiques, exclusive hotels, and gourmet restaurants. And with a city block-sized footprint, Fonderie Darling boasts fresh direction at the command of Milly A. Dery, who at only 34 is tasked with navigating this behemoth out of the past.

She is here for it.

“It’s super exciting,” says Dery with an authentic grin. “It’s also super challenging. A founding director passing the place on to a non-founding director is always a big step for an organization. It only happens once. But in October when I arrived in the office, I felt ready and excited.”

Dery is dressed in relaxed denims and a crisp white blouse. Her spark is undeniable, demonstrating the desire to stoke Fonderie Darling’s fires for the foreseeable future. At once she exudes youth and wisdom, speaking with poise and confidence about managing the Fonderie’s transition.

Dery studied Art History, first at McGill, then completing a master’s degree at Université de Montréal. She worked in private galleries and joined Fonderie Darling eight years ago after dropping off a resumé on spec. “They needed someone to fill in for a month,” she says. At the end of that month, Dery was hired on full-time and has not looked back since.

“Nostalgia is an easy trap to fall into,” Dery says. “A lot of people talk about the ‘90s and how the era was better, different, the city was different, money was different. I want to step away from nostalgia and figure out how to get a place like this into the 21^st century.”

Doubtless, Old Montreal in the 1990s would have been vastly different. Lofts and artists’ studios were cheap and plentiful. Fonderie Darling’s mandate of reclaiming abandoned buildings for artistic pursuits fit right in and harnessed institutional enthusiasm early on. In 2025, though, with property values skyrocketing and public funding dwindling, there is a tension these days between competing crises: affordable housing, and affordable spaces for artistic production.

“Developers used to ring the doorbell every week and make offers,” Dery tells me. “But we are the owners of this building. And we do look at this space as a little fortress for the artists in a neighbourhood that is otherwise unwelcoming for them. You come here and you wonder how this place is still standing. It’s still standing because people fought for it.”

Fonderie Darling has always possessed a scrappy spirit, combining two exhibition rooms, studios in which artists can work in-situ, and an outdoor esplanade that stages public interventions and performance pieces. The Fonderie does not represent artists as a traditional gallery would. Instead, it generates 50 percent of its operating budget from public sources, and the other half from a combination of autonomous revenues, philanthropy, and private donations.

“It’s a difficult equilibrium to maintain,” explains Dery. “Public financing is insufficient. It’s a crazy amount of work for our team to find 50 percent of our revenues.” The Fonderie does charge a reasonably priced admission, $8. Nonetheless, this accounts for only two percent of its annual income. “We have an accessibility policy,” Dery says. In today’s terminology, that means no one is turned away for lack of funds. “I worked at the welcome desk for a long time before changing roles and it’s important to keep it accessible.”

Because Fonderie Darling is free from the pressures of producing blockbuster exhibitions or programming saleable works, it is able to take risks on unconventional and edgier artists and their ideas. When I visit, the spring show is underway — embedded “liturgical-optic” paintings by Numa Amun, plus an exhibition entitled Simile Aria, an ingenious twist on the relationship between vocal and organ pipes by Fonderie Darling artist-in-residence Maggy Hamel-Metsos.

Dery gives me a tour of the facility and tells me about the forthcoming summer programme. “We have two new solo shows in June,” she says, “by Karen Elaine Spencer and Frantz Patrick Henry.” Spencer is presenting a selection of bold and poetic works that relate loosely to the process of grief. “I think it’s going to be really moving,” Dery indicates.

Henry’s show, exhibiting in the larger gallery, is concerned with architecture from Italy, Montreal, and Haiti as fragments of collective history. “They’re very different practices,” Dery notes, “but still related in methods and approach. Opposite, but connected in some unexpected ways.”

Following Caroline Andrieux’s lead, Dery relishes the liberty to curate challenging programmes. “That’s why we have such a strong reputation today,” she suggests. “Not for economic, popularity, or any consideration have there ever been compromises on the audacity, the quality, and relevance of the propositions that we present. That is a guiding principle.”

Fonderie Darling particularly tends to encourage works that are in dialogue with the space and which revolve around recurrent themes of slowness, sustainability, transformation, and regeneration.

“This sense of reciprocity between the space, the artwork, and the visitor has always been in the DNA of Fonderie,” Dery says, “and important to reinvigorate every time. This space has so many possibilities, and when the priorities are in perfect alignment with the conditions that welcome it, that’s where you get the magic.”

What, precisely, is that magic? What is art for?

“Art changes my life,” Dery affirms. “It changes my mind. It changes the way I think. It brings joy, unpredictability, a reason to live. Out of the monotony and pressure and oppression of daily life, which is a struggle for many people for many reasons, art is a comfort in many ways. It’s a way to bond, to create relationships. For me, if you come to Fonderie Darling, you don’t need to love art to have an extraordinary time.”

And yet, Fonderie Darling is situated far from what constitutes the ordinary on Montreal’s cultural landscape.

Dery is keenly aware that she has an important job balancing creativity, commerce, urban demands, local politics, and above all, the value of contemporary art in a city perennially on the verge of succumbing to capitalist excesses.

“I would love for Fonderie Darling to be known to every Montrealer,” Dery muses. “For me, it’s about how to make sure that it continues to live for 100 years.”◼︎

No Bystanders by Frantz Patrick Henry and revenons en oiseaux, être un arbre est trop dur et aujourd’hui, il neige by Karen Elaine Spencer launch 19 June and run through 17 August 2025 at Fonderie Darling, 745 Place du Sable-Gris.