On Friday, I got my chance to ride in what I’ve dubbed the Art-Metro. L’art prend le metro is two artists’, Rose-Marie E. Goulet's and Chantal Dumas's, attempt at creating art from/within our very own public transportation, transforming a single metro car into something else entirely.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to experience this car, take a look at the streaked blue makeover it’s received. The lights a re a little more tinted, and the dark atmosphere makes for a very relaxing ride. Stickers of city scenes decorate the windows.

But visual art isn’t all you get!

A slightly (okay, very) bizarre soundtrack plays tidbits of sounds, phrases and words. My forty-minute ride included sound bites of birds chirping, a woman speaking Japanese, applause, roosters, laughing and what sounded like howler monkeys. A YouTube video managed to capture just some of the strangeness.

I had heard about this metro car, and so was very excited when I got the opportunity to hop on. I spent a lot of the time watching my fellow passengers for their reactions to the chiming church bells, and quite obviously, responses were varied. Confusion, impatience, amusement…

I think I appreciated the reaction to the art more than the art itself. Though the blue really is quite gentle in the eyes.

Have any of you taken a ride in the Art-Metro? And if you hadn’t heard about it before getting on, what was your reaction those pâté chinois! pâté chinois! chants?

Photo: "meet me there," by Midnight Poutine Flickr pooler luxiferre