Located on the ancestral territory of the W8banakiak, 3^e imperial is located in Granby, on the 3^rd floor of the former Imperial Tobacco factory, on the banks of the Yamaska river. The centre offers long-term creative residencies, therefore optimising the process of implementing infiltration-based art practices and fostering relationships with the local area and its social space. Inhabiting enables artists to invest in creative areas that are made accessible through frequent, long-term involvement.

Art infiltration practices set action—in situ and in socius—in a constantly changing heterogeneous environment, locating the work in the present—art/life, art/everyday. Building on an approach that combines diffusion with infusion, where the process is the work, these practices penetrate the social body’s sensitive zones, whether they be micro-landscapes, or vast urban or rural panoramas. In keeping with 3^e impérial’s process, they constitute an evolving field of exploration through which artist residency projects and collective projects help inflect and enrich our ways of working and push the boundaries of the relationship between art and audiences.

Building alliances founded on mutual engagement, ethics, rigour, and conviviality… Coproduction, collaborative work and bringing people together are at the heart of our mission.  Residencies for artists, writers and researchers form bodies of work that are interrelated by multi-year exploration cycles. These cycles constitute a common space that combines praxis and critical reflection and generates different forms of sharing through public forums, publications, videos, and the web.