En circulation weaves connections between books and the thoughts of users of Bibliothèque L’Octogone, as well as between this community and the trees surrounding it. Drawing inspiration from aspects of drawings and punctuation in the world of comics – reflecting the impressive comic-book collection that makes L’Octogone unique – Fuglem creates an unusual occupation of space at the centre of the redesigned building.

The work comprises two suspended installations of numerous shapes cut from mirrored steel (polished stainless steel). Painted on one side, they retain their reflective luminosity on the other. and are accentuated by shadows and light that change constantly according to time of day and season.

The shapes in the first installation are drawn marks that sketch in space what the artist imagined as “an interior weather system” created by the movements and thoughts of people circulating up and down the library’s curved central staircase.

The second installation continues this swirling motion to a cluster of cut-out leaf shapes floating in the skylight above the mezzanine. The artist has drawn these leaves, comic-book style, from trees located around the library, with origins around the world.

In September 2019, the Bureau d’art public held a competition by invitation for professional visual artists for the design and production of an artwork for Bibliothèque L’Octogone. Creation of this work is related to the renovation and expansion of this library in the LaSalle borough, a project that falls within the Ville de Montréal’s program for renovation, expansion, and construction of public libraries. In compliance with the Québec government’s Politique d’intégration des arts à l’architecture et à l’environnement des bâtiments et des sites gouvernementaux et publics, the new library had to have an artwork designed specifically for it.