Listen Here:

Figure 1: An outside view of Place Versailles, Oct 2023

The term “mall” is rooted in a game - the croquet-like pall-mall or pallemalle (Fr.), was played in a “tree-lined promenade” in London in the 1600s ('Merriam-Webster'). The term eventually evolved to describe the “regional centres” as we know them now - “stores oriented to a sequestered pedestrian way” (Longstreth 1998, xiv). We now affiliate the word with consumerist and capitalist ideals, but the mall is a social space – an environment in which conversation and play can occur, and unpredictable public interactions intersect and become entangled with “fully scripted acoustic and spatial design” (LaBelle 2010, 169). Though Marc Augé has called both shopping malls and airports “non-places” (Labelle 2010, 192), the mall continually provides a “container for performances,” distinctly individual and human (LaBelle 2010, 169).

Ethnomusicologist Jonathan Sterne dives deeply into the environmental and programmed music of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, in his piece “Sounds Like the Mall of America: Programmed Music and the Architectonics of Commercial Space” (Sterne 1997). Sterne considers the music of malls part of the architecture itself – an essential element of the “built environment”, it structures, joins, and separates spaces (Sterne 1997, 23). Following Deleuze’s idea of “territorilization,” mall music draws borders between different domains, and fills spaces with specific meanings, providing a sense of “inside and outside” (Sterne 1997, 31). The hallway, for example, is a place of transition and movement, and is generally on a unified sound system, different than the system providing each individual store’s distinct soundtrack (Sterne 1997, 31).  “Store atmospherics” (Term coined by Phil Kotler, via Labelle 2010, 176) reflect each outlet’s branding, and the sonics of the store are integrated with other essential elements like lighting, scent, textures, and interior and spatial design.

In the past, the background music sounding in the concourse, elevators, and public washrooms, and linking all these spaces together, was Muzak – both a company and a descriptor of a style of music (Sterne 1997, 23). Muzak evolved from a business interested in radio transmission technology into a corporation that was conducting experiments on the correlation between musical styles and tempos and worker productivity, such as the “stimulus progression program” (Sterne 1997, Labelle 2010). The company also started to be interested on music’s impact on consumer activity: studies, by researchers such as Smith and Curnow (1966) and G.C. Bruner (1990), showed that a lower volume and slower tempo encouraged a longer shopping trip, so much of Muzak’s output was free of any element (voice, instrument, etc) that was considered to be “abrasive” (LaBelle 2010, 176; Sterne 1997, 30).

Muzak no longer really exists as a company – in 2011, it was bought and folded into Mood Media, a company that continues to offer brand-relevant programmed in-store music for businesses, but also provides a wide range of other sensory services, such as custom HVAC diffused scents (such as freshly baked bread), and giant digital video walls ('History of Muzak' and general page on Mood Media website, accessed 2023). In the era of algorithmic playlists, where our listening journeys are often based on mood or “vibe” determined by tech companies, perhaps Spotify playlists are a not-too-distant relation to Muzak – a cousin or even a sibling.

Much of the sensory design within a mall is built around the “desired visitor,” rather than the actual visitor (Sterne 1997, 43). Sterne notes that this can potentially result in a “cognitive dissonance,” noting the politics regarding what is deemed to be an “unwanted activity” in the acoustic landscape (Sterne 1997, 43). Noisy drunken rowdiness from the sports bar on a Friday night, for example, is often considered more acceptable by mall security than the sound of congregating loitering teenagers (Sterne 1997, 43). The politics of mall space extends beyond the strictly acoustic - art collective Radio Ligna organized a variety of public art interventions in malls which involved participants employing a sequence of gestures, instructed somewhat invisibly through radio transmissions (LaBelle 2010, 191). During the “Transient Radio Lab” in Liverpool, collective actions inspired further un-choreographed interventions by mall security, and a participant was eventually asked to leave the building (LaBelle 2010). The mall is a public social space, but is policed and controlled, always striving to maintain the ambience that the designers deem most harmonious to potential consumers.

Place Versailles

Rapidly approaching its 60th anniversary, Place Versailles, established on November 7, 1963, holds the proud distinction of being Montreal's first enclosed shopping mall. It continues to be the largest mall on the island – an expansive footprint of one million square feet houses 225 retail establishments, five fountains, and a parking facility with 4,000 spaces. The mall's website characterizes it as a "community centre," but can a deliberately crafted commercial space really be framed as such?

While reading the mall's Wikipedia entry, I find a listed controversy in 2017 involving Santa Claus. The planned arrival of Santa via helicopter at 10 am on November 11, just prior to the Remembrance Day moment of silence, not only attracted criticism but also garnered media coverage from several news outlets (such as Keenan 2017, Toronto Star). Despite the backlash, the mall stood firm in its decision not to cancel the event, stating that the logistical implications were too complex (Wikipedia, 2023).

Sonic Fieldwork: An Afternoon at the Mall (Written Transcription of Narrated Voiceover in Sound Piece)

On a Saturday, I take the metro to the mall, to Radisson Station, which is almost at the very end of the green line. When I walk up the stairs, I hear music – I almost think it is programmed music, but alas, the source is human – a keyboard player situated in the tunnel leading to the exit finishes a rendition of Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now is Love” and starts another tune. With Muzak and the role of music in commercial spaces very much on my mind, it feels like aptly cinematic entrance music marking the beginning of my day at the mall.

When I finally walk through the front doors, my romanticism and excitement about recording in this space is grounded by the aural reality I find myself in. It is all reflections - the sound waves bouncing around everywhere from unidentifiable sources. Everyone seems to be talking. How can I possibly pick out any specific elements or particularities within this chaotically reverberant space? What would a sound map of a mall even comprise of? I can’t pick out any calming Muzak in the hallways, and all the distinct sound spaces I was reading about seem to be bleeding together into pandemonium. I keep trying to locate the speakers on the ceiling, which are disguised with paint to blend in. The floor appears to be marble, and the ceilings feature stained glass and skylights. It’s all very grand and pretty, and acoustically unruly.

I run out of battery power on my Zoom recorder basically immediately. Luckily, I brought a spare pair, but I’m also comforted by the fact I’m surrounded by stores that could potentially carry some AA’s. In that regard, the mall is a wonderfully convenient spot to do some field recording.

Something I notice instantly is how my somewhat indiscreet recording set-up (I’m using a small shotgun mic housed in a boom case) is changing the behaviours of those around me. People give me suspicious looks. A jolly mall-goer yells “hello” into the mic as I walk by. Mall security, which seem to be everywhere, appear to be keeping tabs on me. Am I allowed to be doing this? Do I need some sort of official permission? I get no strange looks when I take videos or photos on my phone – it's interesting how phone documentation has become such a widely acceptable practice in public spaces.

At the entrance, I’m greeted by a sign informing me that despite the controversy of 2017, Santa will once again be arriving by helicopter on Nov 11 at 10 am. There’s a table nearby where veterans sell poppies but I’m too shy to ask them how they feel about it.

One of Escobedo’s fountains, Le Trois Grâces or “The Three Graces,” is located under a skylight right in front of the Canadian Tire and surrounded by jewelry stores (see fig. 9). It emits a hum that sort of forms a harmony with the water. Escobedo’s other fountain, titled “Joie De Vivre” is another popular spot for sitting, meditative contemplation and rest, and is aptly located right across from a spa.  

At the fountain between GARAGE, the Raffin Bookstore, and McDonald’s, water springs up dramatically from the structure’s striking geometric features every five minutes or so. There is also a fountain at the back of SAFARI, a very strange-pet store, where water trickles out of plastic monkeys’ mouths surrounded by plastic rocks, airbrushed to look ancient, into a pool of live goldfish and turtles, beside bags of dogfood on special.

In the food court, nestled between a Subway and a M Loubnane, there is the famous graphic fountain. I must admit I felt a bit skeptical when I first read about it on the mall’s website – I thought it would be gimmicky and its intrigue was likely exaggerated. In reality, I found it to be impressive – LED lights project onto spurts of water to create shapes and messages. Both kids and adults seem transfixed – it attracts a steady audience. The food court smells similar to other mall food courts – the miscellany of vendors offer menus of stir fries, sandwiches, salads, and bubble teas, all the scents intersecting. I eat a granola bar I find in my bag.

Down an adjoining hallway are the washrooms, which are smelly and not as grandiouse as the rest of the mall. There are speakers in here, which I imagine are playing the same music as in the hallway – it seems unlikely they would be on a separate sound system - but the hallways are so loud and chaotic that it’s difficult to be sure. 

Something fascinating about malls is that some of the businesses also decorate and transform the outside walls, the walls that face into the mall hallway. Mike’s, for example, has fake brick and streetlamps, as well as windows into the restaurant. Directly across from Mike’s is Maxi, a grocery store, and the clamour of shopping-cart wheels form rhythmic patterns at moments. After buying groceries, one can go to Salon Versailles to get a manicure or a new hairstyle, and then get coffee and a pastry at the highly aromatic, potentially synthetically aromatic, 80 Grammes. Maybe if I was here with a friend I would visit the Nickels, a diner chain, with its inviting wood tone booths and cozy soft lighting, an unmistakable contrast in created atmosphere from the mall’s brightly lit hallways and hard geometric shapes.

Curved benches under stained glass provide another spot for respite – I notice no one ever seems to be talking. Due to the mall’s wild acoustic nature, it is impossible for me to record this silence, though I try. Some of the plants in these bench circles are fake, and some are real – I realize when I touch a leaf, and suddenly become the strange person double checking each plant I am surrounded by.

Café Rome, located in the middle of the mall thoroughfare, seems to be sort of a community meeting place for genuine coffee dates and conversations. I notice one can buy a muffin for 1.10 $ and I imagine the coffee is also quite reasonably priced. In many coffee shops, you can smell coffee, but I can’t smell any here – my sense of scent is also cluttered and confused – burnt popcorn, faint perfume from the perfume stand?

Plush stuffed animals have been turned into tiny electric cars with flashing lights and can be rented for kids to ride around on - $7.50 for 10 minutes, and $12.50 for 20 min. The stand seems to be playing “If You're Happy and You Know It (Clap Your Hands)” on loop and is beside a place that sells different types of headscarves. I make note of the colours involved in sale signs – there are yellow draping signs with black lettering, red letters on white signs, red window stickers, and large window stickers with stock photos and white lettering.

The second floor of the mall is quiet and tranquil. There are a lot of community services up here - including an acupuncture clinic, a language school, and a place to get your fingerprints taken. Someone is practicing drums at the music school right beside the municipal offices. Empty store fronts feature wood paneling and textured glass, and holes where the light marquee was crudely ripped out. The garbage cans are made of wood and marble, smooth to the touch.