Artist Vicky Côté castigates Rio Tinto for refusing to beautify its silos in La Baie

”It’s really a missed opportunity,” says Bayriver artist Vicky Côté bluntly. Rio Tinto’s decision, which ultimately refused to embellish the silos of its port facilities with works of art, deeply irritated him.

She and a dozen other people have sat on a committee dedicated to this project since 2021. Vicky Côté assures that the steps were serious and that the plans were about to finally come to fruition. Around forty artists had submitted an idea.

It’s completely grotesque to work for three years, to ask people to do dozens of hours of volunteer work with specific expertise and to call for projects at the expense of the artists who were involved.

According to her, the multinational suddenly realized that it was necessary to prepare the silos to accommodate the works of art. A fairly expensive step. Rio Tinto ultimately decided to abandon the project due to financing issues.

Vicky Côté finds it absurd that the company did not consider these costs from the start. It was the prerequisite for all these efforts and all these stepsshe recalled in an interview on the show It’s never the same.

It’s embarrassing for Rio Tinto to do such an amateurish maneuver.

Disappointment

The artist does not hide being bitter about his experience and Rio Tinto’s conclusions. ”This project ultimately just fuels the idea that Rio Tinto is just taking,” she says.

Next year, Rio Tinto will celebrate its 100th^e birthday in the region. It would have been a nice moment to give back to the community, rather than fighting to try not to cut down a forest to make a lake of red mudadds the Bairiveraine artist.

Last week, the president of the La Baie district, Raynald Simard, also decried the multinational’s decision for the same reasons.