La Joute, Kinetic fountain in Quartier international, Montreal, Canada

La Joute is a 1969 public sculptural installation by Quebec artist Jean-Paul Riopelle, set in Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle in Montreal's International District. It consists of thirty bronze figures, including an owl, a fish, a bear and a dog, placed inside and outside a circular fountain basin. Since its 2003 relocation, a ring of nozzles around the central sculpture projects flames at set evening hours.

The work was created between 1969 and 1974 and was relocated from its original location in Olympic Park to its current site in the International District in 2003. This move gave the sculpture a new role in the urban setting.

Riopelle first conceived the sculpture-fountain in 1966 and proposed it for Montreal's 1967 world's fair; the idea was not taken up, and he worked on it intermittently from 1969, starting with clay and plaster models. The work was shown at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence from 22 December 1970 to 22 January 1971, then at the Canadian Cultural Centre and the Musée d'art moderne de Paris, before being cast in bronze in Italy in 1974.

The fountain sits on Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, between the new entrance of the Palais des congrès and the Édifice Jacques-Parizeau. The mist sequence runs every hour all day, while the fire ring appears only in summer evenings, starting a few minutes before the half-hour. The full cycle lasts about 32 minutes, so arrive early and stay to the end.

The 12 ground grates behind the fountain mist one after another, about 90 seconds apart, leading the eye toward the basin before the fire starts. The gas jets are lit by flame sources set in the bases of some of the sculptures. The mist sequence alone runs every hour through the day, without fire.