Montreal Gay Village's famous rainbow balls taken down and offered for sale

A well-known piece of public art that hangs over Montreal's Gay Village is being dismantled and sold off in pieces to the public.

Known as "18 Shades of Gay," the installation is made up of 180,000 multicoloured plastic balls strung in rows above Ste-Catherine street, evoking the rainbow LGBTQ flag.

The village's commercial development corporation says that after nine years on display, the landscape artist who designed the ball art wants it to come down to make way for another artist's work.

For $100, members of the public can obtain 54 of the balls in a single colour, plus everything they'll need to string them up.

Village Montreal says most of the proceeds will be used to finance the village's next art installation, with the remaining 10 per cent going to three local LGBTQ community organizations.

In return, purchasers have to agree to pick up their order themselves and refrain from any commercial or public use.