Nuit Blanche

What was once referred to as an all-night contemporary night "thing" is now the well-known (and well-attended) event Nuit Blanche, which took place this past Saturday night to Sunday morning in Toronto. Like many arts events, Nuit Blanche was born in France and now takes place annually in over a hundred cities around the world. Toronto's first Nuit Blanche was in 2006 (yes, I was there) attended by 425,000 people and now it brings over a million art lovers and revelers into the streets of the city for an all-night party.

Now, any time a million people RSVP to a party, you can expect a few certainties. One, not everyone is going to be into it (that many people = as many differing opinions on contemporary art). Two, it's going to be kuh-ray-zee crowded on the streets. And three, some people will miss the point entirely and instead opt to party way too hard. Inevitabilities. I understand why many people who would genuinely be into the artistic aspect of the event might choose to stay home and avoid the nonsense. I understand, but I respectfully disagree. It is still possible to go out for Nuit Blanche Toronto for all the right reasons AND enjoy yourself immensely.

Nuit Blanche began at sundown (6:51pm to be precise), so I in turn began my evening at midnight. Nuit Blanche tip #1: start late, end early. We were out from midnight until 5am. Yes, that reads as slightly insane but if you take a disco nap and drink a vat of coffee, you can do it. There is absolutely no avoiding the crowds altogether, but taking the late shift means that you'll still be wandering as they begin to taper. Nuit Blanche tip #2: plan your evening. There were more than 110 art projects on display this year, which means it was virtually impossible to see everything. Make a list (there's actually a function on the Nuit Blanche website that lets you plan "My Night", very useful) before you hit the streets and plan around your "must-sees" to avoid disappointment. Nuit Blanche tip #3: be open to changing your plans. As you wander, you will no doubt stumble upon random, awesome things that you didn't realize were happening. Stop and enjoy these random and awesome things. Part of the fun of the evening is its unpredictability.

We started our evening at Queen's Park, heading south (these photos are in the chronological order of our travels). I'm a big fan of real-time exhibits so the standout for me was This, I Build For You (artist: David R. Harper), a piece which was being hand embroidered as its likeness was projected onto a blank statue base. Beautiful and mesmerizing. We continued to head south, pausing to stop and sit in the living-room alley installation Take a Load Off (artist: Tongue & Groove) and to marvel at the architecture of Garden Tower in Toronto (artist: Tadashi Kawamata) before heading to Nathan Phillips Square to see some of the evening's biggest (double entendre) art exhibits. Forever Bicycles (artist: Ai Weiwei) was surrounded by people from all sides but fortunately was a large enough showstopper to impress all at once. I was enchanted by the blindingly bright The rose is without why (artist: Boris Achour) but disappointed that Crash Cars (artist: Alain Declercq) appeared to have broken down.

We proceeded north and were momentarily hypnotized by The Big Crunch (artist: Franck Scurti) before we enjoyed the other-worldly atmosphere of Familia (artist: Bruno Billio). This was one of my favorites of the night, heightened by the ferocious pipe organ music being played inside Church of the Holy Trinity (my pic doesn't do it justice, sadly it was too dark for a good shot). We backtracked a bit to City Hall where I got a real kick out of The Little People (artist: Workparty), in part because I recognized many of the Kinder Toys from a long-abandoned collection of my own. On University Avenue we stopped to watch the Music Box (artist: John Dickson) play and had a spirited discussion about how sad the trombone sound was without the aid of buzzing human lips (womp, womp). We walked north on University to Dundas and discovered, to our dismay, that the beekeepers meditating at the AGO had buzzed off (HA. HA. HA.) so we headed south again to Queen Street. It started to rain in earnest around 3:00am so we ducked into The Queen Mother Café to have a bit of fun with To Whom it May Concern (artist: Travis T Freeman). I may have had him say a line from The Mighty Boosh. Art is awesome.

We ended our Nuit Blanche at TIFF Bell Lightbox, where we grabbed some popcorn and howled at the film collage compilation VHS Fever Dreams (artists: Colin Geddes, Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski). The highlight was a bizarre aerobic routine where kittens were held as props, inter-spliced with footage of cats chowing down on what may have been brains or guts or something equally gory. Next up in a neighbouring cinema was CRINGEWORTHY! The Best of the Worst Videos Online (artists: Andrew Gunadie and Andrew Bravener), which was equally entertaining and hilarious but in a very different way. The photo above is of a dance-off to Ginuwine's 'Pony' and it was everything you'd want need expect it to be. Great fun.

And then we hit our wall. It was 5am and still raining so we decided to call it a night. And what a night. Although I had a great time, I think I may invent a new tip for myself for next year. Nuit Blanche tip #4: venture outside the core. I know I missed some really good stuff by sticking to the more high-profile exhibits this year so next year I'm going to make a real effort to see some of the smaller and more far out (double entendre) art. Already looking forward to it!