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Nuit Blanche

Re: Nuit Blance

I did it! My friends and I made it to 7:01 AM this morning on Queen Street West after starting at 10:00 PM in Yorkville.

I got off the plane from South Korea yesterday evening, dropped my bags in Mississauga and then headed straight towards downtown Toronto for this event.

What a fantastic and ressounding success! The streets were packed and the art was world class. I couldn't believe the buzz and how many people showed up. It was estimated that 425,000 people attended the event.

While it was hard to explain to friends what the event was, but throughout my evening I was surprised to spontaniously meet at least a dozen friends on the streets.

My personal highlights:

Zone A - Yorkville

1) PharmaCopia - Giant pills floating in the air

2) A women volunteer shouting and waving "you will feel positive energy if you come in" under the "Hold That Thought" sign at Chuch of the Redeemer.

3) Pillow Fight League in front of the ROM
www.gopfl.com

4) Fog in Toronto

5) Dark Hart @ Hart House

6) Noche en Havana @ the ROM

7) Rooftop Patio of the Gardiner Museum

Zone B - OCAD

1) BALLROOM DANCING - Music and Dodgeball on the dancefloor at 3:00AM!

2) In Pursuit of Happiness - Two Old Women Eating Cake in the middle of University Avenue.

3) How to Respond to an Emergency - Police Officers dancing on University Avenue with nobody around except my friends and I.

4) AGO - Faces Project

5) OCAD - tiny bubbles in the main lobby.

6) Dance Floor on Queen Street.

Zone C - Queen Street West

1) Electronic Sky

2) Night Swim

3) Revolutionary Song

4) Darke Hotel

5) Gladstone Hotel

Can't wait until next year!

Louroz
 
Re: Nuit Blance

I got to Fujiko Nakaya's Fog at 9 o'clock.

Fog, fog, fog, rolling down the wet, grassy banks of Philosopher's Walk in waves, people stumbling through it, sounds muffled by the suspended water particles on an already damp night, and all of it illuminated from somewhere above us and behind the fog machines.

Other art there: crowds of people taking part at the Wishing Tree, watching Nuit Blanche the video, and the Sheep projection.

Inside the ROM, saw the Carlos Garaicoa show again, and the Cuban video art. Opus - the voice of Fidel Castro calling out numbers like a demented bingo caller ( culled from his interminable speeches ) while the same numbers appeared in white on a black screen was hilarious. And Suspicion Syndrome, about the paranoia state censorship creates, was effective too.

Then across the street and into the Gardiner Museum. So nice to see the second floor open again, with the original displays, and a new small gallery of Chinese ceramics added. On the main floor the new modern ceramics wing had some beautiful things - I thought the three pieces by Georges Jeanclos were quite moving. Ran into some old OCAD friends as I left.

A quick trip to the Bata museum, where people were mugging for the Shadow machine. Put my brolly up and jumped in front of the sensor and there I was, frozen in time for five seconds on the big screen. Took a little bow for the crowds and moved on.

Subway south. Ran into Darkstar and Simply Dan at University and Dundas. They were heading north and being texted by Futuremayor who was out there somewhere. Circled Tanya Mars's performance In Pursuit of Happiness for a few minutes, and ran into someone else I know from art school days.

West along Dundas, past the dancing police officers How To Respond In An Emergency to OCAD, where lots was happening. Saw a couple of Nick and Sheila Pye films, other films projected in the auditorium, then outside into Butterfield Park which was alive with activity. A quick detour into the University Settlement House where a mayhem kids party thing was happening so I got out again pretty damn quick.

Then out into Grange Park. The circular Model for a Public Space was well used, and there were some lively discussions about the city going on in it.

Down to Queen, and past the lit-from-below Saturday Night Fever-ish disco stage. Here Be Breakdancing!

The City Room of the opera house glowed beautifully, across the street, but it was empty. It could have done with a spectacular disco-inspired light show too. Maybe next year. A National Ballet film was projected, weakly, onto the York Street side of the building but there was too much ambient light for it to be visible. An elderly couple stood there trying to make it out.
 
Re: Nuit Blance

The rain gave the whole shebang a bit of a Woodstock flavour...
 
Re: Nuit Blance

I'm really disappointed I missed out on this (work to complete and a deadline to meet), sounds like it was a terrific time. If only they had it more often.
 
Re: Nuit Blance

I believe the plan is to make this an annual event for the city.

Having it at the end of September is perfect. The weather was just right, and it gave a boost to the city with no tourists around.

I'm curious as how the Montreal event is like. Their 4th edition is taking place March 3, 2007 and is part of a larger city celebration of light. Strangely enough the have an English Title to the event - "All Nighter"

www.montrealhighlights.com

Louroz
 
Re: Nuit Blance

What a wonderful time Nuit Blanche was.

While my friend and I found a few of the installations to be somewhat lame, we were bowled over by others.

Fog in Toronto was transcendently good. It should have been called Cloud in Toronto actually, as it was often much thicker than regular fog, and it was quite the sensation for those of us inside. You could see 10 feet at one moment, and then only 2 feet away the next / people drifted in and out of view / you could hear people laughing or screaming but not see them / turn and a new wave of cloud would hit. Quite electric.

We were lucky enough to be led on a psychogeographic tour of Yorkville by Shawn Micallef. Shawn's obvious love for this city and his bag of eclectic anecdotes made for a very enjoyable walk, and I learned lots too.

Hart House had a slew of fun things to see and do. A bar upstairs included a forest of Christmas trees, campfires, make your own toast, and a sauna of a disco inside a tent. I could have danced with those Varsity types a lot longer, but we then went off to the pool to watch...

oh hell, too much to write. We loved the night. Saw FutureMayor in line for a doubledouble and went in to say 'Hi'! Watched a friend's band play a gig at the Italian Consulate. Next year I hope to bump into everyone I know. I'm glad to have gotten to the first Nuit Blanche here, and I plan not to miss the future ones.

Better photos from my night (the fog ones worked the best) are up on flickr now.

42
 
Re: Nuit Blance

Damn, I love fog... woulda really enjoyed that.
 
Re: Nuit Blance

Hart House had a slew of fun things to see and do. A bar upstairs included a forest of Christmas trees, campfires, make your own toast, and a sauna of a disco inside a tent. I could have danced with those Varsity types a lot longer, but we then went off to the pool to watch...
Click to expand...

Damn...now I really regret missing it :p
 
Re: Nuit Blance

It was fun to run into friends at different locations - like ships passing in the night - and learn about near misses later. My baritone friend, for instance, had an interchange42 sighting on the U of T campus but didn't have a chance to say hello.

My friend Bruce said the galleries on Queen West were so crowded they couldn't get in.

I went home at midnight. Had to get up early the next day. Next year I'll stay out longer.
 
Gianmarco was there somewhere in the crowd? I'm sorry I missed him!

Next year if the fog is back, I say we pick a time and then all bump into each other there.

42
 
interchange:

Yeah, and doing that at Philosopher's Walk...very funny. :lol

AoD
 
That place used to be c-r-a-z-y back in the '70's and '80's ...

interchange: Yes, you'd gone before he had time to say hello. We went to La Rondine at Opera In Concert on Sunday at the St Lawrence Centre. Isabel Bayrakdarian is appearing in Dialogue of the Carmelites on November 19th ( quite a coup to get her ). Are you going? Hurry if you want a ticket!
 
I think Pride Toronto should hire the fog installation for Pride next year. It could be set-up in Cawthra Park on the Friday and Saturday evening! LOL.

Wow, what a night though! I think Toronto was craving such an event and the people just ate it up (as they should). Indeed a few of the installations were lame and the weather was a slight damper, but in general, people were fully into the spirit of the evening and I witnessed many creative things, in many strange spaces and at a very odd time of the day. The city was truly transformed.

Dan and I stayed out until 04:30 and hit all three zones. I'll post a few pics soon as well!
 
What a difference between events like this - where there is originality, creativity and elements of surprise and delight - and the predictabe, commercial, BIA generated "taste of" events.
 
I really enjoyed Nuit Blanche too. Loved seeing the crowds and really enjoyed the spirit of friendliness and enthusiasm that seemed to pervade. We were only able to visit the Yorkville Zone as we were with friends who really weren't interested in the whole thing, no matter how much weI tried! Still, what little we saw we very much enjoyed, and we much preferred the 'public spaces' aspect to the whole thing, over the more formal/commercial aspect. We are already gung-ho for next year, and plan to stay up all night and do it all!!!
 
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