Nuit Blanche
October 9th, 2009
Spacing contributor Carolyn Tripp delved into one of the many installations that took over Toronto last weekend during Nuit Blanche.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - …
October 5th, 2009
Yes the lines were too long, the streets too crowded, and the TTC too packed. And it’s true that this year, like the years before, the event didn’t seem to live up to its hype and many of the works underwhelmed. But, like almost a million other Torontonions, I spent Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning scurrying around the city to experience Nuit Blanche. And I wouldn’t have considered doing anything else.
While all our inner art critics and inner urban planners likely have a laundry list of criticisms about Saturday night, there’s a lot about Nuit Blanche that warrants celebration. Hidden within its flaws there are important lessons for urbanism.
One of the best things about Nuit Blanche is the fact that throughout the night there were thousands of people milling around downtown Toronto. Pedestrians, by their sheer numbers, took over the city’s streets and sidewalks. This reminds us of what a city could be were built for pedestrians. I was struck by this at 2:30 in the morning when I rode my bike past City Hall and saw its benches packed with people. And they weren’t there just to look at D. A. Therrien’s 4-letter word machine. Most people were simply taking a break from the night’s activities. When else but on Nuit Blanche would every bench at Nathan Philips Square be full on chilly night at 2:30 in the morning?
October 5th, 2009
Nuit Blanche has come and gone for another year and I survived the all-nighter with a little help from Tiny Toms Donuts and a Mercy blanket at Fire and Sausage.
This year the festival hit a huge milestone with over a million people roaming the streets of Toronto, an amazing jump from the 425,000 that attended in 2007. While the popularity of the event bodes well for exposure of the artists and the city, I wonder how it has changed the way we experience the installations. Many of the popular pieces housed inside, had lines that could have you waiting for an hour. In other cases the crowds were so large, that the art almost got lost in the visual and literal noise of the city. However, this success has brought contemporary art to a much broader audience and, through its anonymity, given people a chance to engage where they might otherwise have felt that daunting feeling of not understanding.
While some may argue that the event has changed from its almost impromptu nature of a few years ago, the true success of the evening is the way it allows Torontonians to engage with their city on a very different level. It exposes areas of the city that people may not have encountered and, especially this year with the interactive elements, it creates a dialogue in which to interact with others. Not only were there the official applications of “My Night” and “Night Navigator” for iPhones and Blackberries, but also many of the side projects had attendees posting reviews and photos of what they’d seen throughout the event. Not only were the opportunities for interactions on the technical side, but also with the chance for the audience to participate in the art. Many of the installations allowed attendees to sing, dance, ride, crawl, build and play with the art, breaking down the barriers that contemporary art often creates.
October 2nd, 2009
Calling all art fans and insomniacs…
This weekend is Nuit Blanche 2009, that runs from sunset (6:55pm) on Saturday, October 3 until …
June 8th, 2009
Each Monday, we bring you some of the popular posts from our sister blog, Spacing Montreal. We’ll keep an eye open for topics and discussions that are pertinent …
October 7th, 2008
I find the idea of that it’s possible to be allergic to a piece of art inherently funny, but it seems particularly apt at a time when the Prime Minister, …
October 5th, 2008
I found this year’s Nuit Blanche a little underwhelming, but that could be due to my plan of just winging it. I didn’t have a schedule or “must-see” installations, so I have only myself to blame …
October 5th, 2008
Words on steel drums (Euphemisms for the intimate …
October 5th, 2008
So according to Toronto Special Events almost a million folks apparently took in Nuit Blanche last night.
At first to me that seemed a little hard to believe as crowds seemed quite sparse in Zone B… though …
October 3rd, 2008
Toronto is staying up late tomorrow night for the third annual Nuit Blanche. With so many exhibitions in all the galleries and museums around the city, we thought we would take a look at some of the …
