Mayor David Miller held a press conference at the Museum Of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) yesterday, announcing this year's Nuit Blanche all night, contemporary art thing. The artist line up for this fall's event was released to great applause and enthusiasm.

With 123 Toronto museums, galleries, cultural and educational institutions participating, this year's event promises an increase of almost 50% in artist participation over last year's show. Fifteen installations were selected through an open call process, ensuring the involvement of a broad range of Toronto artists -established and emerging. Among those chosen are Newmindspace, whose installation: "String Of Diamonds" will feature white lights moving gently in the wind, while shimmering high above the surrounding architecture, Annie MacDonell's "Aurora Readiness Center" - a recreation of Toronto's official nuclear fallout shelter (dismantled in 1992) and . . . yours truly. I'll be running a "Secular Confession Booth" in Zone A (Yorkville), where you'll have the opportunity to confess all your dirty little secrets with complete anonymity.

A performance by Swintak jumped off the press page at me. "High Maintenance" will choreograph Transportation Services Department workers operating street cleaning vehicles. The brief describes "Deftly merging the aesthetics of visual art, ballet and the truck rally, this project will transform viewers' impressions of the lowly service vehicle". Zang Zaddam!
I also noticed Melissa Shiff's "Iconoclash: Night Of Awe Dance Party". Iconoclash will play multicultural music over iconic movie scenes while superimposing the dance crowd into the films somehow. I want to be superimposed into The Predator, dancing to reggae music. Maybe I'll email the artist directly about this.

After reading through the press release and listening to the Mayor's speech, I feel pretty pumped. Its great to see the city put on such a massive event showcasing so many Toronto artists alongside the imported ones. Last year's Nuit Blanche was the best thing Toronto has ever put on and I have to confess, this year is looking pretty sweet as well.

Photos by Zach Slootsky