Arts
Liveblogging Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche is upon us. The all-night event, running tonight from 7pm until tomorrow morning at 7am, will see close to 200 exhibits and installations around the city, so it's no doubt that this is one of Toronto's most anticipated art events of the year.
The forecast is looking good tonight, if not a little cool, dropping to a low of 11 degrees, so it'll be worth bringing some layers for your artventuring. If you don't yet have any plans for the night, be sure to check out blogTO's Guide to Nuit Blanche, as well as some fashion-specific gigs.
Keep an eye on this post as we'll be updating it live all night with photos and highlights from the exhibits. Let's get started!
6:11am
And that's a wrap. Didn't quite make it to 7am, but just about everything is closing up shop it sounds like at this point anyway. It's been a blast, but my fingers are going to fall off from tapping this screen, my legs are rubber from 11 hours of walking, and my eyes are seeing double.
Overall, a good Nuit Blanche, but I got the impression from blogTOers that they were slightly underwhelmed. Summary on the way later today!
5:31am
Most of the exhibits are packing up early, and the streets are looking pretty quiet, but brave blogTOers are still out on the town scouting for gold.
Laura checks in, calling it a night and says her highlight of the night was the stunning dance installation at the Casa Loma Stables. Her biggest disappointment? Church Street. "Where was the art?" True enough.
Tanja, "If your parents never let you have a zap/flash screen as a kid, you'll want to visit the Campbell House at Osgoode. They've got em up in every room."
Sookie was delighted by Japanese pop art on McCaul, OCAD's 6th floor interpretation of Nature's Weave, and the Last Supper Study.
5:20am
Jerrold says the word of the night from many visitors to Zone A is "underwhelming" but Willie Doherty's Non-Specific Threat was incredible (especially finding it).
4:15am
Lower Bay was fantastically creepy at 4am. What the photos don't get across though is the eerie infrasonic effects that the subway cars along the track produced. For sure one of my highlights of the night so far.
4:08am
Streets are clearing out and I think I have broken thumbs. Tanja was partying on the Queen streetcar with girls and purse stereos. Tim dug the Bellwoods $2 popcorn and tennis court singer that was drawing a good crowd, as well as writing on the wall at XPACE.
2:40am
Roger loved the cathartic sledge hammer and goggle smashing at the Gladstone. Still tons of people on the street everywhere.
2:21am
Word at King's College Circle at he Event Horizon project from Richelle that "E.T. saves Yoda" Awesome. From Tanja in Parkdale, "Parkour ninjas freaking out the cabbies at Queen overpass" SO awesome.
1:45am
Second coffee break. Lots are thinking the same at Timothy's. iPhone needs a recharge after 6 hours of heavy WiFi usage too.
1:17am
Great hidden gem on Church at Alexander called Secret Hearts, a PostSecret-like exhibit where visitors write their secrets on tags and string them to the fence, as well as read others' secrets.
I just spoke to Jessica at the exhibit and funny enough, she was featured in our Flickr Forum on Friday. Delightful girl; small world! See photos
12:43am
Joseph and others are calling String of Diamonds a disappointment. More like a "string of lights" in the sky he says. I hate to say it, but he's dead on. Even in the project's photo, NMS depicted a totally different image of what to expect for this.
12:36am
There's a huge line for Kristen Roos' The Ghost Station at Lower Bay that stretches on for at least an hour. Big surprise! I'll wait until 4 or so to try again.
There's a very cool exhibit on East Cumberland, Night of Saint John. Take a look for yourself!
12:02am
Roger has some nice photos up of Church Street. Joseph isn't too impressed though saying it's just like any other night only "more lights".
11:43pm
Rebecca notes an "unofficial exhibit" at Dunn on Queen. A "drunk guy singing" Now we're talking
11:08pm
Rebecca says to take advantage of the DIY bike lanes on Queen West. Meanwhile Roger is keeping an eye on the Northbound Leather fetish fans trying to entice visitors in for some "tame flogging or just to play dress up" What time is it again?
In other news the older crowds and families are starting to clear out so lines aren't so bad anymore. We've been hearing complaints about crowding all over the city all night but really, it just speaks volumes to the success of this event.
10:47pm
Tanja says the apartment move at Beverley is going well, "anyone want to help me with this bathtub?" Joseph says being placed next to a Starbucks at Queen & Simcoe is the "irony of the night"
Also, I'm thinking they should close Queen St (among other streets) to cars next year. There's people spilling off the sidewalks into the streets where the typical reckless Saturday night drivers are motoring down the street.
9:55pm
Ry C called to say "there's too many god damn people" everywhere. Meanwhile Joseph checks in to say Trinity Bellwoods is barren and they need more stuff between zones, and that the weather is beaut tonight. Couldn't agree more with all the above!
9:12pm
Joseph says two guys driving around with a boom box dancing and filming it on Queen while yelling "We are all artists because we are all going to die. Do something!" Riiiiiiight. Also you can take home a piece of the carpet from Secret of the Syncope on Queen and photograph it for next year's exhibit. Fun.
9:05pm
Sookie: "Hazelton ave is brimming with ppl revealing their secrets at the Secular Confession Booth. Seems to make for some happy customers."
8:48pm
Joseph let me know about a really cool exhibit at Queen and Shaw where you can interact with your iPod, Play by Hear. On my way there now.
8:43pm
As blogTO editor Tanja reports, "the masses have converged at Bloor and Avenue, it's quite the sight" Hart House is doing some great stuff with Night School and is also jammed.
8:04pm
Gardiner museum is PACKED, as is the entire vicinity around the ROM.
7:51pm
blogTO's Joseph reports the TTC is sold out of day passes at multiple locations with many others reporting the same. D'oh!
7:40pm
Only 40 minutes in and I've already found one of my mobile picks. Heads Together making their way through Queen's Park near the Diaspora Dialogues tent.
7:30pm
A lot of people have no idea what's going on tonight. Keep an eye on those ones for comedy gold. It's pretty early still, so there's lots of chatter of "is that real?" and "of course it's performance art."
7:20pm
There's a bride (update: Artist Jeskia Joy) carrying a skinned animal up Church Street. Hot.
7:05pm
The Hydro network is about as reliable as the city's transit promises so this will also be an exercise in patience. Church street's Nightless City is slowly coming to life.
6:15pm
And we're on! This will be a bit of an exercise of Toronto Hydro's OneZone network so we'll see how that goes.
4:17pm
We're mobilizing the blogTO crew in anticipation for tonight's event. Keep an eye out for blogTO'ers sporting our colours and give us a shout!
blogTO Live photos:
Discussion
43 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
last year was better...but i still enjoyed it very much!
He even lifted the seat, but then forgot to put it back down.
Maybe I had my expectations set too high because last year it was new?
From my point of view, either the website seriously embelished the description of some of the installations, or some of the people who put them together put in far less effort than they said they would.
I had fun, but no more than I could on any Saturday night.
The fact that so many exhibits shut down early is a total piss off, and I think speaks to the greater problem - the artists had great intentions yet didn't pull through. If the event is 7pm-7am, show your work for the whole time! Don't half-ass it and leave people disappointed when they trek all the way to see your work and it's not there!
Lowlights:
2) Noite de Sao Joao (Cumberland at Yonge)
Didn't do much for me.
4) Canard Development Group (Charles St)
Ok so I saw the roof, but where was the "sales office"? Off the grid? dialogue about urban development? Flop.
5) Crowd (College and Queens Park)
I saw a lot of stationary, and felt very little transitory. Loved the intensity of the light, but it didn't fill the space well.
7) Metropolis (bomb shelters, Charles St)
Two fences separated the viewer from the art, which is a shame. The walkie talkie was a valiant but failing attempt to bring the viewer into the exhibit.
8) Event Horizon (alien spacecraft crash)
Idea was fun, execution was not. The actors could have played their roles much better. Yoda being revived by E.T. was hilarious, and got a lot lof reaction from the audience, but I heard a lot of frustration about the lineup.
12) String of Diamonds (Newmindspace)
One strand, not very tall, not moving = not all that heavenly and no ephemeral shimmer. The happy hardcore blasting nearby didn't at all jive with the installation and took a lot away from it.
Highlights:
1) Non-specific Threat (film at Bay and College)
Finding this film was the best part of my night. It was being screened in a derelict building, with absolutely no Nuit Blanche signage. I had to follow the sound, which was heavy in bass and dark in tone. The entrance was unmarked, down a rather dark alley, up a dirty and dusty ramp, and at the end of a creepy long hall. And the film was also really amazing. I felt fear and tension, standing alone at 3am in this abandoned space.
9) Ghost Station (Lower Bay)
The lighting was nice and minimal, and the sound and vibrations effective.
13) Secular Confession Booth (up in Yorkville at a church)
Loved it. Concept was awesome and execution perfect. Lighting, background music, and the setting were excellent. Privacy was ensured by the set up which was good to see.
30a) Night School (UofT Hart House)
The place was a party! Lots of fun to be had.
>NMS depicted a totally different image of what to expect for this.
You should check the Facebook listing for the event. There's an image there. It shows a string. With lights on it. In the sky.
Get your money back :P
On a related note, I was Hollander York Gallery, where artists were painting to a live jazz band. One painter stepped away from his canvas for a moment, and when he returned, found that someone had taken the liberty to PAINT ON HIS CANVAS. It was appauling.
It's funny though, even though I was out on foot for about 11 hours, I only managed to see 5 out of 17 of my picks in the guide, and missed a large chunk of Queen West because WiFi was so spotty over there.
I think the best projects were those that didn't set the bar too high for themselves, pulled off something simple really well, and gave people a chance to interact and see what they had.
My top picks were surprisingly, Lower Bay Station which was totally eerie and very well done. As an added bonus, you could hop on the subway in Upper Bay on your way out, but I'm sure this wasn't intended :) I also rank Jessica C's Secret Hearts on Church pretty high, since again, it was a simple idea, well executed, and something you could spend a lot of time checking out hands on without too much crowding.
Overall though, I think Church Street's Nightless City was one of the biggest flops. The businesses had such a golden opportunity to do something really cool, but instead, they heard the idea of 'Red Light District' and went totally literal with it, with many shops and bars just putting up some incredibly lame red lights.
Surprisingly, American Apparel actually did a decent job of engaging the audience with their two-headed seductress and storefront shows every hour or so. Other than that, it was a really squandered opportunity.
My other high was Night of Saint John on Cumberland, which project sound really well down the street and really made you feel like you were in a bustling Brazilian city.
A huge problem I ran into at far too many places was that crowding was so bad that you couldn't even get close to the exhibits. Hart House was a prime example, as were the spots on Queen West and Bloor Street. Next year, the city should consider closing down most major roads to traffic past 10 or 11pm.
Bloor had these inexplicable fences lining almost the entire south side of the road from Avenue to Church or so. Presumably they were to protect their floral planters, but it was really anti-pedestrian.
Although this time people were even more brazen, pulling lights down from the installation and leaving with them. When I would ask people what they thought they were doing, some people even said, "Uh, stealing them!" Our love affair with the public has hit a serious bump :\
But we were pleased with our centrepiece - dozens of people could be seen laying underneath it at any time, oohing and ahhing :) It was kind of like a "tripper trap"! And more than a few people took the time to tell us they thought it was beautiful, which for us made the frustration and stress quite worth it :)
Speaking of vandalism, when we were at the giant locust in Lamport stadium at about 430 am it was basically under attack from drunken dumbasses jumping on it as if it were a bouncy castle. The two security guards were basically lounging around not doing anything to stop it.
Speaking as a queer person, Church street was an embarrassment. Nuit blanche was just used as an excuse to get extended licensing hours for bars.
Paul, I couldn't agree more. Woody's "full drink service until 4" was really telling.
Too many crowds, but what can you do except try to induce rain to keep any but real art heads from coming out... but maaaan did so much of it feel so low budget, even though it was most definitely not. Walking all the way from Yorkville (block-long lineup to get into Lower Bay, gave up on that one) to Queen & Dovercourt to find the fish we came to see were just a blurry projection... bleah.
The majority of the pieces felt to me like the mediocre work of a class of art students forced to meet a project deadline, rather than anything with any real artistic concept... like, simple projected films are really not well suited for an over-stuffed night like this, and it seemed like half the exhibits were just that... I'm not gonna stand around for 20 minutes watching a film with no sound when there's so many other places I plan to be.
Many of the descriptions were definitely not just misleading but quite inaccurate. The balloonscape thing in the eaton's centre described it as a maze whose wings you could explore... NOT EVEN CLOSE! Getting thrown out of that was kind of funny, actually.
There were things that were rather nice, although a lot of the art seemed like a decade short of what I'd be whipping out the word "contemporary" to describe... but all in all I think the event totally failed to transform the city, whereas last year the night really seemed like something different than another night in Toronto.
Was it just me, or were far more roads blocked off last year? I definitely don't recall having to dodge speeding taxis all night like this year... I was left feeling like the city hadn't been so fully committed to becoming this event for the night. Felt more like the Queen West Art Crawl, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but is pretty far from the magic of last year.
It's sad, but I think this year's event was a victim of last year's success...: (
The worst part of the night for me was the TTC. The all-night service was a disaster: hardly the better way. I saw countless people walking along Queen West holding their day passes wondering where all the street cars were. Mostly they gave up and took taxis. The traffic was a nightmare most of the night. It is hard to convince people to leave their cars at home when the TTC does such a lousy job.
The galleries were mostly closed long before the end of the night. Typical entertainment district rowdyism seemed to spoil the mood in the south. In the north, Yorkville had little to offer except pretentious crowds and long lines in cramped quarters. The mood just wasn't right.
If Toronto does this again, there is a lot to be fixed next year. A more consolidated event away from all traffic with good transportation is my suggestion.
In fact I was extremely embarrassed and felt horrible that they came all this way to pretty much not see anything at all.
Bottom line is that the city and festival organizers as well as most artists did a half assed job and totally underestimated the number of visitors.
Most places exhibiting stuff were too packed too visit and those of display outside were a complete joke - STRING OF DIAMONDS - what utter crap.
The most accessible thing was the VJ at the ROM, although the projections he was showing were not visible at all.
My suggestion for next year:
- If this is supposed to be an art festival - make it an ART FESTIVAL. Why not have djs/musicians performing all over the place (after all they are artists too). The orchestra/opera people should have been involved too.
- The outside exhibits must live up to the hype. There should be a WOW factor on every block.
I've been to festivals in Europe and it seems like they know how to put these things on. What Toronto delivered last night was a complete joke.
Too many crowds, but what can you do except try to induce rain to keep any but real art heads from coming out... but maaaan did so much of it feel so low budget, even though it was most definitely not."
HEY COUPLE OF POINTS - I TOTALLY AGREE THAT THE ENTIRE THING SEEMED LOW BUDGET. HOWEVER, YOU'RE FIRST COMMENT ABOUT THE FACT THAT THIS SHOULD HAVE ONLY BEEN FOR THE REAL ART HEADS - ARE YOU SERIOUS??? THE ENTIRE POINT OF ORGANIZING THIS FESTIVAL WAS TO BRING ART TO AN ENTIRE PUBLIC NOT "THE" SELECTED "ART HEADS" WHICH YOU SPEAK OF. THIS SEEMED OBVIOUS TO ME. I THINK THAT THE ORGANIZERS JUST TOTALLY UNDERESTIMATED TORONTO'S HUNGER TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE SOMETHING EXCITING.
I have to say too, if you think you can do better than the artists last night, then by all means, go for it. I don't mean that in a "let's see if you can do better" kind of way, but I just want to point out that the Nuit Blanche organizers have an open call for submissions every year (which we're sure to publicize on blogTO when it happens), so please don't be shy if you think you have an original idea that you think would be cool for this event.
The more the better. Hans, one thing you said really stood out to me; Toronto's "hunger" for art. I see this at every art event I'm at, and something I would love to see in future Nuit Blanche events is a multicultural approach. Toronto's biggest asset is its diversity, and that's something that we should really be harnessing and embracing.
It's not just happening here. Almost everyone I've talked to is bummed about last night. Give it time and people will settle down and hopefully when they've forgotten the overcrowding, the transit woes, the many lackluster exhibits, etc, they'll remember the good.
Folks in Toronto are among the most talented in the world, not only that but our diversity is really something unique - the problem however is that the city has a chronic problem of thinking on a small scale. This primarily stems from our horrible city council that has a "no-can-do" approach to everything.
For instance can you imagine something as large as the Berlin Love Parade in T.O? Never.
If Toronto wanted to do it right they could blow the lid off the roof in this city so that the entire world would know that this is a place where the arts are kicking. Instead we do a half-assed job.
It's not the organizers fault entirely - I'm sure that city hall ties their hands up somehow and puts up its usual road blocks - for instance, how horrible was the transportation last night?
City Hall is a joke and until they fix the problem we're doomed.
string of lights: a representation of an idea held together by a single thread and full of hot air.
Fantastic job with the live blogging! Hopefully your thumb has recovered.
It's amazing how so many people thought NB sucked ass. I don't get it. It's 12 hour festival that gives you an excuse to stay out all night with friends, (sans guilt) and look at/experience 'art'. It's corporate, because it needs to be sponsored, it's diverse in content and quality, as are all festivals and not everyone will like everything. Not to mention it's going to be crowded, it's the nature of the beast.Although I have to say there are a few pedestrians who attacked a cyclist friend of mine that could have stayed home.
Why there is a personal attack on newmindspace in the comments is tacky and beyond comprehension.
To those who thought it sucked: If you think you can do better, submit a proposal or put on a rogue event next year.
Thanks, Jesika Joy
Greatly amused that the people griping seem to have stuck around the yorkville area; no comment yet about White Line Light, the fantastic installation in the former police maintenance building on Strachan.
Forget your expectations of surround-sound cinematic experiences. Most of the art at this years' NB was about creating, shaping, and distorting environments and the way we experience space. I'd say that most of the artists who put themselves on the line in showing their work did a tremendous job and achieved exactly what they sought to.
Ultimately, though, it isn't up to the artist to make their art fit our expectations. It is up to the audience to try to understand the expectations the artist sets and to put their own aside.
Ultimately it's the effect the art has on the viewer that counts, not the effort the artist went through. It has nothing to do with expectations.
If the art doesn't have poigancy or its message is lost on the majority of viewers then can you blame people for panning it?
Some of the exhibits were really well executed. Many were not, and are deserving of criticism.
And of course the event, when viewed as a whole, was a disappointment. Kudos to the commenters on this post for being honest, unlike, say, the daily newspapers. (And it will be those articles, not postings like this one, that go into the media kit and the proposal to the Bank of Nova Scotia next year. According to the official history, White Night ?07 will have been a smash hit.)
Some of the "art" I saw simply isn't art. I know people will start giving me the "I don't know how to appreciate art" argument but to me, an art has to have meaning, it should convey a message and I didn't see any of that.
Take "Into the Blue" in the Eaton's Center for example. On any other day, no one would care and it would've been just another mall decoration that people would walk by.
Domaine de l'angle beside Massey Hall was an absolute joke! People were taking pictures of the garbage there for pete's sake. And the art was suppose to be the ceiling!
Stock Extravaganza - I can hardly see anything in that recycling bin.
Sitting Ducks @ Ryerson - Looks more like a university prank. I have no idea what they're trying to say.
Overall, my impression of Nuit Blanche was that it was a complete waste of my time. I suppose I should have visited the other zones but Zone A was an absolute disappointment.
Free blankets yo.