The top 5 renegade exhibits at Nuit Blanche 2014

Nuit Blanche, while magical and illuminating in theory, can be overwhelming. Depending on what time you hit it up (tip: after 3am is the best), it can be overcrowded, loud and super corporate. Still, with Les Rues des Refuses, a website dedicated to bringing you the unofficial events planned for Nuit Blanche, you can be sure to have a unique experience, away from the throngs of people looking for the official events.

One of the benefits of not being on the official exhibit list, is that these artists are free to be more subversive than those gathered together for the main event. There's over 50 of these unofficial installations and performances spread across the city, so make sure to check the Les Rues des Refuses map to ensure that you also get your dose of counter-art on Saturday night.

Free City @ The White House Studio Project, 277 ½ Augusta Ave
Acting as the official headquarters for LRDR for the night, stop by and see a multi-disciplinary exhibition whose purpose is meant to exactly oppose the corporate displays of Nuit Blanche. Dancing is expected.

Renegade Parade
Who doesn't like being part of a huge, sweaty, parading group of people? A yearly event, this year's promises to be larger and more glittery than ever before, so pretty much, we're down. Theme: SUPER SHINY DISCO CAT ATTACK, so presumably everyone will be wearing cat ears and dancing to beats. Check their Facebook page for their secret starting location.

Views From The Edge
An exhibition of the photographs taken of guests at community breakfast at St-Stephens-In-Field Paris Hall, with live interviews of those pictured. This is a great antidote to the big money installations positioned as art-entertainment for Nuit Blanche.Takes place at St. Stephens In Field Parish Hall, 103 Bellvue Ave.

Nuit Vert
For all those 420 friendly adults, MIB Toronto presents a little plot of stoner heaven, with a bouncy castle, prizes, and a fun photographic scavenger hunt around Christie Pits. Need we say more? Launch, 166 Spadina Ave.

TRIANGLE: Ascension into another golden age
Focusing specifically on Roncesvalles & Dundas, three spaces--The Black Cat, Belljar Cafe, and House of Dada--meet to encourage neighbourhood camaraderie, and create a triangle pathway. Expect a barrage of sound and performance.

BONUS

Free Your Mind: Street Hypnosis Demonstrations, Amanda-Mazing at Chinatown/Queen West
The description for this offers only that the artist in question will be "roaming" Chinatown and Queen West, looking to take you on a fascinating journey through your mind. Sounds cool to me. Nuit Blanche could use a bit more weirdness, and this fits the bill.

Photo from last year's Renegade Parade