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.

Last night I attended The Power Plant's fundraiser -Powerball 9, marking twenty years for the contemporary art gallery. The theme - revolution - was a bit hard to take from an event charging $160 a ticket (I didn't pay), filled with rich people. However, I understand The Power Plant needs to make some money. Besides, their "Revolution" wasn't referring to any mass redistribution of wealth or peasant uprising. It was more a style revolution, a revolution of hairdos, cell phones and 60/70's baby boomer rock.

Most of us rarely scream in public, let alone cluck like a chicken. Local personality Misha Glouberman seeks to remedy this problem with his 8 week class entitled Terrible Noises For Beautiful People: Cobra Edition. Attending provides a safe environment in which to act out. Part of Glouberman's stated interest in improv is providing a space where people can be loud together. However, this is no grade nine drama class. You won't be asked to act out the colour orange. . . well. . . maybe you will. But Cobra, from which the class takes part of it's name, is highly complex.

The other day my bike was stolen right out of my house! It was a good one too - a one speed cruiser with super-wide handle bars, and man am I pissed. A series of sculptural installations that could have prevented this tragedy are now being installed around Parkdale. Councilor, Gord Perks was on hand Monday to unveil the newest one in front of the Parkdale Library. The Library's new sculpture, which looks like a bicycle inside of a large pair of reading glasses, is also intended as a bike rack.

The installations add artistic flare to function and depict a wide variety of subject matter. One bike rack looks like a gargoyle, another looks like a Butterfly, there's a tree, a light bulb and many more. All the racks are designed by members of Parkdale Activity Recreation Center (PARC), a community centre offering support to psychiatric survivors and people who are socially isolated.

Am I the best painter in Toronto? There was little at the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art (CCCA)'s silent auction Thursday to suggest otherwise. Mediocre painting is commonplace in this city, but I'm saddened every time I see it. Of the entire show, taking place on the second floor of the Gladstone Hotel, the two best pieces were photographs.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer describes his works as "antimonuments for alien agency" and while I'm not sure what that means, his installation "Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12" for LuminaTO, is more about integration with the city than alienation.

The Mexican-Canadian artist's light installations, of which "Pulse Front" will be the latest and largest, include a strong element of audience participation. People attending the harbourfront installation will have a hand in creating the massive display for the rest of the city. "Pulse Front" will have 20 onsite handlebar computer gizmos that people can grab onto and have their pulses reflected in one of 20 corresponding searchlights streaming above Harbourfront centre. The lights will pulse, shooting out rays at varying intensities that correspond to the pulse of whoever is holding the handlebars.