Arts, City
Nuit Blanche: Fog and Balls at Great Heights
What a night! Fog and balls were recurring themes during my all-night Nuit Blanche journey. Of all of the fun and art (and rain) soaked up throughout the night, Fog in Toronto and Ballroom Dancing stood out. I got muddy and lost in the fog installation and let out my inner child with a bunch of friends and strangers by playing with hundreds of colourful balls in a gymnasium at 3:30am. Onward to see and do more!
After a stop for late night (or early morning), delicious Pakistani grub at King Palace, I headed for my final Nuit Blanche destination - the CN Tower.
From 6am-7am (yes, I managed to keep my eyes open and my feet moving all night), I was up in the CN Tower Skypod looking down on and feeling great about Toronto. Fog of the natural variety blanketed the city as twilight began to bring in the morning and mark the end of Nuit Blanche. As I began making my way down from the Skypod I noticed that one of the balls from the Ballroom somehow made the migration up the tower too. One of the security guards was standing there smiling - big, shiny, red ball in hand - and I felt like my Nuit Blanche had come full circle, and to an end. Toronto, I love you!
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Himy went up with us and had about 10 of those balls, I'm wondering what happened to the others!
another interesting thing turned out to be quizzing the maintenance guys who were working on night shift up there. (behind the 'admittance restricted' door on one side of the stairwell was their office). they take care of the fibreglass cladding and antenna work, and have to actually crawl up out the top and rope down! did anyone else talk to them?
The reality is what we engage in DOES become engaging even if someone 'official' doesn't call it art (doesn't call it important). There are many that would question the integrity and validity of a mythical world created around the imaginary sport of wrestle-bowling (Bowl-brawl), but for 25 or so people on Saturday night this fantasy became reality through a guided walking tour of the life of Toronto-based Bowl-brawlers.
By all accounts Nuit Blanche was a success. Not only did it get people of Toronto out of their beds at 2am, 3am and 4am for art, it allowed us to commune and engage...to become a part of the experience. By wandering the streets of downtown Toronto, by opening the doors of homes, and restaurants and clubs and galleries, people disengaged from the safety of their confines (their private walls) and became a part of something public and whole.
The fact that art has always provided a medium and an avenue to illicit memories and emotion, to test boundaries, to provide solidarity and to entertain is not lost on many of us. But what is lost is the sense of community -- the idea that anybody, regardless of taste, education and status, can enjoy art. Nuit Blanche reminded us of that. It tore down the boundaries between art and audience and allowed all to engage in the process. It provided the impetus for viewer to become a part of the art -- enabling those superficial boundaries of creator and audience to morph into creator and participant.
The art community in Toronto sorely needed Nuit Blanche, as did the culture of Toronto. This event not only provided artists an avenue to express, but it provided the city a chance to explore.
Nate, the whole CN Tower thing was aimed at photographers, it's in association with the Contact photography festival :)