nuit blanche 2022

Toronto comes alive with a night of art for the first Nuit Blanche in three years

Nuit Blanche returned to Toronto for the first in-person event since 2019, and thousands crawled the streets all night to soak in over 170 installations created by more than 150 artists.

The 15th edition of the all-night art crawl was the largest to date, expanding into Etobicoke and North York, in addition to downtown and Scarborough.

Much of the action was concentrated in the core of the city, where you could find several installations in the area of City Hall and the Eaton Centre.

Yonge-Dundas Square was transformed into a massive skate park for Inuit artist Mark Igloliorte's Saputiit - Fish Weir Skating Plaza.

There was plenty going on at Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall. Among the most discussed installations, artist Cheryl L'Hirondelle’s iskocēs: okihcitāw-iskwēw-kamik ohci project used spotlights to create a giant 100-foot-tall light tipi over the square.

A bizarre karaoke show at Yonge and Queen — called An Occupation by Amrita Hepi — saw random performers belt out their best renditions of hits. Check out this objectively terrible version of Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer."

Crowds lined Yonge Street all the way down to King, with the major thoroughfare closed to vehicle traffic to support on-street installations like The Dinner Table by Nike Onile at 100 Yonge St.

Avataq by Couzyn van Heuvelen brought a reimagining of a traditional sealskin float (in this case, a giant mylar balloon) to Yonge Street and Dineen.

There was also plenty to see along the waterfront and surrounding neighbourhoods. A creepy tableau of a god-like bird/human hybrid just chilling at a bus stop among the normies — titled A God Amongst Us by Eugene Paunil — turned heads at 235 Queens Quay W.

Nuit Blanche extended far beyond downtown for 2022, including installations in Etobicoke like Tug by artist John Notten. This display in Colonel Samuel Smith Park featured a group of four "boats" tethered to a tree, attempting to row away from their natural anchor.

There was much to see in Scarborough, including a colourful installation from artist Morris Wazney that transformed Scarborough Civic Centre into a massive ball pit.

It was the same story up in North York, where Mel Lastman Square was transformed with a giant glowing iceberg for Carola Grahn's Namahisvarri.

Lead photo by

Fareen Karim


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