Truemors
Nuit Blanche is that magical night when Toronto becomes a playground for art installation from dusk 'til dawn. From the financial district to the outskirts of Queen West, galleries throw open their doors, installations spring up in the unlikeliest of places, and crowds of locals and tourists alike flood the streets for a taste of culture. The term literally translates to "white night", but the actual meaning is closer to "all-nighter", and that's just what it is.
Last year, I stuck to the Queen West section, but this year started out in the Financial District.
My favorite of the Zone A installations was Stereoscope, the Project Blinkenlight hack of the CIty Hall building. Seeing such a massive wall of office windows display a game of Pong was just awesome: the lengths we will go in order to entertain ourselves- that's what humanity is all about! Another highlight of Zone A was Zombies in Condoland, which everyone was talking about, and which I didn't get a chance to see.
Zone B covered the southern end of the downtown core, and I ventured down there just as the Leafs game was wrapping up, so the crowd was twice as thick around Union Station. The station itself was host to Horroridor, a repurposing of an underpass to display looping clips from, you guessed it, horror movies.
Naturally, I gravitated back toward Zone C, as I'm more warehouse than skyscraper by nature. This year, the zone was clustered around the side-streets off of King West, and featured some really nifty stuff. My favorite was Smash! Droppin' stuff, which was organized and performed by the Custodians of Destruction. As Bruce, the game-show-style host explained, they were dropping stuff from a hydraulic lift because:
1. It's fun
2. They can get away with it
3. It's art
4. To draw attention to just how much stuff we as a culture throw away.
Each hour they'd hoist the crane and then plunk stuff to the pavement below, after which the Custodians of Destruction would move in and bash the remnants with sledgehammers. It was even more cool than it sounds.
Also noteworthy was I Promise It Will Always Be This Way, Jon Sasaki's constant sports-mascot dance routine, performed in Lamport Stadium. I liked it because it reminded me of DJ Format's We Know Something video.
I'm attaching a bunch of photos, and you'll notice how heavily the Smash! Droppin' Stuff event is represented. That's because it was awesome.
I'm attaching some of my own images, and encourage any other participants to do likewise.
Nuit Blanche: when art smashes stuff up. Check it out next year.
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