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Toronto was buzzing last night!

It was the night of the annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (“sleepless night”) festival – a city-wide, night-time arts & cultural exhibition developed by the French over a decade ago which has since spread across the world. Ontatio’s largest city was the first North American location to take on the Nuit Blanche concept in 2006; 8 years later, 2013’s event saw 110 official art locations scattered around the CBD with easily a couple of hundred thousand sightseers taking to the streets between sunset & sunrise to revel in the festivities.

I had no idea the festival was even happening until the last minute – a friend pointed it out to me the day before so I decided I might as well check it out. Not knowing what to expect, I left my hotel in time to make the 6:51pm starting time, and as it turned out, the vibe was so electric that I didn’t get home until the very wee hours of the morning.

As with most cultural festivals of this stature, the artworks and performances varied greatly in dynamic, coherence & relevance, with a lot of room for interaction & participation from the public. From the traditional to the downright absurd, some of the exhibitions included:

– An impromptu streetside performance of Romeo & Juliet
– A panoramic screening of a future Martian landscape
– Artificially intelligent fishing rods playing tug-of-war with a canoe in the middle of a pond
– A raised platform where the crowd were encouraged to strap on a blindfold, walk around and see in the dark
– A wolf, hawk, frog, penguin and dodo (I think that’s what they were anyway) all having a tea party in a magical medieval garden

Here were some of my favourites!

 

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The magical medieval garden from A Quack Cure, which helped raise awareness in animal extinction due to human neglect

 

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There is an elephant in the truck: an elephant made out of cardboard mâché, its intention to point out the ignorance we lend to political and social issues going on around us

 

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Parallax: thousands of cardboard tubes stacked together with a light source behind them

 

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Part of the patchwork dress worn by the very pompous Queen of the Parade

 

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A few eerie, shadowy frames from the Tanks installation, where patterns from lace fabric were cut into steel to create the perfect juxtaposition between materials

 

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A tree embraced in LED rope in Pink Punch v.2

 

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A performance artwork called Night Shift. Paper was shredded to produce gold confetti; dancers then contorted their bodies relocating the confetti from one end of the stage to the pile at the other end.

 

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The Familia as seen through the contorted floor mirrors in the Church of the Holy Trinity. The pipe organist belting out contemporary rock tunes added tremendously to the atmosphere.

 

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5,000 pairs of socks in Clothesline Canopy, reflecting the number of people in Toronto without adequate housing

 

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The pièce de résistance, Forever Bicycles, by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. 3,144 bicycles were used in the construction of this exhibit.

 

The final piece I saw on the night made the cut as one of the most magnificent artworks I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing. By this stage it was well past midnight and I was on the walk home to my hotel in the city’s north-west, when I chanced upon the Trinity College Chapel, discovering an off-program exhibit called The Composition Engine.

Positioned within the gorgeous chapel were a number of musicians, vocalists and script-readers, who each had a light assigned to them. Members of the visiting public were able to walk the halls of the chapel and turn the lights on or off: if the light was switched on, the performer would play; if the light was switched off, the performer would stop. It was an incredible concept – words can’t describe how peaceful it was to be part of this ever-changing soundscape and lightscape. I was there nearly an hour before completing the journey home in newfound harmony.

 

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The Composition Engine

 

Toronto – all I can say is that you’re doing a fantastic job at welcoming this newcomer to your beautiful city. I can’t wait to see what else you have in store… and bring on Nuit Blanche 2014 🙂

If you went to Toronto’s Nuit Blanche 2013, I’d love to hear in the comments below what your favourite installation was!