Nuit Blanche: Zone B

To start the night off, I was expected to make a cameo appearance at a good friend’s birthday party. The venue was Devil’s Martini, on Portland Road and Adelaide, a familiar place, as I attempted to enter the same place last year, but gave up because of an extremely long line. I was adamant this time however, to make it in and be united with my friends.

When I finally enter Devil’s Martini, the time was already 12am, people were starting to stroll out but the party was still lively. After having a few toasts and drinks, my group of friends decided to leave the venue and walk to solve our problem of being famished. Our hunt for a decent Chinese restaurant resulted in taking us to Spadina, just north of Dundas. After our experience of mediocre Chinese food, we decided to split up, and head our separate ways towards home. I however had to stay in Toronto and continue my journey towards Zone B of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. The time was now 4:00 am and I was starting to feel the uneasiness of having endured such a long day.

I couldn’t quit though, I wanted to see what the fuss was all about and said to myself that I may as well pull an all-nighter, and it was the perfect opportunity. Once I had arrived at the OCAD building I was surrounded by art lovers, reveling in the event’s wonder. There were red branded Scotiabank tents serving as information booths, a projector screen showing a movie for people to view and relax. At this point I began to feel the peace and splendor that nocturnal art crawl experience has.



My first exhibit was located on 52 McCaul St., entitled “Crop” by artist Andrew Waite, curated by Jennifer McGregor at Prime Gallery. It was an interesting piece, as I noticed a small crowd of people huddling around the facade with large windows. The artwork was obvious to its title, and denotatively presented with a twist – life-sized corn crops completely made out of aluminum foil. As I was trying to get my mind around the idea, I was overwhelmed by the height and size of the crop. Reading the placard description of Waite’s work, it is apparent to me what the artist is trying to convey – the political context in which this installation represents is a large part of manufacture and renewable resources. It is the largest crop in all of the Americas and the greatest total worldwide grain crop produced, topping even rice and wheat according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Also, corn derivatives can be found in many consumer items such as gasoline and fabrics. Save for political representations, this piece in my mind has a very cool, calm and interesting aesthetic. The way it was contrasted by the warm lamps and wood paneling of the studio made for a very manufactured and controlled scene.



As I continued my journey north on McCaul St. I was intrigued to find Vessna Perunovich’s Midnight Mirage. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photograph at this point, so I’ll describe as best as I can. There was a row of tables, with seats surrounding the tables, and behind this was a large screen with clouds projected onto it. The sky was blue in colour, and the clouds slowly re-animating. There was an audio of natural sounding waves, and birds chirping surrounding the alleyway gave a sense of solitude, a surprising duality to actually being in the city.

Once stepping inside, the artist and curator welcomed all to sit around the table for a supper. It has reference to Da Vinci’s Last Supper, which I found interesting, that the audience was made part of the narrative, to become a character. There were only twelve seats so people had to wait to sit down and experience the installation. I found this exhibition exceptionally interesting as it made complete strangers warming up to each other, sitting at a dinner table with the artist serving a hearty bread and bean Serbian dish. The food was circulating around the twelve-member audience and began to stimulate conversation; it gave me a sense of belonging to a culture, to a family of friends. And in some ways cultures recognize that to truly know your friend, or guest is to have a humble dinner meal with them, I completely agree with them as it is the very same in the Chinese culture. I soon realized that Perunovich was aiming for an all-night ritual of food consumption and conversation.

Content with my fill of Last Supper, I strolled further north towards the corner of McCaul and Dundas, at the Pages Window gallery, where I was met with a crowd intrigued by Daisuke Takeya’s installation “Everybody Loves You 2”.



It was a mix of installation, sculpture and video. The enormous heart shaped structure had what looked like a slide from a playground coming out of the middle, with a robotic eye gazing at the audience on the left side.



Behind the large structure was a booth for audiences to enter a small room, pronouncing “I Love You” in their own way, being recorded by a video camera and projecting them onto a screen for all to see.



Takeya’s installation created a unique interactive video installation that gave a sense of Japanese pop culture, something playful and eye-catching. Takeya’s reasoning behind this piece was from the many years he studied in New York where people would mispronounce his name, saying “Daisuki”, which literally meant I love you in Japanese. He decided to focus this installation, a sequel to his first “Everybody Loves You” which then had digital panels and oil paintings of individuals. With this one, he makes it interactive, and focuses on “love”, questioning the power of “love” in today’s society and taking a fresh look at the individual, instead of depicting an imagined scene or inside of a model by the artist. Now I know how to say “I love you” in Japanese ☺



My next venue was at the AGO across the street. Inside there was a room entitled "Wallworks". Once inside you are greeted by large murals painted on the wall, transforming the wall into a large canvas.



A part of the AGO's Wallworks series, Toronto-based artist Karen Henderson's Ramp-Wall carries on the task of creating art that reflects the gallery's changing architecture.

Ramp-Wall features a 100-foot long series of photographs taken of the carpeted ramp-way leading into the gallery. Each shot was taken from a set height above the floor of the ramp and as the ramp begins its incline each photo becomes a bit more obscured. The shots are all placed in sequence along the wall's of the ramped hallway creating a sense of movement as visitors walk to and from the gallery.



Also interesting was a table located at one of the walls for people to create their own work and post it on the wall. It gave a performative and inclusive act to the wallworks.







At the end of the hallway, after Wallworks, leads to a room entitled "The End of Party Party". This was especially fun because there were soft couches, mats and soothing hip hop music to relax to.



Everyone felt good, had a happy vibe and random conversation began to sprout. I was enjoying the atmosphere here. People began to dance, lie down in groups to recharge on sleep, or just observe the sights and sounds. This exhibition was thrown in celebration of the 8 month process that the AGO is undertaking in the re-construction of the gallery. A trio of artists were dressed up in feathery costumes handing out autographed pop-tarts, which gave a humourous and generous feeling. The entire room was filled with pop-culture vibe.







My final exhibition ended at the Distillery District, on 55 Mill Street, performative dance by Dance Ontario, entitled Ghostly Apparitions.



Through the choreography of Viv Moore, the Distillery District becomes enchanted by 30 dance artists illuminating the night with unexpected performances, guiding guests to unimagined places. The public dance encounter included live dance performances and video projections.



It was exciting to see, because my friend Jennifer Ellis was performing in this group exhibition, so I was anticipating to see the fruits of her labour upon graduating the dance program at York University. As they began the performance, I felt an eery chill come down my spine, as each member was dressed in all white, victorian style costumes, pushing baby strollers around made out of mouse traps. They sauntered around the cobble stone streets of historic Distillery District, avoiding eye contact with any viewer. The idea here is to personify the urban legend of ghosts laying dormant in the area – of a murder or suicide that took place almost a century earlier.



It was now 6:30am and Jennifer and three other dancers had one last exhibition to present, a break-dance style choreography with music accompanied by Kraftwerk. It was truly an experience, now being awake for this long, it gave a twilight sense of bliss and peacefullness (or that may be my body wanting to go to sleep). Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed my experience at this year's Nuit Blanche and I sincerely look forward to attending next year.








– Stephen

Nuit Blanche: Zone A

The first exhibit I stopped off at was the Surreal Journey. An exhibit that focused around the Art of Fashion. Most of the pieces were displayed on mannequins and had colourful textiles. Some were a little creepy looking, but partly reflected cultural references. One in particular made me think about it's cultural reference. To me it looked like a cross between the Ku Klux Klan and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When I think more about it, it seems like an oxymoron. You have the KKK garb, which is usually bedsheet white, but it's multi-coloured to represent multi-culturalism. It's definitely an anti-racism piece once I thought about it.

This piece reminded me of some crazy Teletubby. Perhaps a view on the disillusionment of children's television shows. Teletubbies had tv's in their stomachs too. They're digesting too much media.


I have a fear of clowns. This reminded me of a Harlequin in Italian plays. However, I believe the Harlequins were actually more colourful than this one.

I can really appreciate the art in this type of fashion. It's got a futuristic look to it and colours that people don't normally see together. It's like a scene from Mars Attacks.

I don't know where the inspiration came from for this piece. It kind of looks like they took elements from ancient Rome including the harsh living environment.

I found this piece to be rather dull. It's monochromatic for one thing. But I can't understand why they were joined by the hair or by their togas.


The Bata Shoe Museum's exhibit called Footnotes gave me a look into the different walks of life people have. People were encouraged to trace their foot onto a large sheet of acetate that would eventually be hung up or around the museum.


I had the privilege to preserve my footprint and shoe size on one of these large sheets of plastic.


The Canard Development Group (CDG) had an exhibit where it seems like the roof was suspended by balloons. The building itself was incredibly simplistic and I think the exhibit made me think about how simplistic art can sometimes be. If it weren't at night, the "roof" would give shade, and the balloons didn't just float off which amazed me.


Now, from what I was told, String of Diamonds was much more impressive earlier in the night. Some of the lights got damaged, but from what I saw, it was rather enjoyable. To see lights suspended in mid-air, it was kind of mystical. The best part happened when you just stood underneath it or did what some other people did; lie on the grass underneath it.


Another exhibit that I visited was Awakening of the Electronic Forest. It featured live musical performances and poetry. I didn't take pictures of the performances, I figured it would have been a little intrusive. I did manage to get a recording of one of the poems that were being recited through the speakers. From what I got, it was a poem about the music of the forest and how it comes alive through nature and calls out to the author.

"...and from within their ancient note. And now we are so far apart, I am drawn back by your rhythm. Beating, pulsing, singing, sobbing you are calling me, once more beckoning me to the depths of your wood, lay down your body your fears your path, find your ancestor, your mother, your brother, it is here you belong in the arms of the forest..."

The Emergency Room Recruitment Centre was locate in the University of Toronto Art Centre and I was immediately greeted by somebody and invited to write something, anything, on this piece of cloth. The cloth would then be tied to my head, displaying whatever we wrote to people who walked by. Well, naturally, my statement included some person message about myself "I'm cool" and the state I was in at the time "& tired". I decided to used a blue marker for the "cool" part and a red marker for the "tired" part.







The last exhibit I attended was Crowd. It was one of the most surreal and eerie exhibits. It looked like the site of a UFO crash landing. It was surrounded by emergency vehicles and emergency personnel. The watchers had to stay a safe distance away while the people involved spoke to each other and examined the wreckage. The weird thing was that they were speaking, but I couldn't hear anything being said. I think there was a fear that you didn't know what was going, and that uncertainty was pretty overwhelming. I think this exhibit gave off the desired effect.








All in all, I thought this was a great experience with many exhibits stimulating my senses. Some were profound, thought-provoking, eerie, and downright bizarre, but I thoroughly enjoy Nuit Blanche.


Stay frosty,





Tim Ling