Did you go to Nuit Blanche 2012 in Toronto in October? Laura and I did, and we took some photos that I’m just now able to get to after the trade show season. I spoke with lots of people on the street at Nuit Blanche this year, and everyone seemed to have a great time — the only thing that was a bit hard to manage was the influx of people that were present downtown for this event. There were some awesome exhibits and light installations — but anything interactive was pretty much mobbed with people and hard to really get a sense of the artists’ messages. Regardless, it was a lot of fun! Check out some photos below, and experience my entire trip with the photo gallery at the bottom!
There were some fun words at the top of this post that describe how f*cked up some of the Nuit Blanche-goers got, it’s worth a quick peek. It’s totally true — lack of organization, and a real lack of general community. Read the post.
As we walked by the Hudson’s Bay Company in Toronto we noticed this freaky storefront window scene that we had to stop and check out — and it was Lady Gaga’s perfume on display. That’s some pretty crazy perfume marketing, huh! I definitely liked the design enough to take photos…
Apparently this perfume makes you smell like a psycho mad scientist:
Oh, officially of course Lady Gaga had nothing to do with Nuit Blanche, but her display was part of MY Nuit Blanche, so that’s why it’s here!
Something that we saw but didn’t really get a chance to experience was Beam of Underground Sun by Arezoo Talebzadeh and Kaveh Ashourinia — ostensibly, they had taken some very bright LED sources and put them down under the street at several meters down. Arezoo and Kaveh also added some powerful fans and some silk cloth under the street to give the effect of waves of light being cast up through the grate they chose in the street. Check this one out, it is beautiful, especially with the photos of no people around it:
This, however, is what the real Nuit Blanche Beam of Underground Sun experience was, which was different than intended I assume but had its own jua de vive, if you will:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSA0mWoCU_Q]
It was still beautiful, just mobbed with people standing directly in the way of the beam and the overall everything of the piece.
You can kind of see down into the shaft with the fan, the fabric, and the LED units:
It was pretty cool to be standing in an intersection of Bloor Street with no one trying to honk at me or run me down!
Probably one of the coolest things I saw this year at Nuit Blanche was the installation called Planes by Tricia Brown Dance Company — and it was awesome!
…and behind the walls you can see a little behind-the-scenes action! I almost didn’t want to see this — the movement of the dancers and the projections themselves were so riveting that seeing the how-to took away from it for me. Ah, the life of making mystery for the audience!
Check out the Gallery View below of the Nuit Blanche event in Toronto — and check out the official Scotiabank page on Nuit Blanche so you can see the intended (and actual) views of the art from this year’s show!
