NUIT BLANCHE 2008

SDTC writers and readers sum up their Nuit Blanche experience...

Fuck you, glow worm thief
Lizzie McNeely

Best exhibition: SMASH!  Droppin' Stuff in Liberty Village.  Snowglobes were flying, sledgehammers were attacking, crowds were jeering and junk was smashing.  In a disturbing way, it felt like what I imagine the atmosphere would be like at a public hanging.  But, more fun and ethical.

 
Most frustrating exhibition: Zombies in Condoland at College Park.  After being repeatedly yelled at by a megaphone equipped team of crowd controllers, I stormed off wondering how anyone could make zombies so lame.
 
Best moment: Watching two tiny kids boogie to the Stereoscope installation at City Hall.  Their mom had given them sparklers, which they twirled about wildly as they grooved. 
 
Special Thank Yous: To Cafe Bernate for staying open late and replenishing my blood sugar levels with a chocolate chip cookie.  To whoever confessed, "I fart quietly while walking with my girlfriend"; his was, by far, the best secret attached to a balloon at the Distillery District's Secrets exhibition.  To whoever put the surly snowman up on the railway bridge at Queen and Dufferin: he was a delightful surprise.  To the girls who left a bucket of free zines decorated with paper dolls on a Queen West telephone pole.  To Temple Kitchen for giving out delicious corn soup.  To the group of coconut sipping students stoking the raging fire at Hart House.
 
Special Fuck You: To whoever stole all the glow worms from Trinity Bellwoods.  What exactly do you intend to do with 1000 of them? 

The Japanese do Nuit Blanche the best!
Mimi Mok

An all-night free art show around the city means a lot more than most of us would ever have enough time (and maybe patience) to see.  The general strategy for the big night was to target the big things: projections, interactive art projects, and massive installations which will be there for that one and only night.  Personally, the retro games played on the walls of City Hall was my favourite exhibit for the night.

However, after a while of walking around the city in the cold, one does want a little bit of the indoors, if only to rest our feet and stay out of the cold.  And it is around 3 am that I found an absolute gem at the Japanese Foundation on Bloor Street.  They were hosting three exhibitions that night: Japanese wood block prints, traditional Kabuki theatre costumes, and a 20-minute video called Tokyo Scanner.   The movie in particular would excite movie fans and anime fans.  In a nutshell, the video is an aerial tour of the city, zooming in on the people, with a combination of camera angles that change very quickly.  All this played out extremely smoothly to a symphonic soundtrack.  Anime fans would be further excited to know that Tokyo Scanner was directed by Mamoru Oshii, whose works include Ghost in a Shell and Patlabour.  The Kabuki theatre costumes and woodblock prints were spectacular in their own right, although for me personally, the film made the strongest impression.  None of these exhibits were specifically created for Nuit Blanche, but for a night of art around the city, discovering what is already around the block is also a big reward.

Losers yell VAGINA
Sass Zucket

So the consensus gathered at Sunday brunch (and every single subsequent conversation that day) was that Nuit Blanche was meh, lacklustre.

Well homies, next year, may I suggest that you do your She Does The City homework and go to our suggested hotspots like you have no artistic inclinations of your own - God knows I don't, but Haley and Jen do! - for a banging night of art. 'Cuz I had lots of funsies, and so should you!

Alright here goes. Sass' minute by minute account of her adventures at that all-night contemporary art thing.

8:40 Start Nuit Blanche-ing after a day's worth of shopping and catching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Scotiabank theatre has no Nuit Blanche programs, neither does the Scotiabank at McCaul. Come on people! How's about you take your expensive sponsorship endeavours and unify your support across your branded enterprises? Or, Sass, how's about you shove your lazy ass to an official NB information hub?
8:41 Ask an elderly fellow in my nice, helpless, little girl voice where he got his map. He caves in to my nice, helpless, little girl voice and just gives me his. Score.
8:41:45 Verbalise the plan to construct a plan.
8:44 Ok. TTC daypass obtained at Osgoode.
8:50 I'm huuuuuuuungry.
9:30 Pitcher of Sangria and two pseudo-Asiatic dishes served at Java House.
9:45 Kate spills rice down her cleave. Bahaha.
9:47 Tide to go to the rescue!
9:48 Yea, ok, this has nothing to do with Nuit Blanche. Sorry.
9:55 Smuggle more booze into empty Orangina bottle.
10:33 Off to Zone C! The plan is to start furthest away from home and work our way back to our 'hood by the end of the night. I am so smart.
10:43 Really drunk chick on the streetcar is grinding up and down her friend's leg. Bizarre.
10:44 Snowman atop underpass at Queen and Dufferin. Cardboard sign in neon letters say "Fuck the Past". Thoughts immediately apply to ex-boyfriends. Ugh.
10:48 Salon des Refusés partie deux @Koma Designs. Bondage performance artist in bridal lingerie and veil suspended in the window. Crowd's reaction is less shocked than concerned. Overhear several variations of "Oooh that can't be comfortable."
10:52 Phone rings. OMG. It's Puffin, the asshole I was infatuated with six years ago during first year, and second, third... Now he's just a sporadic friend and I haven't seen him for an entire year, not since we had Thanksgiving dinner together. Holy random. OMG!!!
11:00 Art of Fashion – Between The Lines @ Wrongbar. Skip the show to put make up on in the washroom cuz I can't afford to look like shit upon meeting up with Puffin.
11:10 Burlesque performer constantly forgets the lyrics she's lip-synching to. Yawn. Audience victim of choice on stage looks increasingly uncomfortable. Less yawn-worthy.
11:13 Fagulous MC with chrome heeled sneakers announces that he will be performing the single off of his debut album. Oh. THIS should be good.
11:32 Spot an old school streetcar. Consider chartering one for my birthday, only to realize that boozing would be strictly prohibited on said vehicle so, so much for that idea.
11:43 I Promise It Will Always Be This Way @ Lamport Stadium. Wahey! Mascots! Lots of 'em! Actress on field has taken her costume head off and lays down for a time out, completely apathetic to the crowd. Teehee. Tiny human head, massive white fluffy rump of a bum sticking up.
11:44 Dude next to me is like "HEY SASS!" I have no idea who he is. "Hi… sorry, I have no idea who you are." Apparently he worked ONE shift with me at Club Monaco some two years ago. Jeez. In love with me much? He's here with another Asian chick. Yup. So in love with me.
11:45 Start getting into the groove. Dance and holler like a moron and now everyone else is getting the hint that his exhibit is really fun!
11:46 A tiger throws a plush basketball to me and I tell him to go long. He runs to the other end of the stadium, and I drop the ball right in front of me. I'M SO FUNNY.
11:48 Run into hot Ford model I went to U of T with. Total suit type, total snooze.
11:52 Imagine Peace – Yoko Ono. Aww this is cute! Peruse some of the cards hung on the trees. "I wish my abs weren't so perfect". Um. That's not a wish for world peace…
12:01 Puffin calls and says he's close by.
12:03 Smash! Droppin' Stuff. Pretty stoked to see stuff completely destruct. The host amps up the anticipation, plugs 1-800-Got-Junk. The crane doesn't go very high due to lack of insurance coverage. Computer monitor, xylophone, large mixing board all land with underwhelming thuds. Pfft.
12:12 Purified By Fire @ Toy Factory Lofts. It's not dark enough outside for the flames to look menacing. It's sort of cool? Ok, no.
12:16 Urban Voice Oscillator. Pretty LED lights in bubble wrapped boxes. Squeeze into one of them for photo ops.
12:18 Stand in front of one of the sound boxes and listen to idiots yelling "VAGINA! VAGINA!" into the microphone
12:25 Overflow @ Former Prison Chapel. Wow. This is cool. Very cool.
12:27 Puffin calls. He's at Lamport Stadium heading over to me soon.
12:40 Puffin calls. He's just passed Purified By Fire.
12:44 Puffin calls. He can see the Overflow building
12:45 Puffin calls. I hang up, he's within eyesight.
12:46 I offer my friends sour belts candy and Puffin starts yapping about his excessively healthy lifestyle, how sugar would destroy his perfect body and how he has to get up at 9am for some charity run bla bla bla self-promoting ego speak.
12:48 I take a handful of strips of candy and shove them in my mouth greedily making a point to exaggerate "mmm! Mmm! Yea aarrmmm yum!" sounds. I'm really mature.
12:59 It's cold, starting to get restless.
1:02 Puffin leaves with his lady friend. So um what the fuck was the point in tracking me down to spend all of 5 seconds with me after a year-long hang out hiatus? Probably to hammer in the fact that he has other women at beck and call at any given time. LAME.
1:07 Second cup is open!
1:18 Soy hot chocolate in hands. Aah.
1:19 Run to streetcar, try not to spill scalding hot chocolate in hands.
1:48 Arrive in Zone A. Nathan Phillips Square.
1:50 The entire city smells of hot dogs.
1:52 Kate says "They're starting the Breast Cancer Run here tomorrow morning. Wait – Puffin's doing the Run for the Cure? WHAT A DOUCHEBAG."
1:53 I make a point of including the above phrase on my BlackBerry for the live blog. Kate tells me not to quote her. Oops.
1:54 Sterepscope @ City Hall. Richie guides us up the ramp to get a better look. Hey I've never walked up this ramp before.
1:57 I'm sure you noticed too, that the blinking lights in the windows are a game of pong. Awesome.
2:03 Take more photos of the nightscape. Beliefs confirmed that Toronto really is a fantastic city to live in
2:15 Into The Blue @ The Eaton Centre. Waaaaah. It's a blob. And it's blue. My favourite colour kind of blue. The blue of jello and all things Disney's Little Mermaid.
2:17 Step under the big blob and watch it spin, dumbfounded at such a simple yet pretty and serene sight. Think out loud "This would be even better if I were high."
2:17 Random stranger says "Hey, I AM pretty high and this is great. This is AMAZING".
2:20 Still looking up at the blob.
2:22 Genius idea! "Hey Kate, will you take a picture of me fisting the blob?"
2:25 Spot more friends, some dude is a doppelganger for my ex-boyfriend. Make a point of telling all my friends there's a doppelganger of my ex.
2:26 The Eaton Centre has a zambonie!
2:27 Try to run after the zambonie, because that is a good idea.
2:28 Feeling like it's hometime
3ish Hometime.

Screw all those exhibitions, give me some wine and lets dance alone!
Rahim Ladha

I've had a sour taste in my mouth about Nuit Blanche since last year, due to the fact that I lost my girlfriend last year at Nuit Blanche (it was actually my fault that I did) You see, that particular night, I wasn't able to get out of my space until really late, due to the fact that I decided to work through a particular dance piece, so I said to her that she should go ahead and attend with a group of new friends, and that we'd meet up later. Unfortunately for me, one of those new friends ended up impressing the hell out of her, and ended up being her boyfriend (I can't hate her for that - they have a great relationship, and she's still one of my best friends, so it's all good now) I never saw her that night due to a lack of communication, and the festival was just less than what it was capable of (in my opinion) when it came to artistic expression, and daring, so overall, I was going into this year's festival with low expectations, and little desire to experience anything that was being given to us, so again, I decided to dance late, and just head on out into the night, post-midnight, when I received a call from a friend, who happened to be temporarily living in the gallery district, just off of Queen West.
 
It was my friend Sam, who was visiting from Montreal, and just staying on Givins St. for a few days. You have to understand Sam and I have had an on and off kind of relationship/friendship, where we'll go weeks without communication, and then suddenly we'll talk for days straight, or dance together (or even more than simply dance) Sam is the kind of girl who isn't a fan of defined affiliations (nor am I) so hearing from her is like hearing from your twin - you understand what she's feeling or thinking without it being expressed, and as a dance partner, it's the perfect kind of individual for me, because I can simply shut up, and express with my body (and not with my mouth)
 
Sam mentioned that her hosts were out for the night, and wanted to know if I wanted to just do a little improvisational choreography in her very spacious living room, and have a glass or two of wine while we were at it, and I loved the idea.
 
I arrived at her space at 2:00 am and we simply worked through choreography for the night, but as we did, her hosts (and some of their friends) arrived back into their space a couple of hours into our choreographic explorations, and we suddenly had an audience for our workshop (and a very vocal and drunk audience, which is always my favourite)
 
I spent the night of Nuit Blanche not attending any of the installations, nor milling about the crowd. I simply spent it dancing with a good friend, just off the path of the designated zones, in improvisational choreography, with glasses of wine, laughter, a quiet (but good) crowd of people to bounce ideas off of, not thinking of ex-girlfriends or how I wished the artists in the city were more of daring, but simply working up a delicious sweat, and falling asleep on a living room floor, with a good friend in my arms.
 
I loved it this year. 

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Renegade Uhaul Party
Robert Bolton

Saturday Night at Nuit Blanche - the city wide Toronto all night arts thing, TIMES NEUE ROMAN and STYROFOAM ONES packed up in the UHAUL TRUCK with drums, mics, keys, bass, girls, amps, a generator and some cameras. And played some renegade shows - over the course of the night we got shut down by cops, jumped on by partyers and moshed around by maniacs. I got home at 7am, took a shower and went to work. The End. -arowbe

This is a bit of what our night looked like:

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Just get me a god damn coffee – I'm cold
Samantha Evans

With this year being the first that I was actually in the same city as Nuit Blanche (Kingston is not known for its all night art shows), I had dreamt up a surreal evening of glorious art exhibits and mind-broadening light installations. Maybe it was the all too real realization that fall had arrived or perhaps I set the bar too high for my first all-night art adventure, but I spent more time looking for the closest coffee shop to warm my hands and ingest more coffee than enjoying the photo exhibit at Brookfield Place or the taped off paint by numbers at the Bata Shoe Museum (you know it's a lost cause when Geri Halliwell's eight inch Union Jack platforms draw more attention than the exhibit). The hunt for a port to potty in ruined the larger than life pong game at City Hall and a muddy bog on the soccer field at U of T drowned out whatever movie was playing at Hart House. The TTC is to be commended for staying alive all night to transport drunk art-seekers but I think it may take more than one streetcar to transport an entire city. My favourite exhibit? The panini and sticky bun display at Cinnamon Girls, best enjoyed at 4:30am.But that's not art, you say? Tell that to the crowd that stared in awe from the window. 

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I don't understand what the computers are saying, but that's okay.
Tami Klein

This year I attended Nuit Blanche for the third time actually the 4th time, as I attended Nuit Blanche this summer in Tel Aviv.  I look forward to this night because it's the one night of the year where the entire city comes together and celebrates art in interesting and inventive ways.  I'm not going to say that I understand all the exhibits and displays, nor do I appreciate all of them.  But there is something about walking around Toronto and watching others observe and appreciate art that makes me smile.  I love hearing the opinions and discussions happening all around me.  The excitment and energy of people scrambling to get their friends together and walk to the next exhibit.  The streetcars and subways running all night.  I arrived in the city around 10:30pm at Union Station. 

The Horroridor was the name of the exhibit at Union Station.  Projection screens were placed together creating a hallway of screens.  A montage of clips from various horror movie screams was compiled creating ongoing endless screams.  One side of the hall was men screaming (the predators) and on the other side were women (the victims).  There was such a contrast in the pitch and feel of the men and women screaming at one another from across the hall.  Standing there for long enough watching the hair raising clips began to make me nervous, so I moved on.  I saw various smaller displays throughout the city, a waterfall comprised of water bottles, drum circles in Queen's Park,  a statue of books, a lightshow in Nathan Phillips Square. 

I ended of the night at the Maple Leaf Gardens.  Along with most people, I haven't stepped foot in the gardens in about ten years.  I went to my first concert there in 1997.  There exhibit itself was two projection screens facing each other, on what was once the ice rink, showing a blubber looking graphic.  The screens were talking to each other.  I couldn't understand what they were saying.  It didn't really matter.  I took in my surroundings and felt that I was in a special place, that I may never step foot in again.  It was almost 5 am by this time and most of the people around me seemed ready to call it a night. Everyone appeared calm and happy, and seemingly not even tired.  Nuit Blanche appeared a success, and hopefully a tradition that will carry on in Toronto and around the world.

Quack quack was good for me, but what I love is books falling over – hoorah!
Valerie Bruce

This was my second year Nuit-Blanching and by far my favourite. One of the highlights for me was the Ryerson University, the Lake Devonian ducks in a pond presentation. The idea that spectators were more than welcome to go jump on in and grab a rubber duckie as a token for the night baffled me. Along with that, was the presentation of Conversation # 2 by Tom Bendtsenwas; when I entered the building a large part of the display - a large array of books piled on high, fell over. This was the most memorable aspect of an overall amazing night.

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OCAD a mess.
Anna Ross

-- loved it this year. i kept feeling the overwhelming joy of living in a city that offers a night like this. It was the perfect way to show how important art is to our city!
 
Highlights were the fantastical red lights set up in Trinity Bellwoods Park and Sunny Choi gallery exhibit BEAUTIFUL vintage vogue fashion inspired paintings.
 
Major lowlight was OCAD! The worst organized by far. Crammed into a bottleneck everywhere you turn = no fun.

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Look at me and my champagne – cheers! Nuit Blanche – what?
Fraser Abe

After last year's fiasco, I resolved then and there to say "fuck it" to all of the art bullshit and just get incredibly drunk until 4 in the morning (4 in the morning!) How many Snoop Dogg references could I make in one night? It turns out, a lot. Started the evening at a King & Dufferin house party. Everyone loved my mini-champagne bottles, that is until they tasted them. I bought a fuckload of them and if Mr. Roboto is one thing, it's frugal, so I continued to drink. We made our way along some street until we saw some stuff. Stopped there, drank more. Continued down the street and ran into the always loverly Lizzie McNeely of She Does The City. This exhibition was a light that went on and off and some dry ice. I just don't get art. More walking, more drinking. Best "installation" of the night was watching some dude get arrested for going mental at some downtown stadium. There was some building with projections that looked like fire... Everywhere with the projections! That's all I remember about last year's stolen Paris event. Cheapest way to make a building look cool I suppose. Around 2, booze was done, and we had drank everything. Wine, done. Vodka, done. Gin, done. Champers, long gone. Went to some random bar on Queen West, ran into Little Miss X-Rated. More drinking, then home, having experienced the wonder of drinking at a Toronto bar past 2am. Woke up the next day at 4pm. Another magical Nuit Blanche.

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"Distillery District Secrets, ('I saw Jack Layton's Penis')"
Sarah Sherman

I unfortunately was scheduled to work at my serving job on Saturday night. Luckily I work in the Distillery District, so I got to see some very interesting things on the way in. Highlight: there were chairs and couches set up on the patio of the boiler house and people were sitting and watching glass blowing. I've never seen my pub so consistently packed with people. We extended our open hours to 5am, and we were truly packed full until 2:30 am when I FINALLY got to leave. Spirits were high, people were sharing space and sharing tables and sharing conversation with strangers in ways I don't normally see at the pub. The energy was exciting, but by midnight I just wanted people to clear out so I could GO BLANCHE-ING! I was itching with anticipation, counting down the hours until the time I thought I'd be set loose, but people just kept coming into the pub. My friends and I guffawed in the kitchen at the number of people in the restaurant and considered ways to remind them that Nuit Blanche is NOT about spending the entire night inside a pub getting rowdy. Get out there so I can get out there too! Let's go BLANCHE-ING!

Finally, at 3am, I found myself free of my uniform kilt and excitedly reading peoples secrets from cards tied to helium balloons in the Case Goods Warehouse. I wrote something very naughty on my card, giggled a lot, stuffed it down into the bottom of a bowl full of juicy secrets, and was rewarded with the pleasure of drawing someone else's secret and reading it aloud into a phone. That secret was then tied to a balloon and played back, along with other recordings, through speakers in a creepy old freight elevator you could ride. Reading the secrets I felt disturbed, inspired, sick, giddy....it was incredible what people were willing to divulge. Favourite one I found: " I saw Jack Layton's penis in a public bathroom." Made everyone laugh. A fantastic night. Next year, if I'm scheduled to work during Nuit Blanche I will quit my job."

The Blue Balloon was Sad and the Fire Lacked Ferocity
Bryonie Wise

I much anticipated a late night full of surprises and wonder - and as I dragged myself home around 5am, I felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment. the wow, the zip, the awe of nuit blanche was virtually missing.

Most disappointing was bellwoods park, at around 1am - nothing was happening - no glow worms, no people. Just another night in the park...and the blue balloon in the Eaton's Centre was rather sad as well. The pathway of Pages of books on the wall, I was most looking forward to, as the description in the guide book really had my hopes up - a pathway of pages, you say? Surrounded by text and paper and parts of books? Sadly, the description and the image in the book had more of an effect. I left this one feeling particularly deflated.

Liberty Village provided the most excitement - being pedestrian friendly made a difference as one could wander without fear of being run over. It was accessible, and interesting, but the fire windows lacked ferocity. The smashing stuff was ok, but not nearly messy enough, and the water out of the window was fascinating, but felt so far away, as the fence that surrounded it seemed a bit excessive.

The first year of Nuit Blanche was by far the most exciting - nobody knew what to expect, and so therefore, really, our expectation weren't that high. We were wowed by the magic of it all - last year, too many people caught onto the nuit secret, and I felt, as well that the various people I set out to explore with, well there were just too many people. This year we went out a bit later, and stayed out much later, but the evening lacked the power of the first year.

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Streetcar Calamity Exciting – Nuit Blanch…eh
Charysse Robinson

My thoughts on Nuit Blanche: Really, REALLY disappointing.

Ps. The only 'excitement' I experienced was unfortunately also extremely terrifying and tragic… the streetcar accident at Spadina and College.

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Hot Dog Breath and Drunk Teenagers
Ginger

My biggest adventure at Nuit Blanche was a constant escape from street meat burp. Further to this, I enjoyed watching teenagers take over the city. Behind dumpsters, in back alleys and disguised as zombies – they all huddled in dark corners getting wasted and then had a glee ol' time spinning through the Eaton Centre revolving doors as fast as they could. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee! I wonder how many of them barfed while riding the rocket en route to anxious parents who would then ground them for intoxication. Ahh, the memories of mixing Bailey's with rum and wine and chugging in a dark park and puking next to your best friend with out of control acne and shit stained converse. Sweet. Waterfall coming out of building was cool, College Park was a disaster, everyone was obsessed with the Sam the Record Man lights and I enjoyed having people stare at me while peeing in a Liberty Grand parking lot.