{"id":25517,"date":"2014-10-06T20:45:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T00:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=25517"},"modified":"2014-10-25T16:20:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T20:20:18","slug":"nuit-blanche-2014-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=25517","title":{"rendered":"Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I began my evening of Nuit Blanche \u2013 that now is in its ninth year \u2013 with great expectations and ambition, hoping to last well into the night. I was hardly alone as it seemed like half the city had the same idea.<\/p>\n

My first stop was Made in China<\/em> on Spadina Avenue by Maria Ezcurra of Montreal and Mexico City. The colourful\u00a0 clothing that hung there were all\u00a0made and\u00a0donated in China. It seemed like a good fit in Spadina\u2019s Chinatown\u00a0that was already overflowing with similar looking products in its many shops. Moving along to Spadina and Grange Avenue we reached the Black Sun<\/em> by Alexandre Arrechea of Havana, Cuba. This was a swinging wrecking ball,\u00a0that in the fringes of Kensington, seemed like a warning of gentrification happening all around Toronto.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Made in China <\/em>by Maria Ezcurra<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Black Sun <\/em>by Alexandre Arrechea<\/p>\n

The<\/em> Problem of Beauty<\/em> by DineoSeshee Bopape of Johannesburg, South Africa used a parking garage ramp to project the video work, best described as a cosmic journey. There were a number of Screaming Booths<\/em> by Chelane Beaudin-Quitin of Montreal that offered visitors the opportunity to scream, cry or laugh without disturbance. Walk Among the World<\/em> by Maximo Gonzalez of Mexico City had long line ups and consisted of 7,000 colourful globe coloured beach balls in an installation that people could wander through while thinking of the many cultures and countries that make up our world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Screaming Booths<\/em> by Chelane Beaudin-Quitin<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em>Walk Among the World<\/em> by Maximo Gonzalez<\/p>\n

By Means of A Sigh<\/em> (\u00c0 port\u00e9e de souffle) by\u00a0Chlo\u00e9 Lefebvre and Jean Dubois of Montreal was an interactive installation triggered by visitors\u2019 mobile phones. People on screen blew up bubble gum bubbles connecting with each other until they burst. AMAZE <\/em>on Queen Street West was a maze created by Marcos Zotes of Iceland. A large line up of visitors wanted to walk through it convinced me, although worthwhile, I had little time to squeeze it in. Gap Ecology<\/em> (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms) created by David Brooks of New York was pretty impressive with its palm trees towering over Queen St. West. Shy Lights,<\/em> created by Nathan Whitford of Toronto, on Duncan Street near Queen West was fun as visitors had to chase the spotlights as they were programmed to avoid people on the street; an interactive game for old and young alike. The sculpture Silent Rise<\/em> by Glenda Leon of Havana had musical connotations in its structure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By Means of A Sigh<\/em> (\u00c0 port\u00e9e de souffle) by\u00a0Chlo\u00e9 Lefebvre and Jean Dubois<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>AMAZE<\/em> by Marcos Zotes<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gap Ecology<\/em> (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms) by David Brooks<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Crowd with\u00a0Gap Ecology<\/em> (Still Lives with Cherry Pickers and Palms)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shy Lights<\/em> by Nathan Whitford<\/p>\n

City Hall was busy with throngs of people. It was glowing green from Wanwu: Metamorphosis<\/em> created by Bingyi of Bejing China with its glowing green light from the City Halls podium green roof. On the pools in front of city hall stood two large tanks from the Monument to North America Energy Security<\/em> by the CanAmerican Energy Arts Team of Calgary. It was to celebrate the importance of oil bridging Canada and the US. What turned out to be my final destination was a surprise. It was Threshold<\/em> a performance art piece by Michael Smith of Brooklyn, New York taking place in the City Hall chambers. Guests were invited to sit in council chairs or in the observation seats surrounding the chamber. The performance was entertaining and absurd in its context much possible like what goes on ocasionally at council. The make up of council certainly was refrehing, representing a diverse make up of the city including race and age.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Monument to North American Energy Security<\/em> by CanAmerican Energy Arts Team<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Threshold<\/em> a performance art piece by Michael Smith<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My feet gave out on me and my six year old son had already fallen asleep in city hall chambers so I decided to make the trip home, happy to have had a brief five hour experience of Nuit Blanche knowing I had missed many contemporary works but still satisfied to have gotten a taste of the night\u2019s offerings. Next year I will try to see more and wear more comfortable shoes.<\/p>\n

Text and photo: Phil Anderson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 4, from sunset to sunrise<\/p>\n

by Phil Anderson<\/strong><\/p>\n

happy to have had a brief five hour experience of Nuit Blanche knowing I had missed many contemporary works but still satisfied to have gotten a taste of the night\u2019s offerings.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,77,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-phil-anderson","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25517"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25850,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25517\/revisions\/25850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}