Nuit Blanche, Toronto (October 1, 2011)

Another edition of Nuit Blanche, Toronto's "...sixth annual sunset-to-sunrise celebration of contemporary art" happened this past Saturday night. And aside from the night's chilly temperatures, I wasn't feeling thrilled in the quality of the installations and projects as I'd had in past years. Much of what I saw was visual which may make for interesting visual stimulation for a moment but didn't provide much in the way of a lasting impression. On the other hand, installations like "Soon" at Commerce Court, with spotlights situated atop buildings surrounding the area shone down on the crowd while an immersive, audio-warped soundtrack filled the square, in my opinion made for a cool experience. With my brother, cousin and his girlfriend in tow, we hit Zone's B and C and never made it to Zone A. But as the night wore on, there were a few installations(like the aforementioned "Soon") that stood out and provided good photo ops, making the night not a total loss. I'm a strong supporter of the annual event in general and I will be surely out for the next edition.


"Soon" @ Commerce Court: photo by Michael Ligon


"Je t'aime Alouette" @ Design Exchange: photo by Michael Ligon


"Barricades" @ Yonge & Queen: photo by Michael Ligon


"I just know that something good is going to happen" @ Dundee Place: photo by Michael Ligon

Check out my entire photo set of the night below:

Photos: Nuit Blanche, Toronto (October 1, 2011)

Nuit Blanche, Toronto (October 3, 2010)

  Nuit Blanche in Toronto: photo by Michael Ligon

This past Saturday night was the Toronto's fifth annual Nuit Blanche, an all-night contemporary arts festival. I've made it out to every Nuit Blanche except for the inaugural one back in 2006, and this year's one just about the chilliest, but at least the rain held off. I made a conscious effort to try to avoid the crowds as much as possible so I started out in Zone C in Liberty Village and Parkdale before heading west to Downtown Toronto to check out the multitude of installations in Zone B. I've read much criticsm that the quality of this year's installations was not as good as past years and I do agree but at the same time I still felt there was much to be appreciated this year given you went in with an open mind. I read criticisms from people that they thought the multitude of projection-based installations were not 'art' but that whole notion is silly because I think most if not everything I saw during the night was art. I don't pretend to be an expert but my understanding of art is that through whatever medium the artist chooses, he or she is attempting to express some meaning. I guess what people/critics really meant to say was that they'd have preferred less projection-based installations and more of whatever else they may have been expecting and that's a valid preference. Perhaps, the organizers of the event will take that in to consideration for next year's edition. I myself would prefer even more sound installation as the one's I took in this year were interesting. But aside from the quality of the actual installtions, what continues to excite me is the whole concept of seeing these installations in public spaces that are more often than not mundane, presenting the city in a different light as well as providing me an opportunity to see parts of the city I'd never seen up close. So whatever your opinions were of the event, well they're your opinions. I don't see Nuit Blanche escaping its polarizing effect in the future, but in my opinion, Nuit Blanche's ability to provoke discussion, good or bad, is one of the things which is going to draw crowds to the event for years to come.

Photos: Nuit Blanche, Toronto (October 3, 2010)

Nuit Blanche 2008

"Into The Blue" @ Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Ontario (October 4, 2008)


I've had my photos from last weekend's Nuit Blanche up at my Flickr for a bit now, but I thought I'd link up to them through a blog post as well since my blog posts have been kind of sparse lately. Short story goes that I wasn't as impressed with my experience compared to last year but still there were a lot of interesting things to see if you took the time and patience to really absorb it all in. I wished that I made it to Zone C though. My teenage nephew came out with me although the coolest thing he might have seen all night was the Mobile Rave going down St George St at midnight (although technically, I don't think that was actually an official Nuit Blanche event).

Photos: Nuit Blanche in Toronto (October 4, 2008)

White Nights

A few openers names for upcoming shows have been surfacing - Shawn Hewitt and The World Provider will open for The Dears at The Music Gallery on October 9 and October 10 RESPECTIVELY. The Two Koreas keep it post-punk when they open for Wire at Lee's Palace on October7.

The Bicycles return to the radar with a new album on November 4 and a CD release show at Lee's Palace on November 8(for which they promise "an awesome line-up of local talent"). Info from BlogTo who also have a brief interview with the band's Matt Beckett conducted this past week at Pop Montreal.

Sondre Lerche is at The Mod Club on November 14.

CSS return to Toronto for a show at The Opera House on December 15.

So sorry for the sparse postings but I've been busy with things/life/doing stuff lately - went to my cousin's wedding, checked out Word on the Street(photos - ok only 2, but one is of Ohbjiou at the Eye Weekly Music Stage), had some mindless(but entertaining) fun seeing "Eagle Eye" with a friend this past Monday, getting my My Bloody Valentine concert review (previous blog post) finally up this past week, hanging out with some workmates after work a few days ago and checking out The Wedding Present and Dirty On Purpose at Lee's Palace yesterday night.

Tonight, Nuit Blanche (although with all the Nuit Blanche Stille Post threads currently plus my recollection of the chaos of last year[especially around Bloor & University], I'm feeling a little overwhelmed about it at the moment.)

Nuit Blanche

So it was that I went it alone Saturday night to check out my first Nuit Blanche night in Toronto. I got downtown around 11:30 pm and as it went ended up staying until 6 am when I headed home. I primarily stayed in Zone's A & B(only sort of passing through Zone C when I headed home). A few of the highlights were: "Crowd" at Queen's Park(the surround sound installation was actually pretty cool if you stuck around long enough to listen to the different sound effects, clips, music, etc...), checking out "The Ghost Station" installation at Lower Bay Subway Station, "The Theatre of Ephemeral Music" concert at The Music Gallery(especially the collaboration between turntablists iNSiDEaMiND, pianist John Kameel Farah, and the experimental guitar sounds of Jonny Dovercourt), and the "What Will You Do?" installation at Queen and University, a video projection that (at least at the time I was there) presented the question "What Would You Do To Cool The Earth?" which then spectactors could text message responses(some serious, some funny) that would then appear on the screen. I didn't get photos of everything I attended unfortunately. I really liked the video short entitled "Magical World" which was screening at First Baptist Church on Huron St - at once touching and moving. I wished I caught more of Nuit Blanche - there was so much I would have loved to see. Despite the crowds, I'd do it all over in a heartbeat. Until next year. Oh, and thank God for comfortable shoes and caffeine.

Photos: Nuit Blanche 2007
Video: "The Theatre of Ephemeral Music" @ The Music Gallery

note: the video above(which I shot on my digital camera) is of the ceiling projection with music in the background performed live featuring turntablists iNSiDEaMiND, pianist John Kameel Farah and the experimental guitar sounds of Jonny Dovercourt)