Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Newsstand: November 19, 2009
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
Please Insert Station and Try Again
The Art of Not Knowing
The sun will rise on Nuit Blanche soon, so let's just get the inevitable out of the way. Last year, when we polled Torontoist readers about their impressions of Nuit Blanche 2007, the bulk of you, 39%, voted that it was "pretty lame, actually." (Only 11% said it was "wicked awesome.") As it turns out, that seemed to be something of a consensus last year, as underwhelming exhibits, long lineups, big crowds, and relentless corporate sponsorship turned many off, especially in light of 2006's spectacular debut. So while we're working on collecting our thoughts (and our photos), we'll ask it again: what'd you think of this year's Nuit Blanche?
Photo from Nuit Blanche 2007 by uwajedi from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
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i hope i'm not the only one who was very unimpressed and bored last night.
crowds of what appeared to be post-Richmond St bar hoppers were attending every exhibit.
and the exhibits were not overly impressive.
maybe its just me...
We wandered around U of T, Yorkville, Church St, Yonge St, and Distillery, and only saw one or two cool things (The Post Office in Yorkville, which was manned by people I knew, and the Octopus Project im Distillery.) ... but after five hours of walking, we only saw about 4 or 5 things in total. The map brochures were nowhere to be found, and while we SHOULD have been more meticulous in our planning, we figured we'd be able to hit up big public spaces and find things. We were wrong.
Call me cantankerous, but I'd say Nuit Blanche overall was a volcano of disappointment. I should have followed my instincts and avoided the madness, but I was peer-pressured into going out there.
The most incredible part was the crowds of people being corralled along the Queen West sidewalk; despite the fact that there were really were no exhibits on Queen west of University, thousands of people were flocking to the area, perhaps guided by mere instinct and habit.
Would it be going too far to say that the whole event was one massive "Zombie Walk"?
The key was to wait it out a bit...my wife and I didn't leave the house until 2:45 AM, and by then the crowds had really died down and we could enjoy the exhibits (unlike last year). Lots of good stuff in Zone C, especially the mascots at Lamport Stadium, and the Diaspora Dialogues exhibit on Jarvis St. was really cool, too, as well as the phases of the moon thing on Grosvenor.
We were out from 1am-5am and I really only saw about 2 things worth going out for. We did the McCaul/Beverly/UT/QueensPark/Bay/Yonge route... Disappointing.
the highlight was seeing Maple leaf Gardens again....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomms/2915050275/in/pool-torontoist
I was out from 7pm to after 3am and saw almost all of Zone A. The crowds and lines were bad, but at least the lines moved. Nothing I saw this year (or last) lived up to the fog installation at Philosopher's Walk the first year, unfortunately.
Some things just don't fit the NB experience. Regular galleries throwing open their doors sounds like a great idea, until you get there and have half a second to look at piece before the line pushes you along and out the door again. I did get to see the inside of the ROM, finally... The Gardiner Museum had some sort of Mexican Day of the Dead mural thing, but the Mesoamerican terracotta statues in the permanent collection were far more interesting than anything else I saw.
Video projections are an easy way out, but where's the engagement? Of all the places I went, only the Lover Boy candy carpet at Hart House had anyone on hand going around explaining the meaning/goal of the piece.
Still, getting a million people out on the streets after midnight was great and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.
The maps weren't very accurate and it was easier to follow/look for crowds than figure out where everything in a cluster of numbers in black circles was meant to be. SCOTIABANK SCOTIABANK SCOTIABANK was hardly noticeable, so bonus there.
I hope they're still learning and next year will be an improvement.
I think people are very easy to criticize this event. It's free and full of lots of interesting stuff...why is everyone so quick to diss it?
I'm from Montreal and I find that as a city we are open and maybe more forgiving of efforts. Festivals need time to grow and experiment. Of course there will line ups and letdowns - but whatever.
FOcus on the fact that hundreds of artists are creating things for us for free and we need to applaud them and support them.
We saw some great stuff, discovered new neighbourhoods and mingled with interesting people. How can you possibly go wrong?
I started off with Zone C and I'm glad I did. I was impressed with what was there, from the mascots, to the giant IMAGINE PEACE and the wish tree, and even the guy who set up in the metro parking lot with a truck full of chickens. Once I biked over to the other zones (definitely the best mode of transport on a night like that), it was all sort of underwhelming, except for city hall and the alley beside Massey Hall.
I think the real problem is that nothing seems to be as immersive as it was the first year. Remember then? Going swimming, or having 10 year olds dj a "ball" or getting lost in the fog... even the wish tree that year was better, because it was tucked in a quiet area off Bloor street, instead of this year's three trees on a crowded streetcorner. 2006 felt like you were a part of the art, a part of some fantasy world that just came out that one night and would disappear once the sun came up. It seems last year they had the right idea with the panda spas and the movie night and the sleepover camp, but they didn't have the capacity to hold all of the people who wanted to be a part, so it tanked. This year they didn't even try, they didn't even have Zone hubs like last year, they just sort of threw things down and said "Ok, look at it, and move on."
What makes nuit blanche amazing is the way it has the ability to turn pockets of our city into amazing fantastical whimsical nooks, and that seems to be less and less with each passing year. It seems more forced and therefore less special. It feels less immersive and more of a "Hey, that's an interesting thing to look at. What's next?"
Like I said, I was impressed with Zone C, and overall I had a good time. But I'm wishing and hoping that somehow they figure out what they did right in 2006 and implement it for 2009.
Amanda, you absolutely nailed it.
This reminds me of a story from some Yann Martel book. The protagonist was in a lecture hall which always had an abandoned piano in it. One day, a student sat down at the piano before the class began and played something on it. Everyone was taken by surprise, their whimsy was tickled, and they applauded him. He tried to do it again the next class, but it just wasn't the same.
How do we bring the magic back to Nuit Blanche?
One thing that's obvious to me is that we need to spread it out. More people need more space. There's more opportunity for space-guzzling exhibits if we let it stretch its legs, especially east and west. Let's see Nuit Blanche in High Park, or Cherry Beach. That'll help spread out the crowds and give back the feeling of discovery and adventure (rather than just trailing after the mob). It'll also let diehard Blanchers avoid the downtown clubbers/partiers and travel to weirder areas they might be less familiar with.
Another thing is to recruit more exhibits which aim not just to fill a venue, but to transform it. Some of the best exhibits from 2006 were the Philosopher's Walk, that gay penguin thing in the bath-house, the ball room in the gym, and the pool thing. It really adds to the magic when you see an ordinary, familiar Toronto location transformed into something extraordinary. I feel like a lot of the recent exhibits haven't really considered the venue itself as a totally rich medium for art. Let's have more site-specific, venue-honouring art.
Finally, I feel like a lot of the art is about trying to be clever (but not profound), or having a good/hilarious (but essentially meaningless) concept, or looking cool/interesting (but not really challenging or beautiful). I'm not saying we need to have lofty aims, or that the "Hey, cool!" kind of art is bad, just that there's a disproportionate amount of it. I think a lot of artists have starting thinking about "what would be cool at Nuit Blanche", what would get a lot of buzz, and attract lots of people. I think a lot of them underestimate how much we might like art that isn't trying to be a social hit, that's just something totally humble and intimate and personal to the artist and maybe no one else.
Those are my two cents.
We are, incidentally, planning a big post for tomorrow morning about how Toronto could improve Nuit Blanche for 2009. So far, pretty much everyone is nailing it. (I voted "Decent," for what it's worth.)
I liked it. I had a good time. What I (and, apparently, yvesperret) learned from last year is that it doesn't get good until 3 or 4, when people start going home to sleep, and you can actually wander around and experience the art in a more meditative or contemplative way. By the last couple hours, the city's like your own private gallery, with stuff hidden everywhere. I was finally able to get through on the phone line to play Breakout on City Hall's east tower. That was amazing. So was basking in the glow of the Sam's sign in its final hours. And moseying into a nearly empty Maple Leaf Gardens. And biking along major streets on which I normally wouldn't feel comfortable riding.
Other highlights included the Lamport Stadium mascots (and the security personnel going after rowdy patrons who climbed on to the field), the wall of oil drums on Mowat Avenue, and the interactive video installation just south of there, which you could get to play Cibo Matto's "Sugar Water" if you clicked in the correct place.
Montauk correctly identified the four truly transcendent exhibits/experiences from 2006: the fog, the swimming, the gay penguins, and the ball room. The cumulative effect, I would argue, was life-changing. After last year, I lowered my expectations and am now quite content if I only have one unforgettable experience (which this year was playing Breakout on City Hall).
Nuit Blanche 2008 in Toronto, was a hit. Nearly 800,000 people took to the streets. Regretfully, the installations were rather disappointing. Amanta Scott invited visitors into a very warm and private space for 15 Minutes of Fame, featuring Karla Homolka's prison bed!! Into the Blue was an enormous, blue, 'turd'-shaped balloon. More thoughts follow at:
http://winstoninwonderlandart.blogspot.com/2008/10/nuit-blanche-2008-in-toronto.html
Well I thought the whole thing was great fun, but then I'm the kind of guy who can enjoy watching a computer get smashed without worrying about whether or not it has artistic merit. Although I do agree that the low-key, unexpected nature of the first edition really made it special and can never be recaptured.
But what I really came in here to say was this: the streetcar service was fucking abysmal. Way to exhibit world-class suck, TTC.
Here's our post with suggestions for how to pull it off next year.