Results tagged “nuitblanche”

For some, the works are underwhelming and too few and far between, yet for others, it's one of the few times when Toronto steps outside its dreary box—and that's reason enough to celebrate. You may think it makes modern art accessible to the masses, but perhaps you feel that the installations could be better. Cast a vote, and then head over to last year's poll to see how it compares.

Now that we have all recovered from our Nuits, it's time to step back and take stock. When we do we find, much like we did in previous years, that Nuit Blanche is still at the stage of working better as an idea than it does in execution.

For the duration of Nuit Blanche, Torontoist hosted Blanche Slate, a concurrent projection onto the south-facing wall of the Art Gallery of Ontario and a liveblog updated right here, below. For the whole entire night, we continually threw Nuit Blanche updates—photos and text, from both our contributors and our readers—to the wall, and into this article.

    

We just got sent these photos by the Dupont and Spadina Corner Collective, of the group's early-morning romp through the Annex, which saw them paint over and add flying birds to seventeen illegal billboards in the area—a "Flock Off," as they're calling it.

ART: That “free all-night contemporary art thing” is back for a fourth year of exploration and celebration. Nuit Blanche is happening and it’s going all night long (all night)! Expect to see art in the usual places like galleries and museums, as well as nestled in unexpected establishments and crevices. With 130 projects in three downtown zones, we encourage you to be strategic in planning your itinerary, which is why we prepared one for you. Make sure to swing by the Art Gallery of Ontario, where Torontoist will be hosting Blanche Slate, a communication hub where text updates and photos from contributors and readers will be projected onto an exterior gallery wall. Various locations, Saturday 6:55 p.m.–Sunday sunrise, FREE.

Whatever you think of Nuit Blanche, in Toronto there's really no other nuit like it. The "free all-night contemporary art thing," this year happening from sunset on Saturday, October 3 to sunrise on Sunday, October 4, has earned its fair share of ambivalence over its previous three years—not because the idea itself is not a fantastic one, and not because the event itself isn't intermittently enthralling and exciting and cool, but because people are naturally critical of something that we all deservedly hold to very high standards. If you're willing to brave a disappointment or two, a lot of walking, and (this year) a bit of rain, though, Nuit Blanche remains one of the best ways to experience a different side of Toronto.

On Nuit Blanche, Torontoist'll be lucky enough to claim a spot on one of the biggest canvases of all: the Art Gallery of Ontario's walls. And we want to share it with you.

This upcoming weekend, Torontoist won't just be covering Nuit Blanche: we—and you, gentle reader, should you so choose—will be part of it. We'll throw more light on our project later this week, but we assure you it'll be worth staying up with us for.

For the greater part of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some of those artists whose work was rejected for exhibition in the prestigious Paris Salon displayed them in the Salon des Refusés, an exhibition that would eventually become at least as famous and as well-respected as the Salon itself. For the second year in a row, Toronto's Nuit Blanche will have its own version: some of those artists either unable to or uninterested in having their work appear under the official banner of the city's largest arts night but who still want to exhibit their work that night anyway will have their pieces collected into "Les Rues des Refusés." Literally translated as "streets of rejects," "Refusés" is an alternate program of rogue exhibits, running alongside Nuit Blanche on the night of October 3 but totally unaffiliated with it.

Photo by Metrix X from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

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?

If dropping stuff off of a building is too high-concept for you, or if you still haven't decided whether or not to go see Blinkenlights at Nathan Phillips Square tonight for Nuit Blanche (or any other nuit until October 12) and that amazing iPhone app wasn't enough to sway you, boy, have we got the video for you.

ART: In case you didn't know (but how could you not?), Nuit Blanche returns tonight! Torontoist's guide is here. Various locations, 6:52 p.m.–7 a.m., FREE.

Photo from last year's Nuit Blanche by Dipp from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

For the last few weeks of the summer, Torontoist has been investigating ideas that we could benefit from pillaging from others. Two weeks ago, we looked at Madrid’s integration of public libraries and public transit, as well as their insistence on keeping a more humane schedule for workers. Last week, we examined Amsterdam's method of accommodating—and legitimizing—different modes of transportation within their small city grid. This week, in our final installment, we look at Vilinius’s moves towards memorializing freedom, fun, and quirkiness.

So, you're already choosing your outfit for this year's Nuit Blanche, right? Making predrink plans with your art buff besties? Getting extra sleep in advance—almost three months in advance? Google Mapping your routes and rendezvous points?

The organizers of Nuit Blanche held a launch event at OCAD this morning to announce this year’s curators—Wayne Baerwaldt, Director and Curator of Exhibitions at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta College of Art and Design; Dave Dyment, Director of Programming at Mercer Union, Toronto; Gordon Hatt, a writer and curator who lives in Kitchener; and Haema Sivanesan, Executive Director of Toronto’s South Asian Visual Arts Centre—and allow them to outline their individual visions for the event.

SEPT. 28, 2006: Torontoist publishes "Two Peas In A Pod," a poorly considered article making fun of Eye and Now for both deeming Nuit Blanche significant enough to feature on their covers the same week.

Photo of the Montreal edition of Mille Femmes from Galerie [sas]'s Picasa album. Consider the first editions of Toronto's two major multidisciplinary arts festivals: Nuit Blanche 2006 was a stunning success, a magical playground that revived the spirit of the blackout and provided a moving conclusion to Let's All Hate Toronto; Luminato 2007 was a mixed bag of highfalutin performances not attended by anyone you know (with the exception of the George F. Walker...

While events like Luminato and Nuit Blanche are fantastic, Toronto is sorely lacking in quality, long-term public art. Last April, Henk Hofstra created an "urban river" in Drachten, Holland. The Blue Road installation is an example of what mind-blowing urban public art can be. Featuring 1000 metres of road painted blue and the phrase "Water is Life" written in eight-metre-high letters across it, the Blue Road is reminiscent of the waterway that used to be...

Like it or not, there's no escaping the CN Tower. Views from the building are so ubiquitous that it's hard to find a genuinely interesting shot––to say nothing of shots of the building. Still, plenty of photographers pull off a view of the city from the tower that's different and interesting, be it of a fog-covered downtown or a city up late for Nuit Blanche. Add to that pack Derek Purdy's neat stitched panorama...

This Friday's Steam Whistle Unsigned is already the fourth in a series of independent music showcases at the Roundhouse, but it's the first we're really excited about. Really excited. Check out this lineup: The Carps are the best thing to come out of Scarborough since... er... hmm. Right. Anyway, the punk-soul duo recently opened for MIA at the Kool Haus, and if they're good enough for Maya, they're good enough for you. Opopo sound like...

Hey, remember Nuit Blanche? You know: that all-night cultural art thing a little over a month ago that maybe wasn't all that great. That thing. While the city did a pretty spectacular clean-up job, they've missed a spot: a sign sturdily attached about ten feet up a pole outside the Isabel Bader Theatre at Queen's Park and Charles Street on U of T campus still welcomes visitors to Zone 3, and invites them to...

Tomorrow night, November 2nd, a new CaseCamp-format un-conference will touch down in Toronto. Combining two sessions from the art community and one session from a related industry, ArtSmash is a unique speaker series that will generate a room full of creative ideas. The event is being coordinated by Ella Cooper and presented by the Emerging Arts Professional Network.

There has been a lot of debate recently about how and to what extent corporations should be allowed to fund community initiatives. City Hall is currently ablaze with lobbying and ambivalence as we draw nearer to City Council's vote on land transfer and vehicle ownership taxes, a decision that could easily blow the door open to more private sponsorship of community services and public space.

As we mentioned in our Nuit Blanche photo album, the culprit behind that "Quick Lobotomy" sign you may have seen at Queen West's Tri Service Centre is our very own fauxreel. Earlier this morning, he posted a video on YouTube of his exploits, featuring some of the messages that he received from outraged/intrigued Nuit Blanche participants. It's lobotoriffic!

Mayor Miller was in Etobicoke yesterday, trying to convince the people who regularly vote in Ford, Holyday, Nunziata, et al. that new taxes are a necessity. It went about as well as you'd expect.