news
Torontoist’s Nuit Blanche Photo Album
Photo by inventor_77.
BY AMANDA BUCKIEWICZ AND KAREN WHALEY
The numbers haven’t come in yet, but anyone with eyes could tell that this year’s Nuit Blanche crowds amounted to much more than 2006’s paltry 425,000 attendees. The entire city swelled with people in its every nook and cranny until the wee hours of the morning. And of course, with people comes congestion, lineups, and an all around sense of chaos.
The general consensus of Nuit Blanche 2007 is a sense of disappointment. Sure, it was fun, but it was the oatmeal-raisin cookie to last year’s triple-chocolate-chip. Did we set the bar too high? The sequel is never really as good as the first blockbuster hit. Is it the fault of the artists? There was, without a doubt, a ton of hard work put forth by each and every person involved, so that’s doubtful. Was it poorly planned? It seemed to have more planning than last year, and last year’s two major problems (lack of transportation and terrible weather) were not a factor this time around. Too much planning? The questions go on.
Though the crowds were too dense and it was nearly impossible to see every exhibit in one night, the sheer scale and scope of Nuit Blanche was remarkable. One couldn’t help feeling as though they were part of a historic event in Toronto culture. We had a great time.
Best of all, the evening inspired Torontoist’s loyal band of Flickr contributors to take some stunning photographs. After recovering for several days from the up-all-night sleepies, we picked some of the best photos of Nuit Blanche 2007 from the Torontoist Flickr Pool—check out over forty photos after the jump!
Photo by Discovery and Conquest.
The TTC provided all-night transit as promised. Thanks, Mr. Giambrone.
Photo by Eyeline-Imagery.
Enormous crowds gathered around an alien crash site at King’s College Circle.
Photo by Eyeline-Imagery.
If you made it into the tent beside the crash site, you would have witnessed a pietà starring E.T. and Yoda.
Photo by synchros.
For Cloudscape at the Eaton’s Centre, people drew their own clouds…
Photo by synchros.
…while audiences laid back on “grass” to watch them float by.
Photo by Amanda Buckiewicz.
Hundreds packed into the AGO to watch vampire movies, check out some art, and dance all night before the gallery closed for renovation.
Photo by Petecat.
Only a special few (hundred) were allowed up the CN Tower during Nuit Blanche to photograph the city lights, so a lot of dazzling photos that looked like this ended up in the Flickr pool.
Photo by Miles Storey.
Torontoist writer Miles Storey caught this lovely view at sunrise.
Photo by exMOHAX.
Nightless City seemed suspiciously like Pride or any other festival where they shut down Church Street from Wellesley to Alexander.
Photo by Jamie Bradburn.
Local artist Jesika Joy (Warning: Very NSFW) stirred up some controversy as she sang songs, dressed in a wedding gown, while caressing a lamb carcass. At times, she plunged her hands into its body cavities. Yum.
Photo by Discovery and Conquest.
Newmindspace’s String of Diamonds.
Photo by Reza Vaziri.
The doorway to Hart House, where we saw Dean Baldwin (who we last caught at Mercer Union) serving drinks in his Minibar.
Photo by glenn.afalla.
I Really Should by Kelly Mark in the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.
Photo by Claudia & Jerome.
The Iconoclash: Night of Awe Dance Party was great fun to watch: volunteer dancers were projected onto a giant screen in Grange Park. It had something to do with idol worship. We got it.
Photo by Discovery and Conquest.
That’s a bargain, if you don’t mind visiting Dr. Fauxreel.
Photo by arcticlamb.
Noboru Tsubaki’s 50-foot inflatable locust. We told you it was going to be huge.
Photo by neuroticjose.
The lineup to get into Lower Bay station was described by one observer as “Disneyland-long”. At times, it stretched from Bay Street to Yonge Street and back again.
Photo by arcticlamb.
Incursion by Craig Walsh.
Photo by Miles Storey.
West Queen West, still packed in the wee-est of the wee hours.
Photo by Miles Storey.
Rachel McRae’s chocolate stag under wraps.
Photo by synchros.
Mobile Rave: because raves didn’t die out in the late 1990’s, they just went mobile.
Photo by arcticlamb.
A geodesic dome made out of fluorescent lights by Michael Bartosik.
Photo by arcticlamb.
Photo by Henry Roxas.
Anna Madelska’s Balloonscape.
Photos by dpnsan.
Dancers haunted audiences at Casa Loma’s stables.
Photo by exMOHAX.
Peter Riedel balances rocks. He likes to do that all over the city.
Photo by Jessica C.
Secret Heart, a Postsecret-inspired exhibit inviting passers-by to attach their secrets to a fence at Church and Alexander.
Photo by Jessica C.
I sometimes wish I was a unicorn.
Photo by Metrix X.
When we arrived there at 2:00 a.m., Ryerson seemed nearly abandoned. The effect of this misty toilet fountain in Devonian pond was haunting.
Photo by Amanda Buckiewicz.
Serbian artist Vessna Perunovich served a bread and bean dish to a rotating door of famished visitors in an attempt to stimulate social exchange. Drunk off backpack beer at 4:00 a.m., this was the best place to be.
Photo by Jason Carlin.
Have you noticed that every time something happens in Toronto, those kids from the internet show up dressed like zombies and dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”? We didn’t realize there were so many 13 Going on 30 fans in this city.
Photo by inventor_77.
Trinity Bellwoods Park featured promotional booths, wacky cutouts, and drunken hipsters singing Little Mermaid songs.
Photo by Gary Campbell.
“Watcher” by Millie Chen. How very Rear Window.
Photo by reflex6002.
Word on the street was that people actually woke up to attend Word on the Street in Queen’s Park on Sunday. They had a more nocturnal event the night before that asked people to contribute their ideas to a story about the city.
Photo by Torontochub27.
Sculptures at the OCAD Gallery, which may give us nightmares forever.
Photo by Jason Carlin.
Night owls at the OCAD Gallery. Night owls, get it? Nuit Blanche from dusk till dawn? Anybody?