say it with pie

Photos are up on Flickr!

I had a blast at Nuit Blanche this year! Me and Pete managed to stay out until 4:00 am, which I think is pretty respectable.

We spent most of our time in Zone B, the financial district, which was curated by my prof, Jennifer Fisher, and her partner Jim Drobnick who form the curatorial collaborative DisplayCult. I was really impressed with how well the projects they selected worked for the large crowds: most were spectacles, but some were surprisingly intimate.

By far my favourite piece of the night was Imminent Departure by Heather Nichol, a sound installation in the Great Hall of Union Station. We bought a bag of popcorn and stayed for at 20 minutes, perched on the marble ledge of an decommissioned ticket wicket. Every five minutes the recorded sound of an approaching train would be amplified through the Hall, growing to a deafening crescendo that literally shook the building. It was quite the sensory experience: the thunderous sound, vibration transmitted through the marble wicket, flickering lights on the ceiling, the haze of fog from the (ubiquitous) smoke machine. We also experimented by walking around the Hall and standing at its centre; anywhere you were in the space was a totally unique experience. I left with a feeling of “oneness” with Union Station that was really surprising.

Other highlights were:
- Witches’ Cradles: I heard that you couldn’t participate unless you passed a breathalyzer test with a score of zero, which discounted me because of the Drambuie in my coffee. But I just noticed on the website that this project was sponsored by Smirnoff Ice Triple Black. Ironic!

- Respire: dangly radios and LEDs. By the time we got there at 3:00 am, it felt almost secretive.

- Monopoly with Real Money: the staging of this was the incredible part. It looked like a live television show in a glass jar.

- Going Indian: I caught Rebecca Belmore’s 2:00 am performance, and there were more than a few people there I would classify as “super drunk” or “on something”. I know that it was definitely one of her lighter works, but it was still a mesmerizing performance thanks to dancer Michael Greyeyes’ incredible connection and delivery.

- Wild Ride: a great way to fulfill the public’s desire for spectacle while remaining on curatorial point.

- Sounding Space: I have no idea how this worked.

- Space Becomes the Instrument: pretty cool, but worth the 45 minute wait outside of Massey Hall? I wouldn’t know. I met up with Jennifer before the Rebecca Belmore performance and she gave me a media pass and told me I could use it to jump lines. We decided to try it out at Massey Hall with Pete posing as my photographer. The only hitch came when they asked me who I was with. I confidently replied, “Torontoist” like I was still working there and we were ushered in past hundreds of people. A bit of a dick move, but you’d have done it too. David was really not impressed when I texted him the tale, so I took a picture and sent it to him at the end of the night. So it was like working for Torontoist. The picture ended up being projected onto the side of the AGO—pretty cool!