Last year, I only made one half-hearted attempt to participate in Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s “all night contemporary art thing.” I headed out on to Church Street after a birthday party, saw a man on stilts blowing fire from his nostrils and promptly left. I was unimpressed (Nuit Blanche = circus act?). And cold. So I went home. I won’t be making the same mistake this year. I know Nuit Blanche is totally cool, and I know we can all enjoy it with just a tiny bit of planning (and a whole lot of warm clothing).
Nuit Blanche re-shapes and re-configures three areas of the city with installations, exhibitions and events of all sizes and degrees of outlandishness. A space all too familiar to some of us is Bay Street. During Nuit Blanche, it will be bathed in a whole new light…or, more accurately, liquid. A pool of 80-proof vodka will lie still along the floor of Commerce Court, making us connect potent alcohol to the world of finance, and highlighting the subtle relationship between booze and money, high rolling executives and the potion of liquor. Outside the Exchange Tower, watch local Toronto celebrities (and some real financiers) play Monopoly with real money.
Afterwards, venture down to King and Spadina where you’ll find two artists weavinglooms of glow-in-the-dark thread, first separately, and then slowly coming together, signifying the co-operation needed among us as we wade through the (remnants of the?) recession.
If you have it in you, continue west to the Ex. Here, artist Skeena Reece acts out daily routines as herself, an indigenous Canadian. She will “perform” behind closed glass, taking suggestions from the public on what she might do next — as we stand, staring in. Throughout the night, as the audience participates, we realize the voyeuristic tendencies we all harbour, and we simultaneously admit that Edward Said’s Orientalism is alive and well.
Pop in at 171 East Liberty Street to take in the Apology Project, where a hall of people apologize over and over again to each passerby for their sins (including, perhaps, Canada’s historical treatment of its indigenous people). If you want to shed some tears after all this trauma, check out Surrounded in Tears, also at 171 East Liberty Street. Finish the night off on Queen Street West, where a range of exhibits await, starting with a light installation at Queen Street Laundry and ending with a stream of video art presented by the Parkdale BIA.
Even though we probably won’t be able to sip a liquid lunch from the floor of Commerce Court on Monday, chances are we’ll all return to work with a fresh new perspective.
Leanne is an associate at Heenan Blaikie LLP. She spends her free time indulging in art, film, music and literature and swears that culture tastes better than chocolate. Her column appears every Friday here on lawandstyle.ca.