Nuit Blanche means White Night

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1st
Sunrise. At last. It's hard to make sense of the night's events, but from what I can tell, for 12 glorious hours, the streets of Toronto were turned into a surreal art showcase of the most random sort. Having known virtually nothing about "Nuit Blanche" until the night of, I found myself getting more and more excited at the prospect of meandering about the streets until all hours of the morning, and when we did hit the town, it was beautiful to see how strange and artistic our city can be when prompted by corporate sponsorship (thank you Scotiabank!)

It's a little difficult to describe Nuit Blanche in one broad term, but generally it was a series of installation pieces located all over the city, including such things as neon Elvis lyrics in the windows along Baldwin Street, a woman eating cake for 12 hours in slow motion on University, a huge twister game in the shadow of OCAD, a disco-yurt in the Hart House reading room (complete with multi-coloured dance-floor), and countless other oddities. The fog in Philosopher's Walk was truly something to see; rows and rows of mist jets obscuring the valley, light shining through the trees, and huddled masses trying to keep from stepping off the path into shoe-stealing mud. The gay-penguin exhibit at the Harrison Bathhouse was also quite interesting with it's filmographic exploration of the gay-penguin lives Roy & Silo, plus swimming by candlelight under the projection of artsy montages and eerie music.

But above all, I think what did it for me was the Ballroom Dancing. We get into the University Settlement House and make our way toward the gymnasium, all the while feeling like we're on our way into a grade 8 dance. Then it hits me: a rubber ball the size of my head. Balls are flying everywhere as adults become children in a giant ball-throwing battle royale. I found it fascinating how much you learn about people by putting them in a room full of balls. You've got the people who are excited just throwing them up in the air. Then in the middle, sitting in a circle, dressed in black with their backpacks on, are the dark, apathetic youths with their angst and their "I'm cool cause I'm different" attitudes, being pelted from all sides. You've then got the constructive types who were trying to shoot for the basketball net. Then you've got the people with anger-management issues who took full advantage of the situation and whipped balls at people as hard as they could. Yes, if you ever want to know who your true friends are, put them in a room full of balls.

All tolled, we covered most of Section A and B and I got in at 6:30am. The art was delicious, and I hope that this is the first of many White Nights, although my suggestion for next year would be to pick a less rainy season to have it in.

n8