From sunset to sunrise last Saturday, Toronto was transformed into an open art museum with over 80 independent projects by Toronto’s art community and four curated exhibitions featuring 48 projects produced by the city of Toronto.
Thousands of people came from all over the GTA, leaving the comfort of their beds and venturing out onto the streets for the all-night event, whose name means “sleepless night” in French.
The night felt like four degrees, but the cold did not stop people from exploring the streets of Toronto. This year, artwork was also featured in new areas such as Fort York, Chinatown, and Roundhouse Park.
One project that interested many students who went with UTM was the “Everything and Nothing” talk, a dialogue between a man and a woman at Fort York Public Library in which the woman recited phrases beginning with “everything” and the man answered with phrases beginning with “nothing”. They switched roles multiple times throughout the night.
Another attractive project was “Walk Among Worlds” by Argentinian artist Máximo Gonzáles, situated at Ogden Junior Public School. For the project, the school was decorated with 7,000 inflatable globes, one for every million people on the planet. The globes were in three different sizes representing the range from the first to the third worlds.
Other projects had less of a clear message and left people confused. “Art is not meant to be understood,” commented Riham Ahmed, a first-year St. George student. “It’s meant to make you feel something.”
Another concern was the crowds and the distance between the projects. “Nuit Blanche was a wonderful display of people’s obscure thoughts and reflections, but the event was scattered and yet very packed, so it was hard to get close to some of the attractions,” said first-year CCIT student Shalini Nanayakkara.
But this didn’t stop the crowds from coming and enjoying the night. If you missed the main event, there will be 10 projects showcased until Monday, including “The Screaming Booth”, “The Eighth Wonder”, “Melting Point”, and “The Ascendant Line”.
Nuit Blanche began in Paris in 2002, according the official Nuit Blanche website, when the city decided to “bring contemporary art to the masses in public spaces” free of charge.
The next Nuit Blanche will take place on October 3, 2015.
