Edited by: Jina AryaanÂ
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A week after Nuit Blanche seems like a good time to reflect on all the art and madness that is Nuit ever year. The first installation we saw was Speculating in Futures at University of Toronto Schools. It was an interactive piece, where somebody had to pull a lever and this would result in a displaying a fortune on a screen above. Sometimes it would ask questions about morality or decision-making or the like. It wasn’t one of the pieces that deeply resonated with me, but I appreciated that it involved the audience.
After deciding against waiting in line at the Bata Museum, we head over to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). The Family Camera Exhibit displayed there was one of my personal favorites this year. It resonated with me because my family really values pictures. Also, because I’m a third-culture kid and my friends and family live all over the world, pictures mean a lot to me. When I do get to see my loved ones, I love taking pictures so I can have something to look back on. Photography is also a way for me to organize and understand the world.
We pass by the UofT Faculty of Music, and although I was really excited to see the exhibition inside, the line was too long. We move towards Queen’s Park and we see Where Once Stood a Bandstand for Cruising & Shelter. It’s a large structure with 3 sides, and people at the top intermittently drop a banner. We witness the unveiling of several banners. To say the least, it’s a strange experience because everybody’s running around, trying to read what the latest unveiled banner says.
If Nuit Blanche doesn’t already feel surreal enough, with places we walk past every day hosting thoughtful and expressive art, the horses at this year’s Nuit Blanche added a whole other dimension to the surrealism. When I heard that there were horses, I assumed people were joking but as I walked to Queen’s Crescent, we see actual horses, a few of them. We spoke to some of the people around and they said the exhibition was supposed to be reminiscent of an earlier Toronto, one where horses were still in use. It’s also supposed to remind us how we are used to spaces being designed specifically and only for human use. After that strange experience, we walk towards Kings College Circle, where we are met with Automobile, an installation consisting of several cars with open trunks and doors, blasting music. It seemed like nobody really understood the point of this installation but we enjoyed the music anyway. Next, we walk to the Medical Sciences building at UofT, but not before we pass a large Black Lives Matter banner and booth. At the exhibit, a live performance about political resistance and how bodies are affected by it, Holding Still//Holding Together is occurring. After a quick coffee break, we lined up at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) to see The Forest. Luckily, we got to walk through much of the AGO and look at other art before we get to The Forest, which was a performative piece with a person standing in the middle reading something, and two other groups of people repeating the verses after them.
Frankly, it was difficult to discern what was being said but I was glad I got to visit the AGO. Being at Nathan-Philips Square was undeniably my favorite part of Nuit this year. After a long wait in line for Monument to the Century of the Revolutions, we got to walk around and explore the different shipping containers that supposedly represented different revolutions that occurred in the last century, with large pictures of historical moments and huge flags. Having been inspired and greatly affected by the Revolution of 2011 in Egypt, this exhibit was definitely my favorite.
Similar to every other year, there were a few mishaps here and there. For example, my friends and I couldn’t seem to find the art around OCAD, and the number of people out, and about was a little overwhelming at times. However, it was interesting that this year’s Nuit Blanche had more theme and structure as compared to previous years. Some of the installations and exhibits were more accessible, but others still remained difficult to understand or engage with. That being said, Nuit Blanche is one of the things that makes this city great.