A Sleepless Night of Art in the City

I managed to pick the art I wanted to see for Nuit Blanche yesterday, headed out, and met up with Chunling downtown. We spent the entire time in Zone A and saw 12 different things in this order:
1. Project Blinkenlights
2. Urbanity Humanity
3. Cocoon Garden
4. Euronight 08
5. Concurrence - Emerging Canadian Artists
6. Waterfall
7. Time Piece
8. Dream Home
9. Sitting Ducks
10. House of Leaves
11. 15 Seconds
12. Stock Extravaganza

The night started off with us going to Nathan Phillips Square and observing the world's largest Pong game being played on City Hall. We spent about 3 hours walking around finding the various exhibits and concluded at the corner of Bay and Dundas.

What I enjoyed most about Nuit Blanche was that the evening was beautiful - it was the perfect night to go for a walk around downtown Toronto. My only regret was that I did not have the energy to take in more exhibits. I will be attending next year's Nuit Blanche for sure. I will just make sure I have a really big nap before I go out.

Along the way we saw a historic moment - the Sam the Record Man sign was lit up for the last time on Yonge Street. It will now be moved from its home to somewhere else on the Ryerson campus. I hope whatever Ryerson does with the sign, they will do it justice. That sign is a landmark, an icon, and a fixture in the city. It is almost as famous as the CN Tower. Maybe even more. It was a bitter sweet moment, as I will miss seeing the sign in all its cheesy glory.

If I had to pick a favourite exhibit, it would have been Urbanity Humanity. I understood the art much better there than anywhere else. I also felt that out of the displays I saw, they put the most effort into their display. Although I have no doubt that all artists took pride in their work, I really felt it the most at Urbanity Humanity. Hopefully these artists and the Beaver Hall Artists' Co-Op will have a display there next year. If they do, it will be at the top of my list to see.

Stock Extravaganza was the most bizzaare. I'm not sure if I liked it, or I didn't like it, but it does make for a good story. Chunling and I got to the corner of Dundas and Bay where the exhibit was supposed to be. We saw the Nuit Blanche flag, but could not see any art. We thought it might be inside the Atrium, but no one was going in there. We could hear music playing towards Bay street, and a little crowd was gathered, but all we could see was a garbage can.
Chunling: "People are looking inside the garbage can!"
Me: "Oh yeah, I remember why I picked this now. It is because the exhibit is inside the garbage can."

Chunling gave me a slightly perplexed look. She hasn't known me quite long enough to understand why I chose it. Or she's one of the remaining optimists that keeps hoping my penchant for that which is truly bizzaare will go away.

Chunling: "You want to see this?"
Me: "Yes, but there is a line."
Chunling: "Maybe they will let me just peak inside to see if I want to stand in the line."
Me: "I don't think people will let you do that. We should probably just go to the line or skip the exhibit."
Chunling: "It is getting kind of late. Perhaps I should go home."
Me: "No worries, I'm not sure if I want to stand in line to look inside a garbage can either."

After parting ways, curiosity had the better of me and I just HAD to see what was in the garbage can. Plus, I really wanted bragging rights to say that I stood in line to look inside a garbage can.

So I went back and stood in line. The line moved very fast, I peaked inside, I thought about what I saw for a bit, and then wandered off to see the world's largest pong game displayed on City Hall again. After that, I grabbed a tea, caught my train, and headed home to go to bed.