Nuit Blah! Nche

[Illuminati]

great to see so many smiling faces in the streets and a general good vibe in the air but overall the event, as far as "art" is concerned, was a big snore to me.

you?

[gasper]

Liberty Village was awesome.

[erika]

Started rather late, due to an inadvertent nuit blanche the night before.

The first thing I encountered made my night:
A guy, with a bicycle pulling what looked like a hot-dog steamer
That had a sound-system and a laptop
And a guy was playing insane industrial music
And people would fall in and out of following
Like a northern urban insane batucada

Then saw the books at Bay&Wellesley
So much better photographed than they were in real life
Had to check out the phases of the moon at Hepbourne Block
And thought about how many bits of Nikita had been filmed there

Walked away from the line-up at Maple Leaf Gardens

Heard the most wonderful audio-installation
Then experienced the most wonderful multi-media installation
Probably the most satisfying piece of the night at Yonge and Adelaide
Then that mildly subervise hilarity at Commerce Court

Liked the oil drums limiting words on Liberty
Couldn't find one of the installations I was looking for
Stopped in to No Regrets for a double before last call
Such a great place, such utter shit music and selector/mc - wow
Got too cold to search out more there

Loved the sound and lit stairs under the bridge on the walk back up
Paused at Gladstone for the comedy news show take on nuit blanche
(Lasted one drink)

Stopped in at a couple of galleries along the way
Then danced at the band out of the U-Haul at Fennings and Queen
124 was migrating from annoying-ish hyped hip hop to in your face electro
I walked out for a breather then watched the cops arrive en masse
(Even the ones on bikes)

Met up with my favourite persian brothers
And introduced them to the newest version of Lorraine's

I had fun
People with tourist eyes
Art in unexpected places
Random zombies on the subway and streetcar
All good

[Lysistrata]

that was a lot of fun. never made it north of dundas, but liberty village was awesome and i really enjoyed city hall and commerce court - and buster keaton at OCAD!

[thom100]

Had a great time

Highlights- improve Fake Plastic Trees at Bellwoods sing along.
and mascott madness

lowlights- some jerk stealing my pedals off my bike and having to walk it home from King/Dufferin to Queen/Sherbourne at 6am.

maple leaf garden


the last time Sams will be lit up






Happy Hardcore party outside OCAD

[thom100]

trinity bellwoods was much calmer this year




wish trees in Liberty Village



Mascot silliness





standard University ave shot to end the night



now time to sleep

[bombthreat23]

i wanted to like this so much...I loved that the city was alive last night...but wow was I disappointed, what a waste of space at maple leaf gardens, i mean you are given access to MAPLE LEAF GARDENS and all we get is some lame screens with robots talking?!?!?!?!?!?. Where were the zombies? we waited like an hour and nothing, ugh the eaton center, really a big blue inflatable tube? that is it? city hall was ok I guess....

[skyparty]

God I am so pissed I missed this event!

I was too drunk from dinner and a wings/leafs game that I was passed out by 11:30.

God I'm a loser.

[rentboy]

[QUOTE=bombthreat23] ugh the eaton center, really a big blue inflatable tube? that is it? QUOTE]


haha, i was laughing at the crowds standing underneath it like it was this spectacular piece. It was an inflatable tube spinning slowly!!! Awful.

The garbage office thing beside Massey Hall was equally dreadful.


The Horridor in the basement of Union Station was cool...two facing walls with 3 projections on each and a bombardment of movie clips of people screaming. It was surreal.

City Hall was ok, i expected it to have more varying displays and more decipherable detail.

[Lil'Timmy]

[QUOTE=rentboy]

Originally Posted by bombthreat23

ugh the eaton center, really a big blue inflatable tube? that is it? QUOTE]


The Horridor in the basement of Union Station was cool...two facing walls with 3 projections on each and a bombardment of movie clips of people screaming. It was surreal.

That was a highlight for me, I laughed so hard leaving, so good. The Mascots took the cake though, pure genius

[rejenerate]

Had a great time wandering around with friends, feeling the energy of the night and running into random people...but overall, the art remained underwhelming as usual. My favourite was probably the modern dancers at the Casa Loma stables...except for the young, possibly drunk idiots who were quite audibly making fun of them. I do not get that at all. One guy sat down for their performance then proceeded to look at his cellphone and/or stare off into space the whole time.

Unfortunately my friend from out of town insisted on meeting other out-of-town friends at a certain time, and he and another friend were very insistant we go to the zombie thing straight from Casa Loma, and we ended up missing everything in between. The zombie thing was lame...there was nothing happening while we were there except large crowds hanging around. Seemed like they just wanted to get free extras or something. I told my friends not to get their expectations so high.

Massey Hall, Eaton Centre...meh. City Hall was kinda cool. Line-up at OCAD was massive at 4am so didn't bother, though we did enjoy the impromptu rave, the band playing in the back of a UHaul truck and getting the last slices of pizza at Pizzaolo. The Music Gallery is in a beautiful church I've never been to before and the NFB was fun. Never made it back to U of T/Yorkville, and too tired to go to Liberty Village.

[Michlerish]

Originally Posted by rentboy

City Hall was ok, i expected it to have more varying displays and more decipherable detail.

a) Depending on where you were standing, it was reflecting the opposite building's lights in the windows... which was making it hard to decipher at times.

b) It was interactive... dial a number and you get to play pong or tetris against someone else on the building.

In the lights, I saw:
a running horse with rider
a movie eye
waves and/or ripples like water
words and numbers
tetris and pong and space invaders


City Hall was one of my favourite exhibits, by far! I especially liked getting up on the skywalk to see it

[Michlerish]

I was disappointed to discover that "Original Soundtrack" off of Liberty St had completely shut down around 6:15am... there were absolutely no traces of it ever having been there (which means it was shut down a lot earlier than when we arrived).

WTF? I remember reading the rules where it specifically states that you MUST remain until 7am.

[Michlerish]

I really liked the Dandyberry in the Dominion parking lot off Liberty Street.

You could speak in different mics, which would come out of speakers in random different areas. So, you could hide amongst the bubble wrap things, call your friend and they wouldn't know where you were.

The funniest thing was that it records some of the things you say into it, and replays at random times. Long after I'd left, my friend could hear me calling her name in there!

[basilisk]

Originally Posted by erika

The first thing I encountered made my night:
A guy, with a bicycle pulling what looked like a hot-dog steamer
That had a sound-system and a laptop
And a guy was playing insane industrial music
And people would fall in and out of following
Like a northern urban insane batucada

Sounds like the MIR sound system. I followed them for a while as they pushed through crowds on Queen. Smiles all around, hard and dirty jungle beats or breakcore, definitely a good little project.

Did anyone catch the impromptu fire in Trinity-Bellwoods? I think someone torched an art project (I saw chicken wire and plastic tubing in the melting wreckage). Since it was cold, a huge crowd soon gathered, and then the idiots took over. Lighters were thrown into the mess to trigger a satisfying explosion and soon thereafter some absolute geniuses began to dismantle the nearest park bench for kindling. 5 minutes later the firetrucks arrived and everyone scattered.

I saw the ugly side of humanity last night. My private joke was that all of Queen was a mammoth art exhibit entitled "Consequences of Inebriation." I witnessed arguments, fights, people falling over, breaking things, shopkeepers taping up broken storefront windows... an all night art riot thing, surely. In amidst all the chaos and pandemonium, a few of us decided to make for the yarn shop--after all, if things had gone to hell at the yarn shop, there really was no hope for any of us. But then the night turned around and we got to some of the more interesting galleries on Queen West... so it all worked out in the end.

[erika]

Originally Posted by basilisk

Sounds like the MIR sound system. I followed them for a while as they pushed through crowds on Queen. Smiles all around, hard and dirty jungle beats or breakcore, definitely a good little project.

In amidst all the chaos and pandemonium, a few of us decided to make for the yarn shop--after all, if things had gone to hell at the yarn shop, there really was no hope for any of us. But then the night turned around and we got to some of the more interesting galleries on Queen West... so it all worked out in the end.

Yes that is what they told me it was called - such a cool notion. I know what you mean about part of Queen; after leaving the Gladstone and hitting a few galleries I walked mostly on the street to avoid the whole Drake to Social strip, which combined all the more unfortunate parts of a Saturday night PLUS later hours - becoming an after-hours zone for idiots.

Bumped into a bunch of my friends right outside the yarn shop but decided to push on towards Ossington - what was going on in there?

PS. Thom, great shots!

[I<3Robots]

Originally Posted by Michlerish

WTF? I remember reading the rules where it specifically states that you MUST remain until 7am.

We got a really late (4am) start by bike and hit up Liberty Village, which was def a highlight, but some was in the process of or had been taken down. Still lots to see.

We biked through most of Zone C and only 50% was still there, nothing in Trinity Bellwoods. Went north and even the zombies were packing it in. Hung out at City Hall for a bit as Run for the Cure was being set up and loads of people were still playing Space Invaders on City Hall.

Biked down to the Scotia Tower...surely the title sponsor would still be set up and likely some installations in the area...It was all still set up but only security guards were there...everyone staffing it long gone and not even 6:30am.

So if the title sponsor's not going to support it until 7am I'm not surprised that the artists didn't feel the need to either. The website even specifically mentioned 5am-7am as an option for "early risers."

-------------------------------------

Decided to call it a night remembering how packed the streets were and how animated and spontaneous things were still popping up that late last year.

Did anyone make it to 401 Richmond? That complex was the one place I really wanted to hit because it was so quality and diverse last year. It was closed, too.

[Jme]

The brochure pictures were a lot better then the real deal, and thom100's. The exhibit in the Maple Leafs gardens was a waste of space! I don't know who curated that exhibit, in the future you should choose more wisely what you display in the major areas. I don't care to know the "artists" philosophy behind the screens, it was shit! There should of been something more interactive with the Gardens itself, everyone was more interested in the building and wanted to sit in the seats, that would of been cool.

Best part of the night was rolling around with friends going to and from the exhibits.

[Jme]

Originally Posted by Michlerish

City Hall was one of my favourite exhibits, by far! I especially liked getting up on the skywalk to see it

I agree, that was a cool concept. They should of had Alice from Resident Evil repel down the building to kill some of those lame zombies tripping around.

[DaPhatConductor]

F!

[SmoothOperator]

The locations I had great fun at last year were DEAD this year. Grange Park, Kensington Market (completely empty!), and Trinity Bellwoods. Didn't see anything spectacular or fun at all. Bummer.
At least the crowds were fun.

[--[Zirca]--]

I associate Nuit Blanche to yard sales - The occasional gem amongst a sea of shit.

That about sums it up.

[erika]

And for me the gems are the interesting pieces in places where you DON'T expect them, like the multi-media installation in that smallish space nestled amongst high buildings at Adelaide and Queen.

[mandapanda]

i had fun. decided to avoid queen west this year cos last year i felt we just saw a bunch of galleries that i could see anytime, and it was too crowded. i liked the "house of leaves" at ryerson, and the waterfall thingie at the ontario power station, or whatever it's called. good times lying down on the floor in the reference library...my aching back enjoyed that a lot. the waterfall thing in there was cool, but wow --- that was some of the WORST impromptu i have ever seen in my life. so bad. city hall was cool - i enjoyed being able to go up on the walkway. really wanted to go see horriridor but it was 2 am and going to sleep in my warm, cozy bed sounded a lot more enticing than trying to get down to union. on my way home, i stopped in trinity bellwoods (after some chick flipped out and threw food down the sidewalk into a bunch of people, which luckily didn't hit me or i would have been none too amused) and tried to find the red lights but couldn't see anything and didn't really feel like walking through the park on my own.

again, nothing that totally blew me away, but good times nonetheless.

[Hawk Eye]

Last year 90% of the stuff I saw sucked.. This year I was quite impressed. Most of the instillations I saw I enjoyed.

City Hall was by far my fave instillation. Save the best till last.
The books at Bay and Wellsley were well done.
I loved the paper mache Skeletons at the Gladstone
The oil drums in Liberty Village.
Yoko Ono had a dream tree, which was ok, a cool concept but I just think it made a lot of trash for the city.
In Yorkville there was a place where you can write a note on a postcard and it will be mailed to anyone in Zone A. My friends and I had a lot of fun writing stupid shit on the post cards..
We went to the ROM to see the crystal which was nice, and they had an exhibit open, there was a room with a video being displayed of this girl blowing up a balloon. I kept trying to get my friend to leave bc it was quite boring but he wanted to wait until it popped. There were 5 girls in the corner who were so fucked up on something, they were squealing, and leaning into each other anticipating the pop of the balloon.

I wish I went to Varsity Stadium, as we were already in that area, to see the mascots, and I heard the cinecycle instillation was well done in Liberty Village.

The Instillation at Maple Leaf Gardens was a huge disappointment. Zombie Alley also sucked.

Overrall, i had a blast, it was great taking the subway at 4am to City Hall, seeing the city alive. I had fun.

Did anyone see the old Streetcar on Queen? I took a few photos of that.
I also saw a bike rider at king/dufferin with blue xmas lights all over him
There were 3 guys running partially nude on bloor, at bloor/bay.