We had a great time Saturday night at Nuit Blanche, walking about 5+km, stopping to see the great exhibits along the way. We headed out around 7:15 and ended up at La Société at 10; we had a light supper of French Onion Soup at 10:30 at their wonderful bar. This evening is such a massive undertaking that the city completely closes down some of the major streets for the installations to happen — you really need to plan your evening, so you’re not back tracking and you’re seeing the most you can see within the time you’ve allowed (this is our fourth year seeing it, so we’ve learned a few things along the way). I’ll just highlight the installations we enjoyed the most — we saw about 20 installations all together.
The first thing we saw was a memorial exhibit in the middle of Yonge Street the longest street in the world, called Memorias an exhibit which invites the audience to light a candle in commemoration of the lost lives of Ontario-based migrant workers (I didn’t even know we had migrant workers!).
Sensational was the next thing we saw. This is a very large installation that occupied the park area between 4 major Bank Towers. What drew us to this (other than the planning) was that it was loud, and there were search lights beaming on the towers, and lasers. It was very compelling, in a happy kind of way — it actually made me smile. As I looked around, I noticed at the faces of the others, I noticed that they too were smiling.
Tie Break ESPN called it “the most riveting episode in the sport’s history.” (from Nuit Blanche website) the 1980 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Finals between Björn Borg and John McEnroe. The guys actually LOOKED like them, talk about flashback to the 80’s!! Here is one of our photos
Infra a light show projected on a large building, controlled by the audience. It was very cool, but difficult to photograph.
Through the Gorilla Glass was on the roof top garden of New City Hall. It was quite cool, impossible to photo. It’s a series of mechanical arms that move in sequence when disturbed (interactive) the arms have gorilla glass at each end that change colour depending on how they are disturbed.
Heart Machine is an installation we stumbled upon, but by far the coolest one we saw. Actual HUGE flames were initiated by audience interaction. We felt the heat while we were walking toward it about 50 metres away! It was a chilly night, so the heat was welcomed! We made a little movie of it, but I cannot figure out how to get it into a format for wordpress:-(
Coevality. This was interesting to watch. A video projected on a wall depicting two generations of three artists (you only see the brushes) changing up an existing piece of art of Victorian buildings. The transformations were fun to watch.
Slow Falls Rising. A video of Niagara Falls turned upside down. By this time we were a little tired, chilled and hungry, so the we didn’t hang around the exhibit long. It was interesting but not ‘wow’!
Dinner. We finally arrived on Bloor Street to one of our favourite French Restaurants, La Société at 10 pm (their kitchen is open until 2am, so we figured we were safe at 10pm). It was PACKED! We didn’t have reservations but fortunately they were able to squeeze us in at the Bar. We weren’t starving but needed a glass of wine and something warm: French Onion Soup. I must say, I have had many FOS but this one, by far, ROCKED. The stock had the most amazing flavour and NOT TOO SALTY either. I will give this dish 5/5! Please see my previous review of La Société.
We got home around midnight (this is when the Nuit Blanche is just starting to get crazy crowded, but I turn into a pumpkin at midnight, and with Thanksgiving next weekend, I was a little frightened someone might make a pie out of me! ;-).)
Another year done, and October is upon us. Soon the leaves will begin to change colour and fall to the ground, and then the snow will cover them for another 6 months! I have only one thing to say: “I’M NOT READY YET!”
PS. Sawsan, I’m on my second batch of croissants. The first turned out fine, but not leafy enough. I am going to persevere until I get it right!
Thanks for sharing the photos. Makes me wish I’d gone to the Paris one after all 😦 The heart machine flames sound awesome!
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Charles, you will have to mark it in your calendar for next year. I’m sure the one in Paris is awesome, isn’t everything?
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One thing I’ve learned from visiting Canada is that you guys throws fantastic festivals and events! 🙂
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Thanks Lorraine, It surely was a well organized event. And safe too, there were cops everywhere (on bike, on horseback, in cars, and walking!).
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What a wonderful celebration! It sounds like you enjoyed yourselves and the exhibits you mentioned were incredible!
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The installations were very cool indeed!
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Is there anything in the world better than a good French Onion Soup? I just love it! It looks like a great time and how cool they did a vintage tennis match!
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Thanks Ann, the tennis match was a hoot. They really looked the part!
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Sounds like you had such a fun time!! 🙂
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Thanks Manju!
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This sounds like so much fun! It was fun to read too – I recognized a lot of the street names from when we were there this summer. I just love Toronto! It looks like such a neat event – I’ve never seen anything like it. 🙂
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Thanks Kristy. It is a great event. The streets are absolutely packed all night, and it’s the only time our subways run all night long (usually, the close at 2am!)
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SOunds like a cool time. Not sure about the upside down water falls, what does all that water rushing sound like backwards? Ha. Now I want a croissant and French onion soup.
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Thanks Greg. The water fall didn’t have any sound. It made me a little woozy to watch it so we left.
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As the artist, I could love a copy of our movie. We are excited to bring this new form of art to Toronto to warm up the night. A big part of why fire art is so prominent at Burning Man is for it’s primordial elemental nature and ability to bring people together around the flames. In addition, it is very cold in the desert at night and coming upon flaming art is a welcome reprieve for the cold desert winds.
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Hi Christine, thanks for stopping by. How did you find me? It’s very flattering that you commented on my blog! What did the title “heart machine” have to do with it? My husband thought the chimneys were actual arteries of the heart. I loved that the audience had to rub the disks to get the flames shooting out. Really cool installation! I will email you the movie when I get home from work tonight. Thanks again!
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Sounds like you had a fantastic time! :-))) It all sounds great (including the French Onion Soup!)
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Thanks Manu!
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