Are you excited for all of the nighttime wonder that comes with Nuit Blanche 2019? The FREE festival is set to transform the city on Oct. 5 from 7 p.m. to Oct. 6 at 7 a.m.
Head into the city core for a sleepless night of artistry surrounding the theme of Continuum, which encompasses both experiences and ideas. The City of Toronto is in a constant state of becoming, so expect this theme to interrogate "shifting boundaries, new developments and changing perspectives."
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There are two carefully curated exhibitions in Scarborough and Fort York, as well as a major installation at Nathan Phillips Square, all of which celebrate this theme.
Fort York
Surrounding the theme of Creation: Destruction, the Fork York exhibition is curated by Layne Hinton and Rui Pimenta. This exhibition is inspired by the area in which it is geographically located and seeks to "challenge our understandings of creation and destruction."
"Hoarding" by Gareth Lichty is a sculpture installation involving the "searing neon-yellow" hazard tape that draws the audience towards pillars holding up The Bentway. The pillars will become animated by the wind, drawing viewers into the state of impermanence.
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Francesca Chudnoff's "Halcyon" will drench dancer in blue light who will interact with a sound and video installation. This installation emphasizes the many ways in which human beings "tune and adjust our self-presentation, both onscreen and in real life."
You'll find even more art nearby.
Scarborough
Nuit Blanche comes back to Scarborough for the second year in a row. An exhibition curated by Ashley McKenzie-Barnes called the Queens and Kings of Scarborough will be situated around Scarborough Centre neighbourhood. This exhibition will take on "systems of social marginalization, self-identity negotiation, and racial stereotyping within a modern framework."
Cree artist Kent Mockman's video installation "The Miss Chief Eagle Testickle Picture Show" speaks to "subjectivity and authority in colonial art history" through his alter-ego. Expect a bold, provocative look at reconciliation, Indigenous resilience and the colonial gaze.
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Toronto-based pop artist Hatecopy — whose works explores the South Asian diaspora, feminism and race — will host "The Big Feminist Game Show." This interactive, live-streamed event will test participants on their knowledge of "women who have often been left uncredited and overshadowed in the media."
Jamaican-born artist Ebony G. Patterson's video installation "...three kings weep..." brings its audience into a setting mimicking a place of worship. Here, three young Black men are depicted as larger than life. Cloaked in "floral patterns and gleaming jewels," embodying a Renaissance painting, these men are adorned in the forces beyond them which influence their lives.
Expect to find even more incredible artists onsite.
Toronto
Downtown Toronto will have a plethora of mind-bending installations celebrating the city. Head over to Esmaa Mohamoud and Bryan Espiritu's "Peace to the Past, Reach for the Future" for a celebration of The Raptors. This sculpture looks back on 25 years of the team, "discovering tenderness and vulnerability behind champions' muscled shells."
Jonathan Schipper's "Detritus" focuses on 3D-printed models of everyday objects made out of salt. These objects, amongst others, include chairs, tires and toilets, will be "brought into existence only to dissolve back ito a sea of salt." This shows the transient nature of seemingly stable, permanent things which inevitably corrode over time.
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A light installation by Nathan Whitford called "Nucleus" will change in response to the energy and presence of bystanders. Underneath the Gardiner Expressway, this piece will feed off of life itself.
Head downtown for dozens of dazzling art experiences that will leave you feeling enchanted.
Must-See Exhibits
Lunar Garden
This major art installation will take over Nathan Phillips Square. Daniel Arsham creates "future relics of the past," fictional archeology that takes you into the beautiful unknown. His Japanese-inspired Lunar Garden installation brings the Moon to downtown Toronto.
Drop by to take a break from the real world and enter this surreal landscape. This garden takes people into a place of "permanence and impermanence creating a work that has the tendency to float in time." You'll hear an original soundscape from Charlotte Day Wilson.
Life of the Earth
Director X is back at Nuit Blanche to showcase Life of the Earth, a meditation on human beings and our impact on the planet. This piece looks at "environmental destruction and the sixth mass extinction of plant and animal life" currently underway. Bringing the audience from the early origins of the planet to the future, this installation shows "Pangaea to the Anthropocene to an Earth 100,000 years beyond humankind."
Also on display will be Director X's Death of the Sun, which premiered at Nuit Blanche 2016, and that portrays "the death of the sun that sustains us." Stop by to see both installations on display.
