Nuit Blanche Tonight
Oct 2nd, 2010, 06:53 AM
#1
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Nuit Blanche Tonight
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/
Too bad it's supposed to be chilly but I still expect there'll be large crowds. If you're a knitter, there will be two places to take part in that "art".
Too bad it's supposed to be chilly but I still expect there'll be large crowds. If you're a knitter, there will be two places to take part in that "art".
Oct 2nd, 2010, 12:26 PM
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Yeah, the weather sucks. But lots of events are inside along West Queen West and there's always bars, coffee spots and restaurants to duck into plus the knitting places where you can stay for good - I'm taking an umbrella, which usually means it doesn't rain.
Oct 3rd, 2010, 06:00 AM
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Sort of a joke... there have been several Jewish Holidays in the last month and I believe most people have NO idea what Nuit Blanche even is... so I was hoping someone would take the time to explain it...
Oct 3rd, 2010, 06:29 AM
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People in Toronto will have heard of Nuit Blanche - it's a huge arts festival that's held overnight through the city. It's also done in a number of other cities in the world.
I didn't get to it. Weather was part of it, but I was also exhausted. My job these days is wearing me down, and I needed to just lie around my house and watch TV. Pathetic!
I didn't get to it. Weather was part of it, but I was also exhausted. My job these days is wearing me down, and I needed to just lie around my house and watch TV. Pathetic!
Oct 3rd, 2010, 06:38 AM
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Yeah, garyt22, what the heck do you mean?
No, OceanBreeze1, I didn't see it - I didn't buy the paper because I was still reading Friday's G&M...what did it say?
It didn't rain either - that's because I took an umbrella.
Got home just after 5 this morning, not sure why I'm awake now. Started in Bloor/Yonge/Yorkville area - very crowded and long lines for indoor installations - went back at 4ish to get into some of them but the Lower Bay subway station - long abandoned - still had lines with waits of 30 minutes.
One installation, for lack of a better word, on Yonge Street just outside College Park was a table set for a birthday party with balloons and a centrepiece; you could be invited to sit down for cake - one fellow came along (I was only watching), and was incensed that the table was full and he couldn't have a piece of cake...he stormed off. Not sure what he'd been smoking just prior to that.
Another food event, in a park, was a round picnic table with a fire going in the centre and people roasting marshmallows - it was busy; the people roasting the marshmallows instead of sitting on the bench part of the one piece table were standing on the table section - one fellow, who must have made the table or at least put it together, was drilling more screws into the legs in the dark and telling someone it wasn't meant to hold so many people.
The same park had a pile of sand to convey water, with a real rowboat and lights outlining a sail - two women sat in it looking very solemn, not speaking, one cut up a cake and gave out pieces.
On Queen West it was hard to move on the sidewalks with every second or third storefront an open art gallery with large crowds inside and out and with smokers standing outside bars and restaurants.
Spent 3 or so hours knitting at The Knit Cafe which has a wonderful display in their window with about a dozen knitters in the shop as background. Except for me, these are the kind of knitters who do so without looking at every stitch. Thank goodness they serve coffee - the little shop was packed all the time.
The Gladstone had a knitting circle, too - all the outcome from that was for street people - I think you could just pick up a project already in progress.
One of the women who came into the Cafe had seen some great installations - she had taken photos - no line-ups anywhere she'd been. Next year, I'll start right downtown.
A woman looking at the Knit Cafe's display was a "girl" I hadn't talked to or seen in 50 years - since Grade 8. I waved, she looked puzzled but came in and I had to tell her who I was - so guess who hasn't changed since Grade 8 - anyway, she's a published poet...she didn't tell me that - I googled her.
The best performance art I saw was a drunk with a cigarette stopping in the street in front of an ambulance with it's siren going - the medic on the passenger side got out and gave him one mighty shove - surprisingly, he didn't fall but stumbled all the way to the curb and stood there smoking like nothing had happened. A lot of us stopped to watch that.
No, OceanBreeze1, I didn't see it - I didn't buy the paper because I was still reading Friday's G&M...what did it say?
It didn't rain either - that's because I took an umbrella.
Got home just after 5 this morning, not sure why I'm awake now. Started in Bloor/Yonge/Yorkville area - very crowded and long lines for indoor installations - went back at 4ish to get into some of them but the Lower Bay subway station - long abandoned - still had lines with waits of 30 minutes.
One installation, for lack of a better word, on Yonge Street just outside College Park was a table set for a birthday party with balloons and a centrepiece; you could be invited to sit down for cake - one fellow came along (I was only watching), and was incensed that the table was full and he couldn't have a piece of cake...he stormed off. Not sure what he'd been smoking just prior to that.
Another food event, in a park, was a round picnic table with a fire going in the centre and people roasting marshmallows - it was busy; the people roasting the marshmallows instead of sitting on the bench part of the one piece table were standing on the table section - one fellow, who must have made the table or at least put it together, was drilling more screws into the legs in the dark and telling someone it wasn't meant to hold so many people.
The same park had a pile of sand to convey water, with a real rowboat and lights outlining a sail - two women sat in it looking very solemn, not speaking, one cut up a cake and gave out pieces.
On Queen West it was hard to move on the sidewalks with every second or third storefront an open art gallery with large crowds inside and out and with smokers standing outside bars and restaurants.
Spent 3 or so hours knitting at The Knit Cafe which has a wonderful display in their window with about a dozen knitters in the shop as background. Except for me, these are the kind of knitters who do so without looking at every stitch. Thank goodness they serve coffee - the little shop was packed all the time.
The Gladstone had a knitting circle, too - all the outcome from that was for street people - I think you could just pick up a project already in progress.
One of the women who came into the Cafe had seen some great installations - she had taken photos - no line-ups anywhere she'd been. Next year, I'll start right downtown.
A woman looking at the Knit Cafe's display was a "girl" I hadn't talked to or seen in 50 years - since Grade 8. I waved, she looked puzzled but came in and I had to tell her who I was - so guess who hasn't changed since Grade 8 - anyway, she's a published poet...she didn't tell me that - I googled her.
The best performance art I saw was a drunk with a cigarette stopping in the street in front of an ambulance with it's siren going - the medic on the passenger side got out and gave him one mighty shove - surprisingly, he didn't fall but stumbled all the way to the curb and stood there smoking like nothing had happened. A lot of us stopped to watch that.
Oct 3rd, 2010, 12:22 PM
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MG, Thanks for your Nuit Blanche(Toronto) report.
The Globe article described the long line ups, the crowds & the "liquored-up hooligans". You may be able to access it online @ www.globeandmail.com
I preferred your "article"!
The Globe article described the long line ups, the crowds & the "liquored-up hooligans". You may be able to access it online @ www.globeandmail.com
I preferred your "article"!
Oct 3rd, 2010, 12:57 PM
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If you go to www.globeandmail.com
type Nuit Blanche into Search.
The article is still there along w/ a couple of others on NB.
The one I read in Saturday's Globe is entitled "Is Nuit Blanche a Victim of Its Own Success?" ( or something like that.
type Nuit Blanche into Search.
The article is still there along w/ a couple of others on NB.
The one I read in Saturday's Globe is entitled "Is Nuit Blanche a Victim of Its Own Success?" ( or something like that.
Oct 3rd, 2010, 01:43 PM
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I bought the paper - the newsstand in the subway still had it. Yes, there were lineups at 8ish but not at 4 - except for Lower Bay subway installation. I thought the article was a bit over blown - I've haven't got it right here but didn't the writer quote only one whiny person?
Certainly there were a few drunks but I'm not wandering around these areas late on Sat night other times so I don't know what it's like then.
Certainly there were a few drunks but I'm not wandering around these areas late on Sat night other times so I don't know what it's like then.
Oct 7th, 2010, 01:33 PM
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"...huge arts festival..." my ...! It is a monumental celebration of the lack of real talent and the absence of art. One site after another with trivial, weird, or tasteless junk begging to be accepted and embraced by more tasteless people most of which have been unable to find anything other than black clothes and footwear to wrap themselves in for two decades. This should be called "The curtain call for art in our time." But there is a v. interesting show on at the Canadian Centre for Modern Art on Queen at Shaw - runs to end of year I think.
Oct 7th, 2010, 06:06 PM
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Well, that shows what you know - this tasteless person wore red.
And I think you mean the Museum of Contemporary Art (http://www.mocca.ca/) which I visited last year during Nuit Blanche - and didn't care for it as I recall - wasn't it something to do with great numbers of hockey sticks?
And I think you mean the Museum of Contemporary Art (http://www.mocca.ca/) which I visited last year during Nuit Blanche - and didn't care for it as I recall - wasn't it something to do with great numbers of hockey sticks?
