Nuit Blanche brings all-night art to downtown Toronto and beyond
The City of Toronto’s overnight art show returns this weekend, featuring 80 art projects from nearly 250 artists in a variety of disciplines.
The free exhibition, which spans from Scarborough to Etobicoke, will run from 7 p.m. on Saturday to 7 a.m. on Sunday, with projects centred around the theme of “Breaking Ground.” This year, participants were encouraged to explore nature and climate change in their work, in artworks curated by Toronto artists Lillian O’Brien Davis, Kari Cwynar and Noa Bronstein.
Jeanne Holmes, programming manager for City of Toronto cultural events, says planning for Nuit Blanche is unlike anything she’s done before.
“I thought I knew what producing was before this,” Holmes said in an interview with CP24. “But this is so different from anything else in the world, and it comes with a lot of amazing, and kind of dreamy opportunities.” Nuit Blanche brings with it complicated logistics, including the extension of TTC service overnight and added safety features to ensure people can see where they’re going as they walk between exhibits in the dark.
“These projects are all connected in a particular way,” continued Holmes, “and we want to ensure people get a sense of that. We’re working hard to communicate the details of the selection process and the curation to our audience.”
The City of Toronto’s guide to getting around during Nuit Blanche is available online.
Here’s a sampling of some of what audiences can expect at Nuit Blanche 2023.
The 52: Stories of Women Who Transformed Toronto – Downtown Toronto
Presented by Myseum of Toronto, “The 52” invites 24 established and emerging artists to tell the stories of 52 historically significant women in the city through dramatic monologues.
Featured writers include Theatre Passe Muraille artistic director Marjorie Chan, playwright and librettist Kanika Ambrose, and 22 additional ground-breaking dramatic writers in Toronto.
Something Is Awake – Etobicoke
This video installation uses the work of nine Humber College students to create a “soul-stirring” exploration of love, life and death.
A cut at an edge that was always a middle – Scarborough
Created by Mitchell Akiyama, this sound installation invites audiences to reflect on the space around them in a project that reflects on “notions of place, land-use and belonging,” creating a “sonic representation of Scarborough.”
Your Wish is Your Command and A Practical Guide – Downtown Toronto
Created by award-winning visual artist Divya Mehra, these inflatable sculptures are a sight to behold. “A Practical Guide” resembles a large grocery bag, a symbol that “speaks to the colonial history of Turtle Island.”
Letters of Haunting – Scarborough
This textile installation explores family histories in diaspora by reclaiming ancestral traditions of embroidery. According to Nuit Blanche organizers, the piece “calls attention to canonically underrepresented art practices for community building, deinstitutionalization of art spaces and sustainability.”
Caementarium – Etobicoke
This multimedia installation uses “speculative architectural gestures” to suggest the former site of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital, which treated patients until 1979. According to Nuit Blanche organizers, the work “engages in a speculative conversation with the ways of living, sheltering, controlling, caring and remediating that once constituted this place.”
You can view the complete list of projects at the Nuit Blanche website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From essential goods to common stocking stuffers, Trudeau offering Canadians temporary tax relief
Consumers will receive a temporary tax break on essential items and common stocking stuffers heading into the holiday season, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday, alongside a spring $250 rebate for 18.7 million Canadians.
BREAKING Matt Gaetz drops bid for Trump attorney general in face of U.S. Senate opposition
Hardline Republican Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's attorney general, in the face of opposition from the Senate Republicans whose support he would have needed to win the job.
Here's a list of items that will be GST/HST-free over the holidays
Canadians won’t have to pay GST on a selection of items this holiday season, the prime minister vowed on Thursday.
Mother charged after infant dies in midtown Toronto: police
The mother of an infant who died after being found at an apartment building in midtown Toronto on Wednesday has been charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life.
2 arrested during Greenpeace protest outside Stornoway residence in Ottawa
Two people have been arrested following a protest outside Stornoway, the official residence of Canada's leader of the Opposition.
Arrest warrant issued for suspect charged in Toronto airport gold heist
Peel police say a bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of one of the suspects charged in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Son of Norway crown princess detained for one week in rape probe
The son of Norway's crown princess will be jailed for up to one week while police investigate accusations of rape made against him, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
Australian who drank tainted alcohol in Laos has died, raising toll to 4
An Australian teenager has died after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos in what Australia's prime minister on Thursday called every parent's nightmare. An American and two Danish tourists also died, officials said, following reports that several people had been sickened in a Laotian town popular with backpackers.
Watch Dramatic video shows officers save driver from burning truck after brakes fail
Stunning video shows officers in Columbus, Ohio jumping into action to save a driver from his burning pickup truck.