Sleepless Night in Toronto

PatrickCheung · 10-04-2011

I went back to Toronto the past weekend to attend Nuit Blanche (means sleepless night). For those who don't know, it's an annual art show on the streets of downtown Toronto that takes place at night (7pm-7am). Artists set up exhibitions all over the streets and in buildings around the city. Many exhibitions are interactive, some are long term, short term, or already completed. It's pretty cool :]

Anyway, here are a few photos I got from the night. There isn't too much art captured, but I got a few people shots I enjoyed :]

Shot with a Fuji X100, for those who wonder!

Airships, an exhibition by some University of Toronto Engineering students and Waterloo Masters of Architecture (that's my school!) students! Played with Bulb mode... the place was dark. Really soothing. They had some blimps set up, with lights in them, and some soft music playing!

I forgot what this one was called, but it was basically a bunch of photos of sex doll faces, with a quote from different... sex doll enthusiasts next to each photo.

The Heart Machine. A really cool machine that breathed fire once "blood" reached the machines. It's best to google this one. There was a fire dancer in the middle of all the machines... I got 5 shots of her, so I decided to put them all into one "multiple exposure". Played around with blurring to create the feel of motion!

Some Street photos:

The girl in the last photo... I found her really pretty, so I took her photo :]

jammcat · 10-04-2011

"Nuit Blanche" does /not/ mean "sleepless night".

zauhar · 10-04-2011

OK. You force me to admit that the X100 can take truly striking photos when in competent hands. ;-)

Great shots.

Randy

newsgrunt · 10-04-2011

I'm guessing he meant that it would be a sleepless night visiting all the installations

Nuit Blanche also refers to itself as being synonymous with "sleepless night"

btw, I'm hearing this year was so so ( didn't end up going) , anyone else have similar thoughts ?

jammcat · 10-04-2011

I saw no exhibits save the Heart Machine, as I was too engrossed with following the Renegade Parade which cut through the city in celebration of Nuit Blanche.

sevres_babylone · 10-05-2011

It doesn't literally mean Sleepless Night, but the producers of the French thriller, Nuit Blanche, which was at the Toronto International Film Festival, used Sleepless Night as their English title. A literal translation, White night, certainly doesn't convey the idea of Nuit Blanche as an all night art experience.
http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/ti...sleeplessnight

j.scooter · 10-05-2011

I went this year for the first time, thought it was preety good. I especially liked the "soon" exhibit, which turned small corner of Toronto into the scene of an alien invasion.

I really like that last shot, would be interested to see how it would look in b&w.

PatrickCheung · 10-05-2011

to clear up the confusion, my french friend told me it meant sleepless night, so take that for what it is :] I apologize to those who I've offended... if that somehow offends people. The story is... I tell my friend about Nuit Blanche, he doesnt know about it, and asks me why we'd got to toronto to stay up all night... I explain what Nuit Blanche is and tell him that's why we'd stay up. He says that it's a french saying which means "staying up all night"

J.Scooter! That's the one exhibition I missed that seemed awesome... damn. was it fun?

I feel like this year WAS kinda so-so... well it depends on how you look at it. If you enjoy art for it's meaning and message, then it's fine. A lot of the pieces made you think. But if you want sheer awesomeness (a la the Heart Machine), then you'd be pretty dissapointed.

Apparenty my school's exhibition (Through the Gorilla Glass) got a place on the top-ten best pieces of 2011 Nuit Blanche on T.O. Blog :P

AND... with regards to the last shot... I agree :] Black and White would be kinda cool... I'll play with that and see if I like it :]