Nuit Blanche 2009

In early October, I took my two nieces with me to Nuit Blanche in Toronto. For those of you who do not know what Nuit Blance is, it is an all night celebration of art (visual art, performance art, collaborative art, music and dance) that is held in and around the downtown core. This is an exceptional night that I wait for all year long. My nieces, hearing me rave about last year’s Nuit Blanche, demanded that I take them with me this year. So, I gave in, bundled them up (much to the 16 year olds chagrin...”This coat makes me look like a giant marshmallow and I’m NOT wearing it!”), and drove the 2 hours to the city.


I was sure that my nieces wouldn’t be impressed by the evening, but I was wrong...BIG TIME! My eldest niece thought that the ‘Fabulous Four Letter Word Machine’ was an absolute riot! Spectators lined up at a computer station outside of Toronto City Hall to type whatever non-vulgar 4 letter words they could think of. Then the words were displayed on what looked like a giant computer screen stretched between the City Hall buildings, and a freaky, computer generated voice would then pronounce (or at least try to pronounce) the 4 four letter word displayed.

My youngest niece thought that the “Dirge for Dead Slang” was pretty cool. I think that this art instillation was made far more enjoyable by my youngest niece’s commentary. After briefly watching a large circle of bed sheet clad ghosts recite “dead” slang words, the 11 year old casually asserted that, and I quote, “the F-word is definitely not dead slang because I hear it all the time!”
 
The best instillation of our night (and we didn’t even cover half of the instillations) had to be the carnival rides that were set up on Bay Street, the hub of Toronto’s financial district. “Viewers” lined up for over an hour to ride the giant slide and stomach churning ride that represented the ups and downs of the financial market. Even the Carnies played a roll...they were dressed up like Bay Street Bigwigs, which had me in stitches!


I can’t wait for next year!