Five reasons why Nuit Blanche may not suck this year
Click here for our guide to the 10 must-see exhibits at this year’s Nuit Blanche >>
Although our reaction to last year’s Nuit Blanche might best be summed up with an ambivalent shoulder shrug and an apathetic “meh,” we’re cautiously optimistic for this year’s event, scheduled for October 2. Yesterday, the city announced new exhibition sites and the 2010 curators; below, what we’re looking forward to:
1. The four main zones will be centralized along the Yonge-University subway line, meaning that more time can be spent looking at art and less time spent schlepping between Yorkville and Liberty Village.
2. Yonge Street will become a pedestrian mall from Bloor to Front, relieving sidewalk congestion and hopefully reviving one of last year’s charms: the financial district swamped with people not wearing suits.
3. The curators—Gerald McMaster, Anthony Kiendl, Sarah Robayo Sheridan and Christof Migone—have already signed on crowd-worthy talent: Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo is collaborating with his wife, Leah Singer, for an interactive video, with Ranaldo performing.
4. New York’s Dan Graham is working on a new piece for the event.
5. Britain’s Ryan Gander is planning a giant bonfire for Yonge-Dundas Square (which we hope turns into the world’s largest wiener roast).
None of this, of course, guarantees that last year’s letdowns won’t be repeated, most notably the endless lineups, drunken hipsters and that four-letter-word piece at city hall that had us thinking “lame,” “dull” and “blah.”
• Sonic Youth, giant bonfires will be part of Nuit Blanche 2010 [National Post]
• Nuit Blanche curator picks art by Sonic Youth [CBC]
• Nuit Blanche redraws boundaries [Globe and Mail]
• Curators and new exhibition sites announced for fifth annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche [City of Toronto]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/five-reasons-why-nuit-blanche-may-not-suck-this-year/&title=Five reasons why Nuit Blanche may not suck this year&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/nuit-blanche.jpg&description=Click here for our guide to the 10 must-see exhibits at this year's Nuit Blanche >>
[caption id="attachment_25027" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Last year's light installation at city hall (Image: Eduardo Zárate)"][/caption]
Although our reaction to last year’s Nuit Blanche might best be summed up with an ambivalent shoulder shrug and an apathetic "meh," we’re cautiously optimistic for this year’s event, scheduled for October 2. Yesterday, the city announced new exhibition sites and the 2010 curators; below, what we’re looking forward to:
1. The four main zones will be centralized along the Yonge-University subway line, meaning that more time can be spent looking at art and less time spent schlepping between Yorkville and Liberty Village.
2. Yonge Street will become a pedestrian mall from Bloor to Front, relieving sidewalk congestion and hopefully reviving one of last year’s charms: the financial district swamped with people not wearing suits.
3. The curators—Gerald McMaster, Anthony Kiendl, Sarah Robayo Sheridan and Christof Migone—have already signed on crowd-worthy talent: Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo is collaborating with his wife, Leah Singer, for an interactive video, with Ranaldo performing.
4. New York’s Dan Graham is working on a new piece for the event.
5. Britain’s Ryan Gander is planning a giant bonfire for Yonge-Dundas Square (which we hope turns into the world’s largest wiener roast).
None of this, of course, guarantees that last year’s letdowns won’t be repeated, most notably the endless lineups, drunken hipsters and that four-letter-word piece at city hall that had us thinking "lame," "dull" and "blah."
• Sonic Youth, giant bonfires will be part of Nuit Blanche 2010 [National Post]
• Nuit Blanche curator picks art by Sonic Youth [CBC]
• Nuit Blanche redraws boundaries [Globe and Mail]
• Curators and new exhibition sites announced for fifth annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche [City of Toronto]){kind=link}
Last year’s Nuit Blance was amazing if you avoided the most crowded areas. Line ups were common along Yonge Street, but in Liberty Village, you could see many installations without waiting a minute. Liberty Village also hosted some of the most memorable parts of Nuit Blanche last year.
I find people who don’t enjoy the event usually concentrate their time walking along Yonge Street expecting the impossible and putting down the interesting instead of immersing themselves in it and exploring all that the night has to offer.
It’s the same attitude people who are too cool to dress up for halloween use when they go to a costume party and clame how “lame” it is.
If everyone who felt the way you did stayed home instead of coming out and creating line ups, the rest of us could enjoy the event that much more.
Toronto Nuit Blanche has lost it. First 2 years were great but of late, it was over too early, no WOW and quite frankly, pathetic. Having been to 8 all over the world, we loose focus when we changed the date from Sept. to October. THis city like to think we live somewhere warm, so in Oct. when its a little chilly, not so much people venture out.
Change back to mid Sept and you will see more people out. Re-visit the first 2 years why were ther epeople all over the city at 3-4 am and why there is no one around after 2am.
NO!!!!I am so disappointed they didn’t focus it in the Queen West/Liberty Village area.
I don’t think it will be better than last year if this is where they are centralizing the exhibits.
I dont think it sucked either. I mean, what were you expecting. There were a lot of cool enough things to see and it was just fun walking down queen street and seeing how happy everybody was. Yonge street on the other hand was totally depressing so the fact that they are focusing it there might actually make it worse.
And I agree with one of the comments above. If you’re looking for something more high brow, stay home and leave it to for the rest of us who see it as a good time to stay out late, pedestrianize the streets, check out some cool exhibits and enjoy a late last call.
What a joke Toronto Life is. So terrified of not appearing coolly sophisticated that the effete writers cannot even appreciate this (underfunded) artistic night out for what it is. God knows it is hard enough to do ANYTHING in Toronto without being shot down by people intent on demonstrating to the rest of us plebes that they have experienced better on their travels around the world (and of course no one else has ever travelled except themselves). Automatically shoot anything down if it happens in Toronto, and therefore spare yourself the embarrassment of being criticized by other inherently superior citizens as being unsophisticated. Be the first to the punch to cut off the tall poppies, and when in doubt trash the efforts of others who are WORKING to improve our city. Toronto, you are your own worst enemy, and articles like this are part of the problem, not the solution.
None of the talent that supposedly ensures this event will not suck is Canadian. A cynical take from a magazine that calls itself TORONTO Life. By the way, there was a gigantic wiener roast at last year’s “lame” event by a Canadian, Tom Dean. Surely we do not have to import a British artist to do the same this year. While Toronto may be a provincial centre, surely one of us rubes can manage to put a stick through a hot dog. Whatever the case, why highlight something eerily similar to something held at an event that you diss?
One more reason Nuit Blanche will not suck this year: There’s a lot of amazing “unsanctioned”, independent Nuit Blanche projects and events happening that night. And some of them will surely demonstrate that the unofficial programming is just as good – if not better – than some of the official programming. I urge everyone to look to the Nuit Blanche fringes to see for yourself.
I went to the second nuit blanche after hearing the rave reviews of the first one. It was so lame, I thought I’d never go back. Last year, I was in Montreal in february(!) and nuit blanche happened to be on. I went out with my partner and we were both blown away by how fantastic it was. That event has inspired me to give the event in Toronto another shot. I will be going out with an open mind. If nothing else I will enjoy the stroll in the traffic free zone. By the way I thought it was brilliant to have the event in winter. Too many events are crammed into the summer months
ever hear of a parka?
Another reason why Nuit Blanche didn’t suck last year and wouldn’t suck this year either is if you would focus on the Independent artists as opposed to the big kahunas. The city comes together under the blanket of art and I’m happy the event is more knit together this time, which means less time walking and more time looking for that something odd and interesting that will stroke you imagination.
I was expecting alot of this event. Everyone was so stoked for it. I was expeciting everything to be decorated in art , instead I saw a few meh exhibits, some things just meh and some things crossing the border about what Is art at least in my opinion. For example there was a movie type thing projected onto a wall of a girl trying to cry… a bit weird for my taste.
Well, I did get out last night and I thought it was pretty fabulous. The website was really well designed, so I had a couple of things I made sure I saw. The use of public space in the financial district was great. I did think that they could have made better use of Yonge street. Kudos to all of the volunteers and artists!
nuit blanche sucked and will always suck, such a waste of time
I am hopefully flying in from Winniped to TO to attend Nuit Blanche and displaying my Upcycled Lighting designs, my hand painted shoe and accessory line at Brownstone Bistro.
I currently have two pieces there
My friend Marc said The event is October 1st…you have it as October 2.
I would hate to miss the event.
(even if it does suck)
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