What a crazy night. Rather spontaneously, Nat and I decided to go see Nuit Blanche, an all-night, city-wide art exhibition and community event. The night basically began for us at midnight, after our dragonboat team wrap-up party and BBQ. We started off in Yorkville, and wandered up and down the pedestrian-only street along with dozens of other groups of people in search of art. There were art installations between buildings, in the middle of the streets; jazz bands playing in open galleries; performance artists in amazing costumes.... it was an artful night, to say the least.
Between the hours of 12am and 7am (when I finally got home), Nat and I saw about 15 to 20 exhibits, of ranging complexity and artsiness. One of my most memorable was the gymnasium filled with balls... a kind-of adult-size Ikea ballroom. Ten-year-old DJ's provided tunes, and a projector shined images of smiling families on the gym wall. The idea was to celebrate family, in some arty expressionist kind of way. Of course, by the time we got there at 3am, the kid DJs had all gone home, and most of the people in the gym were drunk teens chucking the balls at each other...
Another memorable exhibit was one set up in a public swimming pool. To navigate the exhibit, we walked in through the men's changing room, watching arty movie clips being projected on shower stall walls and a DVD player tucked into one of the empty lockers. The finale to the exhibit was in the swimming pool area... where the entire swimming pool was filled with balloon animals shaped like penguins. The whole exhibit was a homage to a pair of gay penguins (Roy and Silo) who live at the Central Park Zoo in New York. A true story, these two male penguins led a monogamous relationship their whole lives, even raising a baby chick! The swimming pool art exhibit represented their bachelor party and wedding. Crazy artists. But definitely intriguing and memorable.
Beyond exhibits like this, and many more, I was happy to be wandering the streets of Toronto at pre-dawn. There were plenty others who were out at those hours, all in favour of "celebrating art". And to end off the evening... free pancake breakfast at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design! Woo-hoo... nothing else like free pancakes at 5:30am to make a sleepless night well worth it.
Between the hours of 12am and 7am (when I finally got home), Nat and I saw about 15 to 20 exhibits, of ranging complexity and artsiness. One of my most memorable was the gymnasium filled with balls... a kind-of adult-size Ikea ballroom. Ten-year-old DJ's provided tunes, and a projector shined images of smiling families on the gym wall. The idea was to celebrate family, in some arty expressionist kind of way. Of course, by the time we got there at 3am, the kid DJs had all gone home, and most of the people in the gym were drunk teens chucking the balls at each other...
Another memorable exhibit was one set up in a public swimming pool. To navigate the exhibit, we walked in through the men's changing room, watching arty movie clips being projected on shower stall walls and a DVD player tucked into one of the empty lockers. The finale to the exhibit was in the swimming pool area... where the entire swimming pool was filled with balloon animals shaped like penguins. The whole exhibit was a homage to a pair of gay penguins (Roy and Silo) who live at the Central Park Zoo in New York. A true story, these two male penguins led a monogamous relationship their whole lives, even raising a baby chick! The swimming pool art exhibit represented their bachelor party and wedding. Crazy artists. But definitely intriguing and memorable.
Beyond exhibits like this, and many more, I was happy to be wandering the streets of Toronto at pre-dawn. There were plenty others who were out at those hours, all in favour of "celebrating art". And to end off the evening... free pancake breakfast at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design! Woo-hoo... nothing else like free pancakes at 5:30am to make a sleepless night well worth it.
Playing in the "Ballroom" exhibit...
Gay penguin-inspired "art"...
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