Nuit Blanche 2012 Preview

Nuit Blanche is officially a week away (Saturday September 29). The annual all-night celebration of contemporary art will be taking over the streets of downtown Toronto from sunset to sunrise, and we will be right there with it. Pink Mafia will be exploring every corner, and live tweeting about it here. Join us, all night, tweeting about Nuit Blanche with the hashtag #PMBlanche

The all-night autumn-in-Toronto staple might be a bit much for the unprepared or the uninitiated, so we have created a list of gathered wisdom to help you make the most of it. We had so much fun remembering some of our favourite projects from years past, that we compiled them below to share with you.

1. Dress comfortably. This includes your shoes and your clothing. Obviously walking around in heels all night is a nonstarter. Last year my jeans inexplicably became extremely itchy after about an hour and it drove me crazy. Think this through harder than you think you should have to. Weather should also be a concern.

2. Carefully consider your choice to drink or do drugs. This is a tortoise (not a hare) situation, and you don’t want to need a nap in the middle of it. You might even want to remember some of the cool stuff you see.

3. Choose your companions wisely. Do you want to stroll around casually in a big group osmosising some of the art, or do you want to plan ahead and hit up a bunch of projects across all three zones with just one or two close friends who are equally as hardcore as you are?

4. Plan to get hungry, and to need coffee and pee breaks. Grab a copy of the event map, which will direct you to locations where you can satisfy your basic needs, so you can get back to satisfying your art needs. There will be tons of  yummy food trucks too.

5. Consider doing the night in the so-called “family” style. Go to bed before 8pm and wake up by 1am. Grab breakfast at an all-night diner and enjoy the art from 2am on. Log some solid REM time, without missing out.

If you’re not sure what to expect, here is a sample of some of our favourite arts from the last few years.

2011:  

Honey I’m Home

The opportunity to step into Tony Danza’s role on Who’s The Boss was the thing we never knew we needed to do until we found out we could do it.

Paparazzi Bots

Watching these smile-sensitive cameras choose who to take a picture of was interactive in exactly the right way: fun, but not exhausting.

2010:

XXIX  

The voices of 29 singers, in different language, combined with video of them singing (appearing and disappearing as their voices were added and removed) was beautiful, moving, and only a little cheesy.

Kim Adams Auto Lamp

The transformation of something ordinary and boring into something beautiful is always thrilling. This ornate lamp made out of a Dodge van dazzled the crowds as it rotated on a car display.

2009: 

Rabbit Balloon 

The giant silver bunny was maybe the most iconic piece at Nuit Blanche in 2009. It still reminds us of Donnie Darko.

Vodka Pool

The sight of this reflecting pool of 80-proof vodka certainly had us reflecting. The vodka had both a visceral and a symbolic effect. We vowed to stick to 40-proof for all our cocktails.

Don’t forget to tweet with us next Saturday night. #PMBlanche