It’s hard to believe that the 2009 incarnation of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is just around the corner. Happening this Saturday, October 3rd from 6:55pm to sunrise, this year’s catalogue of art-related debauchery is looking pretty good.
Zone A, in Downtown North — most of which is accessible by the Yonge-University subway line — features 53 projects, some curated by Gregory Elgstrand and others by Thom Sokoloski. Here’s what I think you should make a point to see. Zone B recommendations here. Zone C recommendations here. (Images and descriptions lifted from the Nuit Blanche website.) It all starts on October 3rd at 6:55pm.
Ghost Chorus — Dirge for Dead Slang, 2009
Katie Bethune-Leamen
Installation
Larry Sefton Park
Corner of Bay Street and Hagerman Street
Click here to view this location on a map.
From the dead centre of Larry Sefton Park the sights and sounds of Ghost Chorus – Dirge for Dead Slang rise up into the trees and into the ears of onlookers, rubberneckers and passers-by. These ghostly apparitions raise their voices to the driving melancholic baseline from the beyond to revivify outmoded slang of the long and recent past. See the dead rise to life! Hear the dead rise to life! Sing. Sing. Sing.
A little bird told me that this chorus will feature volunteers who do not necessarily have vocal skills. Obviously this needs to be witnessed.
Battle Royal, 2009
Shaun El C. Leonardo
Performance Art
Toronto Coach Terminal
610 Bay Street
Click here to view this location on a map.
Inspired by Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man, 20 men will enter Toronto’s original bus depot with lingering art-deco design and step into a 17’ steel cage. Shaun El Conquistador Leonardo (artist and trained fighter) along with 19 of Canada’s elite pro-wrestlers will fight blindfolded until only one man is left standing.
The match is an intense, theatrical recreation of the book’s opening scene also entitled Battle Royal. Occupying a space between literary representation, wrestling spectacle and art performance, Battle Royal is an unscripted event harkening back to the actual fight to-the-end bouts African Americans were encouraged to enter for prize winnings during post-slavery American South; while manifesting the artist’s own personal fear of societal invisibility.
Beginning at 7pm members of the audience are invited to be blindfolded and escorted into the cage where they will have the opportunity to feel the intimidation and potential of aggression Battle Royal encompasses. Gradually, as the night reaches its peak, professional wrestlers will be introduced to the ring, initiating the action while the artist, Shaun El C. Leonardo, seeks to withstand the pain, embarrassment and discomfort of struggling in front of eyes without having sight himself.
Honestly, I can’t explain why I want to see this. The printed catalogue didn’t include the last paragraph that indicates audience members will be participating; I think this adds a whole other dynamic that may be even more painful to watch. It sounds brutal and violent, and I am ashamed by my own curiosity.
Artscape Wychwood Barns
Several group exhibitions/installations
601 Christie Street
Click here to view this location on a map.
I am recommending Artscape Wychwood Barns as an entire venue because they have five independent projects that all seem compelling and worth checking out. There’s Home Sweet Hogar, a group exhibition that is part of the Allende Arts Festival; Things With Wings, a large-scale sculpture exhibition by Charmaine Lurch; sound(e)scape by Darren Copeland and Tree Prosthetic Project by Jane Tingley, both sound art presentations; Memoir, a video installation by Peter Horvath; and a group exhibition called 1001 Stories.
The photo above is from Home Sweet Hogar.
There is lots of other stuff happening in Zone A (click here for a map), of course. Obviously Nuit Blanche is partially intended to be a psychogeographic experience, but in the past I’ve found it best to plan for the things you really want to see. Otherwise, you might never get to them!
Zone B recommendations here. Zone C recommendations here.
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