Nuit Blanche is upon us this weekend, which means revellers will be wandering the streets into the wee hours of the morning. The arty fun starts at 6:59 p.m. on October 1 (when the sun goes down) and continues until sunrise on October 2 (which, according to our research, is approximately 7:16 a.m.); this means planning accordingly for midnight crowds and late-night installation viewing (and, of course, snacks and drinks). We recommend what to see and what to skip from zones A, B and C after the jump.

Zone A

Zone A considers “historic moments and examines the concepts of revolution and utopia.” As a curatorial collection entitled Restaging the Encounter, this zone explores temporality; it aims to blur the boundaries between fiction and reality by reimagining the city as a social space where participants engage with past and present histories. We’re not exactly sure what that means, but we’ve listed some essential (and not-so-essential) viewing for the area between St. Clair Avenue West and Rushton Road, extending just south of College Street and over to Yonge Street (with an outlier or two in the mix).

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The Feast of Trimalchio by AES+F
Location: northeast corner of Queen’s Park
Based on The Feast of Trimalchio from Petronius’s Satyricon, this video installation reimagines the character of Trimalchio—the former slave and nouveau riche host of multi-day feasts—as a space. Here, Trimalchio becomes a luxurious hotel where guests (called masters) and servants engage in hedonistic pursuits, projected as a panoramic video installation comprised of more than 70,000 still images.
Rating: 3

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L’écho-l’eau by Richard Purdy
Location: MaRs Building, 101 College St. (east of University Avenue)
We’re all for tactile exhibits that physically engage participants with the installation; Richard Purdy’s reincarnation of a Canadian log run is a perfect example. Don rain gear, boots and an umbrella or go barefoot through the one centimetre of water flooding the exhibition floor, and experience the miroir d’eau (reflections in the water that encourage participants to see upside-down, right-side up).
Rating: 4

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Slow Falls Rising by Karen Henderson
Location: Victoria University, U of T campus (south of Charles Street, east of Queen’s Park)
Artist Karen Henderson offers an installation that continuously loops video of Niagara Falls flowing slowly upwards. We understand that sitting and watching the hypnotic water defy gravity might be a nice escape for the exhausted Nuit Blanche trekker, but if it is busy and loud, we’ll skip the falls in favour of more dynamic installations.
Rating: 1

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Artscape Wychwood Barns programming: Sonic Spaces (the kinetics of sound) and Audio Graffiti by Shawn Pinchbeck, Zack Settel and Mike Wozniewski
Location: NAISA Space and Theatre Direct’s Christie Studio, 601 Christie St.
These Artscape Wychwood Barns installations deal with aural traces of physical movement—Sonic Spaces transforms a participant’s movement into a sound installation, while Audio Graffiti encourages participants to “record” a sound on a wall, then experience the “sonic texture” the wall has to offer. Okay.
Rating: 3

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Silent Music by Akira Hasegawa and Ivo Videnov
Location: Casa Loma stables, 328 Walmer Rd.
This live light installation uses a new medium called Digital Kakejiku, in which light is used on the side of buildings to create an abstract image, almost like a painting. Silent Music was inspired by the creation of the universe and explores the connection between colour and sound. We’ll make the trip, not only to see the light show, but to refamiliarize ourselves with Casa Loma’s grounds.
Rating: 4

Check out Zone B »

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