In the Galleries
Just Add Water
An Australian goes fishing at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche By David Balzer
Craig Walsh isn’t afraid to make a scene: his career is a catalogue of interactive installations for storefronts, railway stations and outdoor music festivals. The Brisbane, Australia, artist is also no stranger to the all-night hoopla of Nuit Blanche: his contribution to this year’s contemporary art bender follows a 2004 Paris Nuit Blanche commission. In fact, Walsh’s Toronto piece is a modification of the French one, both of which are originally drawn from a residency he did in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2001. Fittingly entitled Blurring the Boundaries, the piece would astonish onlookers no matter where in the world it happened to be installed. Part of Nuit Blanche’s Zone C (the theme for which is “The Supernatural City”), Walsh’s local site is the front window of the Great Hall on Queen West. His goal, achieved through the use of a highly convincing video projection, is to make the space look as though it’s filling with water and, eventually, giant fish. For Walsh, the construction is only a fraction of the meaning; the rest resides in the audience, whose past reactions to his improbable aquarium have included flocking, blocking traffic, and exclamations of pure, unadulterated credulity.
Blurring the Boundaries. Artwork not for sale. From 7:03 p.m. Sept. 29 to sunrise Sept. 30. The Great Hall storefront window, 1087 Queen St. W., 416-338-0338, www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca
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