Toronto’s night long celebration of contemporary art is back to take over city streets for its 19th edition.
This year’s Nuit Blanche theme, Translating the City, shines a spotlight on Toronto’s multilingualism and the complexities of urban spaces.
Eunice Wong and their art collective will be bringing everyday objects to life with their multimedia installation called We See You inside Trinity Bellwoods Park. The inspiration behind the project was a dream they had about a talking bench, Wong said.
“It’s kind of an homage to all of the forgotten background characters of our park landscape: our benches, our lampposts, our garbage cans,” they told CBC Toronto. “If they all were to have a voice, what would they say? What would they feel?”
Those were some of the questions used as prompts to help inspire dozens of people across the city who submitted voice recordings for the project, some in different languages too, they said. On Saturday, as visitors walk through the display, motion sensors will trigger a piece of city furniture to speak, Wong said.
‘We See You,’ an independent multimedia installation, reimagines park landscapes as talking, thinking characters. (Submitted by Eunice Wong)
“There’s kind of a pleasant surprise element,” they said. “You don’t expect a tree to talk to you.”
We See You is among the more than 85 works on display by local, Canadian and international artists.
Here’s what you can expect for this year’s program, and what you need to know before heading out:
How to get around
Nuit Blanche begins Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.until sunrise at 7 a.m on Oct. 5.
For those 12 hours, the TTC will be running all three subway lines and the regularly scheduled blue night buses.
Additional buses will be added from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Sunday for the 944 Kipling South Express.
The TTC will not be running for free, according to an email from TTC spokesperson Stuart Green — unlike previous Nuit Blanche events.
A Toronto Transit Commission sign is shown at a downtown Toronto subway stop. The TTC will not be free during this year’s Nuit Blanche. (Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press)
Road closures
You can expect closed roads across the three major exhibition zones:
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In Etobicoke: Colonel Samuel Smith Park Drive and around Humber Polytechnic’s Lakeshore Campus.
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Downtown: Dundas Street W. from Spadina Avenue to Simcoe Street.
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In North York: Yonge Street from Empress Avenue to Elmwood Avenue.
Learn about other ongoing road restrictions through the city’s online map.
3 major exhibitions
There are three city-produced exhibition areas across Toronto this year, including an immersive display in North York and a reflection on migration in Etobicoke.
The third zone, located in the downtown core along Dundas Street W., explores the city’s many histories and themes of justice, said curator Charlene K. Lau.
The program includes a youth powwow performance, and a collection in Chinatown focusing on efforts to preserve the cultural enclave during the 20th century, she said.
Chinatown advocate Jean Lumb promoting ‘Save Chinatown’ in the 1960s. The picture is part of ‘the sound of lions in Chinatown’ installation and part of the downtown exhibition zone, called Poetic Justice. (Courtesy of Arelen Chan)
Dubbed Poetic Justice, a name partly inspired by last year’s Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud, Lau said she hopes the exhibition will get people thinking about “what has happened on the land and whose land it is.”
“It’s really about learning to get along,” Lau said. “We can have beef. We can be artists. We can not agree, but we can all be in this space, sharing the land.”
Participating cultural institutions
A number of museums and cultural sites will also host installations and performances, including the Aga Khan Museum and the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.
Participating spaces will keep their doors open to the public for free all night long, said Jeanne Holmes, manager of programming for city cultural events and economic development and culture.
“There’s lots to see and do,” Holmes said. “It’s a great way to get to know your city. It’s a great way to experience arts and culture. If you aren’t a big fan of going into galleries, it’s a really nice way to see the city transformed by artists.”
