Nuit Blanche!!

Have you ever been excited, but you don't know what for?  That's how I was feeling last night when Kristen and I headed downtown to pop our collective Nuit Blanche cherries.  Although I had heard of the event (I was invited to the inagaural NB and now curse myself for not going!) we didn't really know what to expect, and the experience hit us like a transport truck designed by Picasso and driven by Warhol.  It was both obvious and abstract, meaningful and arbitrary, accessible and avant-garde, and more than either of us could have expected.

We started off the night emerging from the Dundas subway station after spending the last half hour surrounded by drunk highschoolers (who smell sweeter than more mature drunks, incidentally, I think it's the excess of sweet juices in their vodka drinks), only to be surrounded by literally thousands and thousands of people.  Dundas square was packed, so instead we went to check out Massey Hall, where there was a cool little installment of an office ceiling above an alley filled with corporate waste.  As people were walking through the alley, a homeless man was begging for money, which we later considered could be part of the exhibit (art or poverty?)

We also spent some time in the distillery district at some amazing galleries and installments, and got to meet up with Spicy and some of his friends.  We split off to grab a coffee and meet up with some international friends from Seneca, which didn't end up materializing, but it sounded like they had a great time too.

We visited Nathan Phillips Square twice, and it was truly unreal.  The lights in the windows of city hall were flashing on and off in patterns similar to how windows media player reacts to music, and then switched to a contrast between the light and dark that showed a shadowy figure dancing to the music.  This was followed up by tetris, pong, and space invaders, which were met by the cheers and groans of the audience, depending on which side they were cheering for.  Four people ran across the pond in the middle of the square, also met by the cheers and flashing of cameras, only to be apprehended by security upon reaching the other side.  As would be expected, Johnny Law received boos from all sides, and then everyone went on their merry way.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see nearly enough, as the subways were only running to Finch until 1:30.  Hopefully next time we will stay longer and take in more of the white night, which left us tired but wanting more.