Mega Nuit Blanche 2013

Here are a few images from last month's Nuit Blanche all-night art expo around downtown Toronto.  This year's event was well organized in the sense much of the art was easily find-able (you spent less time looking for stuff that turned out not to be worth it) and in groupings that made it easier to see a bunch of stuff at once without too much walking around.  I concentrated on Trinity Square, Nathan Phillips Square, and along University Ave.  I was a bit sad as the rest of my family and friends I usually go with were unavailable and couldn't share with me, but I was also happy to be free to go at my own pace and not hear any whining about sore feet.  Except my own.

In retrospect, it seems the unofficial theme of the evening was mega, as in a thousand of everything.  Not only were many of the installations huge, they also comprised many repeating parts. In the notes to the Ai Wei Wei exhibition at the AGO, Wei suggests that installations such as Forever Bicycles are a metaphor for the individual among the many, such as  the citizens of China. How do you see it?

Enjoy!

(BTW go to /http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/ for the official names...)

1001 pairs of socks

bicycle clocks

chairs reflected on the floor of St Paul's

chairs and reflection

plastic bags on the ceiling

giant hammock over Bay St.

Ai Wei Wei's 3000 Forever bicycles

head on view of bicycles

toy parade in City hall

angry Smurfs

outraged gnomes

self-propelled music automaton

origami crowns waiting to be picked

origami crowns in actino

let's go to the Ex

1000 tubes of light

tube detail

the elephant in the van