Nuit Nights

Lindzi Armstrong

Its second birthday rolls through Toronto like a beautiful party of dreamers, creators, nut jobs and guys who came with their girlfriends. Scotiabank presented the 2nd annual Nuit Blanche art festival on September 29th in three areas of Toronto. This free all-night event celebrates everything contemporary and those who relish in it. From sunset to sunrise, some 500 installations and exhibits are on display over three zones in trendy T.O haunts.

Extremely overcrowded with the half-interested, half-eccentrics from all over strolling the streets on the most ultimate of art crawls, Nuit Blanche brings them out in droves, and they all want to get a grasp of the festival’s big picture.

However, it’s easy to miss the point of Nuit Blanche, brought to us by Scotiabank. An outrageous level of sponsors coated the precious art festival that could into something one could compare to the Ex--just a bit more moody and nocturnal. The frustrating crowds that were there ‘ just to be there’ were as obnoxious as the sponsor signs, not to mention the marketing squads out in full force hoping to sign people up for credit cards or to fill out surveys- luring them with chocolates in between Zones B and C’s semi-interesting L.E.D. display.

Overall, the event is decent once you manage to wiggle up to the front of a display. And an interesting way to check out what Toronto’s insomniac scene looks like while taking in incredible Canadian art.