Blanched

Last weekend Steve and I walked all of Zone A and B of Nuit Blanche between 8pm and 4:30am. We were pretty unimpressed, which was extremely unfortunate because last year Nuit Blanche nourished my soul in a way that I was sooooooo craving. What was missing for me this year was the sense of community. I needed that one art piece to bring everyone together. Last year the fog walk was the piece that everyone got to experience. There was no line up, it was constantly in motion and it was simple.

This is what I wrote about the fog last year:

"The fog was my favourite. There was a point when Steve was the only person I could see. I appreciate those moments of sensory awareness when all of a sudden you can't see, and things seem quieter than they really are. There would be moments where you couldn't see anyone around you, and then you'd take two steps and there would be two guys smoking pot from a pipe or people trying to keep their feet out of the mud and complaining about the rain. It was just nice. I needed that foggy moment. And I needed that moment of watching Steve disappear in front of me and realizing that I just wanted him to stay and hold my hand so we could walk out of that fog together."

This year I just felt like they spent more money on the guide then on actually putting together a meaningful art experience. I felt innondated by people making comments like "I don't really care about art, I'm only here because the bars are open until 4 and the subway runs all night". The best art piece I saw was what I'm calling the Interactive Global Warming Sass Board... a giant screen and sound system where people were meant to text in the ways that they were going to combat global warming while two people read out the serious messages (and the crowd giggled at the funny ones). Some of the best included "I will tell Henry NO LONG SHOWERS", "I will wear my underwear twice", "I will build a giant mirror on the ice caps", "I will shower in groups of five or more", and "I will not put a giant tv on Queen street and let it run all night". I'm not sure that that was the intention, but I enjoyed it.

Steve and I walked all night and I was incredibly frustrated that some of the exhibits closed without warning after we went out of our way to get to them. I was particularly excited about the giant fabric vagina at the textile museum, but when we got there at midnight it was closed. You'd think they'd mention in the guide if participants in the all night arts festival weren't planning to participate all night. The worst was that Steve and I saved the Church Street red light district as out last stop and when we arrived there at around 4am there was NOTHING. There were red lights and fabric covering windows but there were no sillouettes and all of the store fronts were empty. If it's not going to go all night just tell me.

The most moving moment of the night for me was actually when Steve and I made our way on to the subway for free after visiting the unfortunately terrible Ghost Station and we had a car all to ourselves. It wasn't part of the festival at all, but sitting together alone on a subway car at 3:30am made me feel like we were stealing a moment.

I hope that Nuit Blanche can work it out for next year, because this was not worth the pain and exhaustion I felt when Steve and I got into bed Sunday morning. I really was hoping to see someone else's creation for some good, dark, soul-nourishing moment, but instead I had to stumble into my own. Maybe I need to do it myself more often.