Pre-Nuit Blanche - Planning for a great night out!!!

First of all, some of you may ask what exactly is "Nuit Blanche". Well, according to the official website it's:

An all night free contemporary art thing.

For one sleepless night experience the city transformed by close to 500 artists for Toronto's fourth annual sunset to sunrise celebration of contemporary art. Discover art in galleries, museums and unexpected places. From churches and grocery stores to chimney stacks and bus stations, choose from 130 projects and chart your own path.

I've attended a number of these over the years and I have to say that they're a BLAST. Especially since the city takes on a very different character when spaces which are private, or have limited public access, become public. Then there's the magic of freely roaming through a transformed city, where familiar places are altered with light and sound, objects and performances.

In a city that is often obsessed with the composition of the outward faces that our buildings present to the public, we often forget that the these outward looking facades also define the public street spaces that we all move through each day. Nuit Blanche provides an opportunity for Toronto to turn itself inside out. In many ways, it will be the external spaces, often unconsidered during the day, which will be thronging with people, light, and activity all night long. And the buildings, who's internal spaces will be void and dark for a change, will provide definition and context to the evenings events with their walls the define their innards.

I'm hoping to visit all 3 zones this year, and use this evening as an opportunity to feel out a Toronto that has a different weave and texture than I'm used to during the day. I'm hoping to find a Toronto that is more whimsical, more thoughtful, and much, much more public.